After welcoming a previous competition “particularly successful”with films that “were successes in theaters”and addressed a thought to critics, filmmakers and Argentine artists currently in difficulty by the cultural policy of ultraliberal President Javier Milei, Thierry Frémaux put an end to the suspense.
During the press conference held on Thursday April 11 at the UGC Normandie in Paris, in the presence of President Iris Knobloch, the general delegate revealed the official selection of the 77e edition of the Cannes Film Festival (which will be held from May 14 to 25), the jury of which will be chaired by the actress and director of barbie (2023), Greta Gerwig. A selection which is not entirely complete. “But, at midnight, our eyes stung a little”specified Thierry Frémaux who, like every year, grants himself extensions.
To date, nineteen feature films (among the two thousand viewed) have been selected for official competition. The Festival will open with Quentin Dupieux’s new comedy, The Second Act (out of competition), with Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel and Raphaël Quenard. Then, veterans of the seventh art and young filmmakers will follow one another on the steps of the Palais des Festivals.
Among the first, and most anticipated, the American filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, who has just celebrated his 85th birthday, and will be returning to Cannes for Megalopolis, a film in the making for forty years, announced as pharaonic – with a budget of 120 million dollars (112 million euros), five months of shooting – which will bring together, among others, Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito and Nathalie Emmanuel. In a month, this film will be in the running for the Palme d’Or, already won twice by the director, for Secret conversationin 1974, and Apocalypse Nowin 1979.
Another great figure in cinema, David Cronenberg will also be in competition for The Shroudswith Vincent Cassel and Diane Kruger, a film which, according to Thierry Frémaux, evokes “the loss of a loved one”. Despite the long strike carried out for several months in the United States by the screenwriters and actors, the Americans hold a special place in this edition. Since Paul Schrader (Oh, Canada) and director Sean Baker (Anora).
Five directors in competition
Present in 2022 for Tchaikovsky’s WifeRussian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov returns to official competition with Limonov, the Ballad (based on the novel by Emmanuel Carrère Limonov, POL, 2011). Subscribe to the race for the Palme d’or (A Touch of Sin2013; Beyond the mountains2015 ; The Eternals2018), the Chinese Jia Zhang-ke does not break with habits and will be there with his new film, Feng Liu yi dai.
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