Last updated on April 4, 2024
Like every year, we’re indulging in the Cannes chestnut: trying to guess in advance which films will be announced on April 11… Each magazine goes by its more or less well-informed sources, by its suppositions and aspirations. It’s even rumored that Thierry Frémaux takes a malicious pleasure in checking that he hasn’t overlooked a few films by reading these predictions … so here’s our roundup, probably the most complete by what you’ll find on the web! (Let’s be modest, especially as last year we were rather right …)
By definition, the Un Certain Regard selection is one of the most difficult to predict, and we don’t take many chances…
*** Films most likely to be at Cannes ***
Limonov : the ballad of Eddie by Kirill Serebrennikov
With: Ben Whishaw, Viktoriya Miroshnichenko, Sandrine Bonnaire, Tomas Arana, Maria Mashkova, Louis-Do by Lencquesaing, Corrado Invernizzi, Victor Solé, Ivan Ivashkin
The outrageous story of Eduard Limonov, the radical Soviet poet who became a bum in New York, a sensation in France, and a political antihero in Russia.
Probability of being in an official competition: if he were to be in a selection, it would be in a competition…
Probability of being in a parallel selection: nil.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: Very strong desire to see what words and breath by Carrère can give when transposed by the virtuoso Serebrennikov.
The Way of the Wind by Terrence Malick
With: Géza Röhrig, Matthias Schoenaerts, Mark Rylance, Joseph Fiennes, Douglas Booth, Alfonso Postiglione, Lorenzo Gioielli, Con O’Neill, Aidan Turner, Ben Kingsley
A dramatization of several episodes in the life of Christ.
Probability of being in an official competition: If the film is indeed ready, and because Mallick is Mallick, despite a few mistakes, it should be included.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: almost nil.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes, curious
Megalopolis de Francis Ford Coppola
With: Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Forest Whitaker, Laurence Fishburne, Shia LaBeouf, Giancarlo Esposito, Talia Shire, Aubrey Plaza, Jon Voight, Jason Schwartzman
An architect wants to rebuild New York City as a utopia following a devastating disaster.
Probability of being in an official competition: we hope will be very strong. Many are predicting it. Coppola Sr. returning to Cannes would be quite an event!
Probability of being in a parallel selection: almost nil
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: can’t wait.
It’s not me by Leos Carax
With: Leos Carax, Denis Lavant, Léa Seydoux
This free-form film is a self-portrait, which revisits more than 40 years of the author’s filmography and questions the major stations of his life, while capturing the political tremors of the time.
Probability of being in an official competition: Carax has seen almost all his films in the Official Competition, so a repeat would not be surprising. But the film’s premise might prevent him from doing so.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: Should the film fail to make the Official Selection, other selections (such as the Fortnight) will probably welcome it!
Our desire to see the film at Cannes:Although we were disappointed by Carax’s last film, we’re still fans of the man and his poetry.
Emilia Perez by Jacques Audiard
With: Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Edgar Ramírez, Adriana Paz, James Gerard, Eric Geynes, Agathe Bokja, Eduardo Aladro, Chun-Ting Lin
Mexico, today. Lawyer Rita receives an unexpected offer. She has to help a feared cartel boss retire from his business and disappear forever by becoming the woman he’s always dreamed of being.
Probability of being in an official competition:Audiard has already won a Palme d’Or, and his career has been shaped by Cannes.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: almost nil.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: why not, but we’re wary anyway, as the subject seems to be carried by a trendy topic, the falseness could be worth the emotion.
Polaris by Lynne Ramsay
With: Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara
Set in Alaska during the 1890s, an ice photographer meets the devil.
Probability of being in an official competition: it’s whispered with insistence in any case.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: that would be suprising.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes! we’re hoping for a film by the quality of We need to talk about Kevin.
Bird by Andrea Arnold
With: Barry Keoghan, Franz Rogowski, James Nelson-Joyce, Jasmine Jobson, Rhys Yates
Screenplot: not available.
Probability of being in an official competition: Andrea Arnold is one of the VIPs at Cannes, but will her film be ready?
Probability of being in a parallel selection: we’d be surprised
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: YES !
Parthenope by Paolo Sorrentino
With: Dario Aita, Celeste Dalla Porta, Silvia Degrandi, Isabella Ferrari, Lorenzo Gleijeses, Biagio Izzo, Marlon Joubert, Peppe Lanzetta, Nello Mascia, Gary Oldman
The life of Parthenope – neither siren nor myth – from her birth in 1950 to the present day. Her long existence embodies the full repertoire of human existence: youth’s lightheartedness and its demise, classical beauty and its inexorable permutations, pointless and impossible loves, stale flirtations and dizzying passion, nighttime kisses on Capri, flashes of joy and persistent suffering, real and invented fathers, endings and new beginnings.
Probability of being in an official competition: Sorrentino presents almost all his films at Cannes. His reputation may have slipped a little recently, but he remains a director who is appreciated by the organizers.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: not impossible.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: Yes, the project seems well suited to his whimsical spirit.
Dreams by Michel Franco
With Jessica Chastain, Rupert Friend
Follows a forbidden romance between a woman and a male ballet dancer.
Probability of being in an official competition: Sundown was not at Cannes. In keeping with the principle of alternation, we think he’ll be there this time.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: almost nil.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: YES!
Meeting with Pol pot by Rithy Panh
Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia) – 1978. Three French journalists are invited by the Khmer Rouge to conduct an exclusive interview of the regime’s leader, Pol Pot. The country seems ideal. But behind the Potemkin village, the Khmer Rouge regime is declining and the war with Vietnam threatens to invade the country. The regime is looking for culprits, secretly carrying out a large scale genocide. Under the eyes of the journalists, the beautiful picture cracks, revealing the horror. Their journey progressively turns into a nightmare. Freely inspired by journalist Elizabeth Becker’s account in When the war was over.
Probability of being in an official competition: possible but not guaranteed
Probability of being in a parallel selection: possible if not in selection
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: interesting subject, but Rithy Panh’s films can be a bit long-winded …
Maria by Jessica Palud
With Anamaria Vartolomei, Yvan Attal, Matt Dillon
Maria is free and wild. Breathtakingly beautiful. She’s no longer a child, not yet an adult, when she sets fire to a promising young Italian director’s film, a huis clos by sex and by violence, alongside an American star. She became famous. She was prepared for nothing, neither fame nor scandal…
Probability of being in an official competition: the subject is so topical that we’re putting a coin in it.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: possible.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: We’re very curious after what Ana Vortolomei had to say.
Emmanuelle by Audrey Diwan
With: Noémie Merlant, Naomi Watts, Will Sharpe, Jamie Campbell Bower, Chacha Huang, Anthony Wong, Carole Franck, Isabella Wei, Andrea Dolente
A young woman embarks on a series of sexual adventures with a series of men and women against the backdrop of expatriate life in Bangkok.
Probability of being in an official competition: we’d be very surprised.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: out of competition, midnight showing.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes, but nothing more.
Furiosa – a mad max saga by George Miller
With: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Angus Sampson, Nathan Jones, Quaden Bayles, Daniel Webber, Goran D. Kleut, CJ. Bloomfield, Alyla Browne
As the world falls, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers into the hands of a great biker horde led by the warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the wasteland, they encounter the citadel presided over by Immortan Joe. The two tyrants wage war for dominance, and Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.
Probability of being in an official competition: almost nil.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: opening, most likely
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: no desire.
Beating hearts by Gilles Lellouche
With: François Civil, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Mallory Wanecque, Malik Frikah, Alain Chabat, Benoît Poelvoorde, Vincent Lacoste, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Élodie Bouchez, Karim Leklou
Clotaire, a local rebellious teenager raised in a tough neighborhood, and his schoolmate, Jackie, see their powerful bond tested when Clotaire gets embroiled in gang violence and ends up in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Years later, he comes out of prison committed to reclaiming her heart, even though she has moved on.
Probability of being in an official competition: almost nil.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: out of competition, given the cast.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: Well, Gilles Lelouche isn’t exactly what you’d call a great director, no offense.
*** Films that could be at Cannes ***
The balconettes by Noémie Merlant
With: Noémie Merlant, Souheila Yacoub, Sanda Codreanu
Three women in a Marseille apartment during a heat wave. Opposite them, their mysterious neighbour, the object of all their fantasies. They find themselves trapped in a terrifying and delirious affair, only wishing for freedom.
Probability of being in an official competition: Low
Probability of being in a parallel selection: not impossible, if Merlant is present for Emmanuelle and her film, that would be intriguing.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes to discover
The room next door by Pedro Almodóvar
With: Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, John Turturro
ollows the story of a very imperfect mother and a spiteful daughter separated by a huge misunderstanding. Between them, another woman, a friend of the mother’s, is trusted with the pain and bitterness of both of them.
Probability of being in an official competition: relatively high …
Probability of being in a parallel selection: very low, the competition so often holds out its arms …
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: interesting casting, which doesn’t necessarily strike us as ideal for Almodovar.
Spectators by Arnaud Desplechin
With: Mathieu Amalric, Françoise Lebrun, Micha Lescot, Salif Cissé, Olga Milshtein, Milo Machado-Graner
Arnaud Desplechin returns to his alter-ego Paul Dédalus, the hero of his autobiographical work begun in 1996 with Comment je me suis disputé…ma vie sexuelle and continued years later with Trois souvenirs by ma jeunesse. This time, he returns to his character’s childhood, recounting his introduction to cinema: first as a spectator, then as a cinephile, and finally as a filmmaker.
Probability of being in an official competition: This was often the case at the outset, and less so in recent years. The film would have to be very successful for that to be the case.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: high
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes, Paul Dédalus’s stories are always tasty.
The second act by Quentin Dupieux
With: Léa Seydoux, Louis Garrel, Vincent Lindon, Raphaël Quenard, Manuel Guillot, Françoise Gazio
Florence wants to introduce David, the man she’s madly in love with, to her father Guillaume. But David isn’t attracted to Florence and wants to throw her into the arms of his friend Willy. The four characters meet in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere.
Probability of being in an official competition: low , but you never know…
Probability of being in a parallel selection: more realistic, on a fortnightly basis or out of competition.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes after Daaaaaali!
Les trois amies by Emmanuel Mouret
With Camille Cottin, Sara Forestier, India Hair
Joan, no longer feeling in love, leaves Victor, her partner and father by their daughter. Convinced of the moral rightness of her decision, she nevertheless suffers the terrible consequences when he disappears, plunging her into guilt. Alice, her best friend, advocates a form of marriage by reason, a relationship without love but with tenderness, more bearable for her than passion in love. Rebecca, Joan’s friend, believes in love as an adventure, and has a secret relationship with Alice’s boyfriend! Three close women with different attitudes and moral conceptions. Three women trying to defend their ideas, by asserting their choices…
Probability of being in an official competition: we put a coin …
Probability of being in a parallel selection:it would be possible, but we’d prefer to see it in the official selection;
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes !
Maria by Pablo Larraín
With: Angelina Jolie, Haluk Bilginer, Valeria Golino, Alba Rohrwacher, Pierfrancesco Favino, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alessandro Bressanello, Rebecka Johnston, Stephen Ashfield
The tumultuous, beautiful and tragic life story of American-born Greek soprano Maria Callas, who was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century.
Probability of being in an official competition: it all depends on the quality of the film, and Venice …
Probability of being in a parallel selection:if not in the selection, that would be logical. Unless he’s saving himself for Venice, given the very Italian cast…
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes, even if the biographical subject is not the genre in which we prefer Larrain (we don’t like him in the film by Vampire either, though).
The apprentice by Ali Abbasi
With: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova, Martin Donovan, Patch Darragh, Stuart Hughes, Eoin Duffy, Chloe Madison
The story of how a young Donald Trump started his real estate business in New York during the 1970s and ’80s.
Probability of being in an official competition: at least some say so.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: quite low
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: some say eoui because it evokes Trump, from an angle to be discovered.n any case.
Chocobar by Lucrecia Martel
The murder of indigenous activist Javier Chocobar and the removal of his community from their ancestral land in Argentina.
Probability of being in an official competition: it would be half a surprise.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: particularly at the Fortnight.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: curious to see the new film by Martel.
Serpent’s path by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
With: Damien Bonnard, Ko Shibasaki, Mathieu Amalric, Grégoire Colin
A man asks a friend to help him identify the murderer of his daughter and take revenge on him. Remake by Hebi no michi (Serpent’s Path) by 1998.
Probability of being in an official competition: we believe it… Is it finally her time?
Probability of being in a parallel selection: important
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes!
Oh Canada by Paul Schrader
With: Richard Gere, Jacob Elordi, Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli, Kristine Froseth, Penelope Mitchell, Victoria Hill, Aaron Roman Weiner, Ryan Woodle, John Way
Famed Canadian-American leftist documentary filmmaker Leonard Fife was one of sixty thousand draft evaders and deserters who fled to Canada to avoid serving in Vietnam. Now in his late seventies, Fife is dying of cancer in Montreal and has agreed to a final interview in which he is determined to bare all his secrets at last, to demythologize his mythologized life.
Probability of being in an official competition: we believe it!
Probability of being in a parallel selection: if not officially selected.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: oh yes !
The brutalist by Brady Corbet
With: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Alessandro Nivola, Emma Laird, Joe Alwyn, Raffey Cassidy, Isaach by Bankolé, Stacy Martin, Jonathan Hyde
When visionary architect László Toth and his wife Erzsébet flee Europe to rebuild their legacy and witness the birth of modern America, their lives are changed forever by a mysterious and wealthy client.
Probability of being in an official competition: There are whispers of this in the US, and the casting might lead you to believe it. But we’re wary…
Probability of being in a parallel selection: almosy nil.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: why not
The order by Justin Kurzel
With: Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Alison Oliver, Jurnee Smollett, Marc Maron, Odessa Young, Gordon Rix, huxley fisher, Jason Long
As baffled law enforcement scrambles for answers about a series of increasingly violent bank robberies, counterfeiting operations, and armored car heists through the Pacific Northwest in 1983, a lone FBI agent stationed in the sleepy, picturesque Idaho town of Coeur d’Alene comes to believe the crimes are not the work of traditional, financially motivated criminals, but a group of dangerous domestic terrorists inspired by a radical, charismatic leader plotting a devastating war against the United States government.
Probability of being in an official competition: the casting suggests it …
Probability of being in a parallel selection: we’d be surprised.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes.
Viaje Esencial(Essential Voyage) by Alejandro Jodorowski
With: Alejandro Jodorowsky
The final entry in Jodorowsky’s autobiographical trilogy.
Probability of being in an official competition: real …
Probability of being in a parallel selection:These films were also more in parallel selection than in competition: remember by poesia sin fin at la quinzaine, for example?
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: oh YES!
Juror N° 2 by Clint Eastwood
With: Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, Kiefer Sutherland, Zoey Deutch, Gabriel Basso, Chris Messina, Leslie Bibb, KateLynn E. Newberry, Rachel Walters
A juror in a murder trial realizes he may have caused the victim’s death and must wrestle with the dilemma of whether to manipulate the jury to save himself or reveal the truth and turn himself in.
Probability of being in an official competition: possible
Probability of being in a parallel selection: low.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: : yes anyway.
Mektoub my Love : Canto Due by Abdellatif Kechiche
With: Shaïn Boumedine, Ophélie Bau, Salim Kechiouche, Alexia Chardard, Lou Luttiau, Hafsia Herzi, Jessica Pennington, André Jacobs
It’s the end of summer vacation for Amin. The young photographer spends cozy evenings with Charlotte, the ex-girlfriend of his casanova cousin. She talks to him about literature, he photographs her. Between Amin’s encounters with these women and his dreams of cinema, many choices open up to him.
Probability of being in an official competition: If intermezz was nort his place would be assured.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: Nil..
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: Un très grand OUI !
Niki by Céline Salette
With: Charlotte Le Bon, Damien Bonnard, John Robinson, Quentin Dolmaire, Judith Chemla, Virgile Bramly, Marie Zabukovec, Pierre X. Garnier
French-American artist Niki de Saint-Phalle, from the age of 23, is a model and an aspiring actor who is married and has a two year old daughter. Together, they flee the U.S. during the oppressive McCarthy era and come to France, where they experience a short-lived euphoria. Soon, distant and frightening memories begin to emerge in Niki’s mind. Her vocation as an artist will be her salvation.
Probability of being in an official competition: low.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: a serious contender for the directors’ fortnight
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes!
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Eran Riklis
With: Golshifteh Farahani, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Mina Kavani
Set in post-revolution Iran as extremism took hold, Nafisi’s book tells the autobiographical story of a fearless teacher who secretly gathered seven of her female students to read forbidden Western classics.
Probability of being in an official competition: Possible, even probable, he ticks a few good boxes…
Probability of being in a parallel selection: quite plausible
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: very curious to see it, yes!
Saint-Ex by Pablo Aguerro
With: Louis Garrel, Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Sergej Onopko, Blanche Redouloux
The story takes us back to 1930 and centres around Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, an Airmail pilot in Argentina. When his best friend who happens to be Airmail’s best pilot Henri Guillaumet disappears in the Andes, Saint-Ex decides to set out in search of him, against all odds. This impossible quest forces him to push beyond his limits, turning his capacity to dream into his greatest strength…
Probability of being in an official competition: French casting, for a renowned director who has often appeared at Cannes. In any case, the producers are certainly tempted by the official selection.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: almost nil
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes
The quiet son by Delphine et Murielle Coulin
With: Vincent Lindon, Benjamin Voisin, Stefan Crepon
Adaptation of the novel “What’s Necessary at Night” by Laurent Petitmangin.
Probability of being in an official competition: but the cast is Cannes-compatible.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: more realistic
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes why not
*** Films with a slim chance of making it to Cannes ***
Les vacances by Macmalbaf
Les Vanarrates tells the story of those old men and women who dwell alone in cold relationships and die in the summer heat of Paris.
Probability of being in an official competition: unlikely, but we hope!
Probability of being in a parallel selection: low
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: It’s been so long since we’ve been able to see his films that we can’t wait.
Mexico 86 by César Diaz
With: Bérénice Bejo, Matheo Labbe, Leonardo Ortizgris, Julieta Egurrola
Maria, a Guatemalan revolutionary activist, has been in exile in Mexico City for years, where she continues her political action. When her 11-year-old son comes to live with her, she has to make a difficult choice between her role as mother or activist.
Probability of being in an official competition: relatively low, with the film also announced to be in development
Probability of being in a parallel selection: if he’s ready, he ticks the right boxes for the Fortnite
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: curious
The shrouds by Cronenberg
With: Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Guy Pearce, Sandrine Holt, Elizabeth Saunders, Jennifer Dale, Steve Switzman, Ingvar E. Sigurðsson, Jeff Yung, Eric Weinthal
Karsh, an innovative businessman and grieving widower, builds a device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud. Installed at his own controversial state-of-the-art cemetery, the device enables him and his clients to watch their departed loved ones decompose in real time. Karsh’s revolutionary business is on the verge of breaking into the international mainstream when several graves within his cemetery, including that of his wife, are vandalized and nearly destroyed. While he struggles to uncover a clear motive for the attack, the mystery of who wrought this havoc, and why, drives him to re-evaluate his business, marriage, and fidelity to his late wife’s memory, and pushes him to new beginnings…
Probability of being in an official competition: the last Cronenberg was weak. It is not by all the selections, so no certainty …
Probability of being in a parallel selection: not nil.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: not really.
Lucca Mortis by Peter Greenaway
With: Dustin Hoffman, Helen Hunt
A writer, realising his last big adventure will very likely be death, takes a sabbatical and leaves his home in New York City’s Little Italy to travel with his family to Lucca, Italy in order to trace his ancestral roots and clean up the loose ends in his life.
Probability of being in an official competition: We hope it’s real, because seeing a Greenaway film in competition again would be a real event.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: possible, but unlikely.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: YES!
Près des yeux, près du cœur by Christophe Honoré
With: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Benjamin Biolay, Melvil Poupaud, Nicole Garcia, Fabrice Luchini, Hugh Skinner
Pressured from all sides by the figure of her father, Chiara Mastroianni decides to bring him back to life through her own self. She goes by the name of Marcello, dresses like him and asks to now be considered an actor, not an actress. The people around her believe this to be a temporary joke, but Chiara is determined not to give up her new identity…
Sa probabilité d’être en compétition officielle: Lately, he’s been offered more places in parallel selections than in competition. Its trajectory and rating are on the decline (in the cinema), so we’d be surprised to see it back in official competition.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: possible, even probable.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes:Weak, we could wait to see it in theaters.
Anora by Sean Baker
With: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelstein, Yuriy Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Ivy Wolk, Ross Brodar, Lindsey Normington
A comedy following sex workers.
Probability of being in an official competition: His first selection was a surprise. His second would probably be even more so, especially as he seems to be tackling the same themes.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: perfectly feasible.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: why not.
Miséricorde by Alain Guiraudie
With: Catherine Frot, Félix Kysyl, Jean-Baptiste Durand, Jacques Develay, David Ayala
This is about 31 year-old Jérémie who returns to Saint-Martial in the Massif Central region for an old friend’s funeral. In this village where so much goes unsaid, he must contend with rumours and suspicion, until he commits an irreparable act and finds himself at the centre of a police investigation.
Probability of being in an official competition: Guiraudie in competition like a few years ago? It would be quite surprising, but why not?
Probability of being in a parallel selection: more probable.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: why not.
They follow by David Robert Mitchell
With: Maika Monroe
Sequel to It Follows (2014).
Probability of being in an official competition: unlikely, he had his chance with the silver lake.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: likely. And why not for a midnight session, for a change from the Koreans!
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes
Hallow Road by Bavak Anvari
With: Rosamund Pike, Matthew Rhys
Two parents enter a race against time when they receive a distressing late-night phone call from their daughter after she caused a tragic car accident.
Probability of being in an official competition: we don’t believe it.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: possible
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: out of curiosity.
In the hand of Dante by Julian Schnabel
With: Oscar Isaac, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Gerard Butler, Al Pacino, John Malkovich, Sabrina Impacciatore, Franco Nero, Fortunato Cerlino, Lorenzo Zurzolo
When the original manuscript of The Divine Comedy emerges in the clutches of a black-market smuggling ring in New York City’s dangerous underbelly, the mob calls weary scholar Nick to authenticate it. Overwhelmed by temptation, Nick defies the mafia and steals the manuscript. As he follows a dark and violent path from a metaphorical Hell into Paradise with his love Giulietta, a parallel tale unfolds: the odyssey of Dante himself, a man who, trapped in a loveless marriage with Gemma and bolstered only by his mentorship under an austere intellectual, escapes to Sicily and creates his masterpiece.
Probability of being in an official competition: it would be a nice surprise in any case.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: not to be dismissed, especially at fortnightly intervals.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes.
The captive by Alejandro Amenabar
With: Julio Peña, Alessandro Borghi
The origin story of Miguel de Cervantes, the author of the iconic novel “Don Quixote.” At the age of 28, Cervantes was taken captive by the Moors in Algiers, leading to his creative birth.
Probability of being in an official competition: very low
Probability of being in a parallel selection: not impossible, but not our favorite
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: for its subject yes
The End by Joshua oppenheimer
With: Tilda Swinton, George MacKay, Michael Shannon, Moses Ingram, Bronagh Gallagher, Tim McInnerny, Lennie James
A post-apocalyptic story about a rich family living in a salt mine converted into a luxurious home. The earth around them has apparently been destroyed, but their son has never seen the outside world. As a young girl appears at the entrance of the bunker, the balance of the family is threatened.
Probability of being in an official competition: announced with insistence by colleagues, but is it really a film for the official competition?
Probability of being in a parallel selection: more likely in our view.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: to discover.
The valley of fools by Xavier Beauvois
With: Jean-Paul Rouve, Pierre Richard, Madeleine Beauvois, Joseph Olivennes, Victor Belmondo
Passionate about sailing, Jean-Paul passes a difficult pass. He accumulates debts and moves away from his own. Determined to take his life into his own hands, he enrolled in Virtual Regatta the virtual race of the Vendée Globe. He puts himself in the conditions of a real skipper by insulating himself for 3 months on his boat in his garden – This trip like no other, will allow him to reconnect with his family but above all with himself.
Probability of being in an official competition: he would be making his comeback… we believe it.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: otherwise
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: interested.
Planet B by Aude Léa Rapin
With: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Souheila Yacoub, Jonathan Couzinié, India Hair, Léo Chalié, Grace Seri, Paul Beaurepaire, Marc Barbé, Eliane Umuhire, Souleymane Touré
The film follows Julia, one of the activists who mysteriously disappeared after participating in a violent protest. After being shot in the eye by a flash-ball gun, Julia fainted and woke up in an unknown world, known as Planet B.
Probability of being in an official competition: we’d be surprised, but the festival needs more than ever to discover and give opportunities to female directors, and to ensure parity.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: not nil
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes
A time in eternity by Mehdi Norowzian
With Leila Hatami, Babak Hamidian, Navid Pourfaraj
A woman who is on a relentless and potentially futile quest to track down her missing husband. The situation makes the relationship worse with her daughter and dealing with the unwanted attention of her amorous brother-in-law.
Probability of being in an official competition: the iranian film by this selection?
Probability of being in a parallel selection: relatively low, but why not?
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: not the film we’re most looking forward to.
Celui qui soigne Muganga by Marie-Hélène Roux
With: Isaach by Bankolé, Vincent Macaigne, Manon Bresch, Babetida Sadjo, Déborah Lukumuena
Some battles can change the course of history. In the heart of Central Africa, Denis Mukwege, Congolese doctor and future Nobel Peace Prize winner, risks his life to fight for and treat thousands of women who have been victims of sexual violence and whose bodies have become weapons of war. His meeting with Guy-Bernard Cadière, a renowned Belgian surgeon, will breathe new life into his commitment. Together, they will perform a four-handed operation to restore dignity and hope to these women.
Probability of being in an official competition: low on the face of it, but you never know?
Probability of being in a parallel selection: not impossible.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: for us to discover.
The underdogs
Inside by Charles Williams
With Cosmo Jarvis, Guy Pearce, Toby Wallace
Transferred from juvenile to adult prison, Mel is taken under the wing of both Shepard, Australia’s most despised criminal, and Warren, a soon-to-be-a-paroled inmate. The paternal triangle that forms between them becomes their undoing.
Probability of being in an official competition: would seem very surprising
Probability of being in a parallel selection: some of our colleagues are thinking about it
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: not our cup of tea
Toutes pour une by Houda Benyamina
With: Daphné Patakia, Oulaya Amamra, Georgina Amorós, Sabrina Ouazani, Kacey Mottet Klein, Déborah Lukumuena, Némo Schiffman, Martin Karmann
Women! They’re women! They’ve cut their hair, strapped on their breasts, but they’re women. When Sara, a young Morisco on the run, unmasks the three musketeers protecting the Queen of France, she decides to cling to these powerful women and their brilliant idea: disguise to be free, disguise to be yourself…
Probability of being in an official competition: Houda Benyamina should get her chance at some point after her Camera d’Or, but this seems too close to the mark.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: unlikely, as the film doesn’t seem ready
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: The film has been announced as being in production, so there’s little chance of it being ready for this year, although the cast makes you want to see it!
The barbarians by Julie Delpy
With: Julie Delpy, Sandrine Kiberlain, Laurent Lafitte, India Hair, Mathieu Demy, Ziad Bakri, Albert Delpy, Jean-Charles Clichet, Dalia Naous, Brigitte Roüan
The municipality of a small Breton village has decided to welcome a family of Ukrainian refugees. To their surprise, the receive Fayad family – coming from Syria. They thwart all the clichés that the French expected: they are friendly, refined, educated… So much so that, in this small, humming village, it is no longer clear which side the barbarians are on…
Probability of being in an official competition: almost zero probability with such a synopsis
Probability of being in a parallel selection: very low
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: at the cinema rather than Cannes
Minotaur, Picasso and the Women of Guernica de Julio Medem
With: Pablo Derqui, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Enrique Arce, Sebastian Kahuna, Mauricio Adrian, Catalina Sopelana, Álvaro Lafora, Pedro Salamanca, Aylin Prandi, Pachy Méndez
In a tormented relationship with three womenduring the first year of the Spanish Civil War, Pablo Picasso paints a picture commissioned by the Government of the Spanish Republic for the International Exhibition in Paris. His “Guernica” which will become the most influential painting of the 20th century.
Probability of being in an official competition: very, very low.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: Medem isn’t exactly a director with a Cannes profile
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: if he were to be there, it would be a pleasure!
Here are a few other leads by film for Cannes, but we’d still be surprised to see them at Cannes (for good or ill):
| Movie | Filmmaker |
| Une part manquante | Guillaume Senez |
| Dwelling by the west lake | Gu XiaJang |
| Paris Paradis 2024 | Mmarjane Satrapi |
| Sauvages | Claude Barras |
| Everybody Loves Touda | Nabil Ayouch |
| Kinds of Kindness | Yorghos Lanthimos |
| Monsieur Aznavour | Grand Corps Malade et Mehdi Idir |
| The disappearance / La disparition | Kyrill Serebrennikov |
| Average age (ou height), Average Build | Adam McKay |
| Death of a unicorn | Alex Sharfman |
| Harvest | Athina Rachel Sangari |
| Haunted Heart | Fernando Trueba |
| Horizon an american saga | Kevin Costner |
| I Saw the tv globe show | Jane Shoenbrun |
| La plus précieuse des marchandises | Michel Hazanavicius |
| le roman de Jim | frères Larrieux |
| Les fantômes | Jonathan Millet |
| Longlegs | Oz Perkins |
| Little Trouble Girls | Urska Djukic |
| Maldoror | Fabrice Du Weltz |
| Maxxxine | Ti West |
| Mi Bestia | Camille Beltran |
| Modi | Johnny Depp |
| Mother Mary | David Lowery |
| Leurs enfants après eux | frères Boukherma |
| Nosferatu | Robert Eggers |
| Opus | Mark Anthony Green |
| Quand vient l’automne | Francois Ozon |
| Sang craché des lèvres belles | Jean-Charles Hue |
| Street Trash | Ryan Kruger |
| Submergée | Alanté Kavaité |
| The Actor | Duke Johnson |
| The Fix | Kelsey Egan |
| The rivals of Amziah Kings | Andrew Patterson |
| Traps | Night Shyamalan |
| Two to one | Natja Brunckhorst |
| Beetle juice 2 | Tim Burton |
| Joker: Folie à 2 | Todd Philipps |
| Patricia et Mina / Les prisonnières | Patricia Mazuy |
| La pie voleuse | Robert Guediguian |
| la Magnifique vie by Marcel Pagnol | Sylvain Chaumet |
| L’hirondelle | Mélanie Laurent |
| La petite Vadrouille | Bruno Podalydes |
| La belle by Gaza | Yolande Zauberman |
| Camping du lac | Eleonore Saintagnan |
| Sur un fil | Reda Kateb |
| Je le jure | Samuel Theis |
| Le déluge | Gianluca Jodice |
| Belle | Benoit Jacquot |
| Furcy | Abd El Malik |
| Rembrandt | Pierre Schoeller |
| Queer (ou Challengers) | Luca Guadagnino |
| Vice Versa 2 | Pixar |
| Hope | Na-Hong Jinh |
| Les pistolets en plastique | Jean-Christophe Meurisse |
| Gourou | Yann Gozlan |
| Lollipop | Daisy-May Hudson |
The films announced as possible for Cannes by our colleagues are not very realistic:
Hard Truths by Mike Leigh
With: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin
Ongoing exploration of the contemporary world with a tragicomic study of human strengths and weaknesses.
Probability of being in an official competition: very low, the film is in production …
Probability of being in a parallel selection: almost nil
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: not our cup of tea.
Le faux soir by Michael R Koskam
With: Matthias Schoenaerts
November 1943. The Front de l’Indépendance, a Belgian resistance organization, publishes a fake newspaper, “Le Soir”, mocking the German occupiers.
Probability of being in an official competition: almost nil, the film is in development …
Probability of being in a parallel selection: almost nil
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: not really
Father Mother Sister Brother by Jim Jarmush
With: Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Charlotte Rampling
Premise TBA. To be shot in Paris and described as “quiet, funny, and sad.”
Probability of being in an official competition: very low, the film is announced to be in production… more like Venice or Cannes next year.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: almost nil
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes, if it could be done
Young Sinner by Paul Verhoeven
An erotic political thriller, set in Washington D.C. and will revolve around a young staffer who works for a powerful Senator, is drawn into a web of international intrigue and danger.
Probability of being in an official competition: almost nil, the film is in development …
Probability of being in a parallel selection: almost nil
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: it will probably be very few, if any.
Mickey 17 by Bong Joon-ho
With: Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, Steven Yeun, Holliday Grainger
Mickey 17 is an “expendable”, a disposable employee, on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of its memories intact.
Probability of being in an official competition: after his Palme d’Or win, it’s the only competition he can claim …
Probability of being in a parallel selection: nil
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: nil.
We shall all be by Jia Zhangke
With: Zhao Tao, Zhou You, Ren Ke, Mao Tao
The film is set across the first two decades of the 21st century and tells the story of how a Chinese woman lives to herself in silence, celebrating the prosperous Belle Epoque with songs and dance.
Probability of being in an official competition: Jia Zhangke is a director who counts and whose career is linked to Cannes.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: almost nil
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: YES!
The island by Paweł Pawlikowski
With: Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara
A couple decides to turn their backs on civilization to build their private paradise on a desert island. However, a millionaire passing through the island makes them a sensation, making a European countess want to take over their island.
Probability of being in an official competition: possible.
Probability of being in a parallel selection: would be astonishing.
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes, from the looks of it.
Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier
With: Renate Reinsve
Nora, an actor, and her sister Agnes, are grieving the loss of their mother when their father Gustav reappears in their lives after a long absence. Gustav, a once-celebrated filmmaker, has written a script for a comeback movie and offered the main part to his daughter Nora, but she categorically refuses the role. During a career retrospective in France, Gustav meets an adoring Hollywood star and offers her the part intended for Nora. When the film starts shooting back home in Norway, Gustav seizes the opportunity to repair his bond with Nora and her sister.
Probability of being in an official competition: would be strong enough if the film was ready
Probability of being in a parallel selection: very low
Our desire to see the film at Cannes: yes, after Julie in twelve chapters, With Renate Reinsve’s return to Cannes is likely to be eagerly awaited.
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