#Cannes2024 – The parallel selections program

This Life of Mine (MA VIE MA GUEULE ) by Sophie Fillières – opening film

With: Agnès Jaoui, Philippe Katerine, Édouard Sulpice, Angelina Woreth, Valérie Donzelli, Emmanuel Salinger

Barbie, once an attractive, devoted mother and partner, faces newfound challenges as she turns 55, descending into darkness, violence, and absurdity while grappling with her identity, relationships, and life’s complexities.

In His Own Image (À SON IMAGE) by Thierry de Peretti

With: Cédric Appietto, Antonia Buresi, Alexis Manenti, Victoire du Bois, Clara-Maria Laredo, Marc Antonu Mozziconacci, Louis Starace, Barbara Sbraggia, Saveria Giorgi, Andrea Cossu

Fragments from the life of Antonia, a young photographer working for Corse-Matin in Ajaccio. Her commitment, her friends and her loves are interwoven with the major events in the island’s political history, from the 1980s to the dawn of the 21st century.

CHRISTMAS EVE IN MILLER’S POINT by Tyler Taormina

With: Michael Cera, Elsie Fisher, Maria Dizzia, Sawyer Spielberg, Ben Shenkman, Gregg Turkington, Francesca Scorsese, Courtney Warner, Gregory Falatek, Lev Cameron

On Christmas Eve, a family gathers for what could be the last holiday in their ancestral home. As the night wears on and generational tensions arise, one of the teenagers sneaks out with her friends to claim the wintry suburb for her own.

DESERT OF NAMIBIA (Namibia no sabaku) by Yoko Yamanaka

With: Yuumi Kawai

This second feature follows Kana, a 21-year-old Japanese woman with an indecisive and unpredictable temperament, as she changes partners. An uninvolved beautician with no real desires of her own, she can be cruel and aggressive at times. A wild girl? She’s simply alive. Unconvincing doctors diagnose her with bipolar disorder. Desert of Namibia’s dry editing and zooms convey the dismay of a woman struggling with a society that is still terribly rigid and patriarchal.

EAST OF NOON (Sharq 12) by Hala Elkoussy

With: Ahmed Kamal, Menha Batraoui, Omar Rozik, Fayza Shama

A fable about musician Abdo, who rebels against his elders, seeking freedom through his art in a confined world outside of time.

EAT THE NIGHT by Caroline Poggi ,Jonathan Vinel

Young drug dealer Pablo and his sister Appoline bond over an online game called Darknoon. Pablo falls for Night, neglecting his sister. While Appoline finishes the game, Pablo and Night become embroiled in a dangerous gang conflict.

EEPHUS by Carson Lund – first film

With: Frederick Wiseman, Keith William Richards, Wayne Diamond, Gregory Falatek, Conner Marx, Theodore Bouloukos, David Torres Jr., David Pridemore, Keith Poulson, Chris Goodwin

Young drug dealer Pablo and his sister Appoline bond over an online game called Darknoon. Pablo falls for Night, neglecting his sister. While Appoline finishes the game, Pablo and Night become embroiled in a dangerous gang conflict.

GAZER by Ryan J. Sloan – first film

With: Ariella Mastroianni, Jack Alberts, Grant Schumacher, Marcia DeBonis, Tommy Kang, Renee Gagner

A young mother with a rare brain condition desperately takes a job from a mysterious woman with a dark past.

GHOST CAT ANZU (Bakeneko Anzu-chan / Anzu, chat-fantôme) by Yoko Kuno ,Nobuhiro Yamashita

With: Mirai Moriyama, Noa Gotō

Karin, 11 years old, is abandoned by her father at her grandfather’s house, the monk of a small town in the Japanese countryside. Her grandfather asks Anzu, his jovial and helpful although rather capricious ghost cat, to look after her. The meeting of their strong characters causes sparks, at least at the beginning…

GOOD ONE by India Donaldson – first film

With: Lily Collias, James Le Gros, Danny McCarthy, Sumaya Bouhbal, Diana Irvine, Sam Lanier, Peter McNally, Eric Yates

On a weekend backpacking trip in the CLors d’un week-end de randonnée dans les Catskills, Sam, 17 ans, doit faire face à l’égoïsme de son père et de son plus vieil ami.atskills, 17-year-old Sam contends with the competing egos of her father and his oldest friend.

MONGREL (白衣蒼狗) by Chiang Wei-Liang ,​You Qiao Yin – first film

With: Wanlop Rungkamjad, Lu Yi-ching, Hong Yu Hong, Atchara Suwan, Guo Shu-wei

Set in the mountains of Taiwan, the film follows Rungkumjad’s character Oom, an undocumented migrant and on-demand caregiver for rural families, who struggles to preserve his humanity as he cares for the elderly and disabled.

Visiting Hours (LA PRISONNIÈRE DE BORDEAUX) by Patricia Mazuy

With: Isabelle Huppert, Hafsia Herzi

The unlikely friendship between two women whose husbands are in prison. A meeting between a courageous young mother and a refined bourgeois woman. What brings them together? The hardships? Loneliness? One will help the other. Or maybe it’s the other way around

SAVANNA AND THE MOUNTAIN (A savana e a montanha) by Paulo Carneiro

With Aida Fernandes, Maria Loureiro, Elisabete Pires, Daniel Loureiro, Rita & Inês Mó, Nelson Gomes, Carlos Libo, Paulo Sanches

Once upon a time, there was a revolution in Covas do Barroso, a village in northern Portugal. A hybrid documentary in which, between songs and western imagery, the inhabitants stage their own struggle – still going on today – against the industrial project that threatens their land. British firm Savannah Resources hopes to develop and exploit what would become Europe’s largest open-pit lithium mine. A ballad of resistance, sometimes reminiscent of the cinema of Luc Moullet or Alain Guiraudie.

SISTER MIDNIGHT by Karan Kandhari

Avec Radhika Apte, Ashok Pathak, Chhaya Kadam, Smita Tambe

The film follows the trials and tribulations of Uma, a young, newly-married woman who discovers the realities of married life in a Mumbai slum, and whose thirst for vengeance will not fade.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING BORROWED (Algo viejo, algo nuevo, algo prestado) by Hernán Rosselli

With Maribel Felpeto , Alejandra Cánepa, Hugo Felpeto, Leandro Menendez, Juliana Inae Risso, Marcelo Barbosa, Javier Abril Rotger

In a working-class suburb of Buenos Aires, the Felpetos – the Sopranos next door – have a well-established underground sports betting business. After the father’s death, mother and daughter have to take over the business. Maribel, the filmmaker’s childhood neighbor, entrusted him with old family videos and agreed to become a fictional character “in the present” in front of his camera, like the other members of her tribe, transformed into bookmakers. Game theory and the network figure impose themselves on every scale, from individual memories to the history of a country.

THE FALLING SKY (A queda do céu / La Chute du ciel) by Eryk Rocha ,Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha

Documentary about Indigenous peoples’ profound connection to nature and their struggle against deforestation, a grave threat to their way of life and the ecosystem they call home.

THE HYPERBOREANS (Los hiperbóreos) by Cristóbal León ,Joaquín Cociña

With: Antonia Giesen, Fransisco Visceral Rivera

After 2018’s La casa lobo, their world-renowned animated feature debut, the Chilean duo mix puppetry, stop-motion and live-action, theater, sci-fi and true-false biopic. In the limbo of a large studio, our only guide is a woman, alternately storyteller, actress and illusionist, who interacts with Méliès-style cardboard sets and effigies, following in the footsteps of a very real man: Chilean neo-Nazi dandy Miguel Serrano (1917-2009), a pencil-pusher and originator of delirious esoteric theories. Fascinating aberration or symptom of a deeper evil?

THE OTHER WAY AROUND (Volveréis / Septembre sans attendre) by Jonás Trueba

With: Itsaso Arana, Vito Sanz

After 15 years together, Ale and Alex have an idea that might seem absurd: to organize a party to celebrate their breakup. This announcement leaves their loved ones perplexed, but they remain firm in their decision to separate. Or maybe not?

TO A LAND UNKNOWN by Mahdi Fleifel

Avec Mahmood Bakri, Aram Sabbagh, Mohammad Alsurafa, Angeliki Papoulia, Mouataz Alshalton, Mohammad Ghassan , Monzer Reyahnah.

A Palestinian refugee living on the fringes of society in Athens gets ripped off by a smuggler and sets out to seek revenge.

Universal Language (UNE LANGUE UNIVERSELLE) by Matthew Rankin

With: Matthew Rankin, Mani Soleymanlou, Pirouz Nemati, Ila Firouzabadi, Danielle Fichaud, Rojina Esmaeili, Saba Vahedyousefi, Sobhan Javadi

In Winnipeg, Nazgol and Hossein try to help a classmate recover an Iranian banknote. At the same time, a character named Matthew Rankin quits his job in Montreal to be closer to his family in Winnipeg, where he meets Massoud, a tour guide who also takes care of Rankin’s mother.

Plastic Guns (LES PISTOLETS EN PLASTIQUE ) by Jean-Christophe Meurisse – closing film

With: Delphine Baril, Charlotte Laemmel, Laurent Stocker, Gaëtan Peau, Juana Acosta, Anthony Paliotti, Philippe Rebbot, Jonathan Cohen, Nora Hamzawi, Vincent Dedienne

During a trip to Denmark, a man is arrested and accused of murdering his wife and three children. Though maintaining his innocence, he remains jailed as police investigate.

American Stories: Food, Family and Philosophy (HISTOIRES D’AMÉRIQUE : FOOD, FAMILY AND PHILOSOPHY) by Chantal Akerman

With: Mark Amitin, Eszter Balint, Stephan Balint, Judith Malina, Kirk Baltz, Sharon Diskin

Belgian director Chantal Akerman avoids her usual “real time” technique in Histoires d’Amérique. The anecdotal nature of the subject matter compels Akerman to fragment her narrative, rather than offer it in one, uninterrupted continuum. Still, another Akerman trademark — permitting the “drama” to emanate from the actors rather than the situations — is very much in evidence. This informal history of Jewish life over the past 100 years is related in a series of eyewitness accounts, re-created by a group of largely unknown actors. Also known as American Stories, the Belgian/French Histoires d’Amérique began building an audience when it was shown at the Berlin Film Festival.

Baby by Marcelo Caetano

With: João Pedro Mariano, Ricardo Teodoro, Bruna Linzmeyer, Ana Flavia Cavalcanti, Luiz Bertazzo

After being released from a juvenile detention center, Wellington finds himself alone and adrift on the streets of São Paulo, without any contact from his parents and lacking the resources to rebuild his life. During a visit to a porn theater, he encounters Ronaldo, a mature man, who teaches him new ways of surviving. Gradually, their relationship turns into a conflicting passion, oscillating between exploitation and protection, jealousy and complicity.

Blue Sun Palace by Constance Tsang

With: Lee Kang-sheng, Wu Ke-Xi, Haipeng Xu

A sudden loss catalyzes an unlikely bond between two migrants in the Chinese community of Queens. Navigating lives far from home and the painstaking labor that supports them, they journey through grief together in hopes of finding family.

Julie zwijgt / Julie Keeps Quiet by Leonardo Van Dijl

With: Ruth Becquart, Tessa Van den Broeck, Koen De Bouw, Tijmen Govaerts, Sofie Decleir, Claire Bodson, Laurent Caron

A talented young tennis player comes under pressure to talk when her coach is investigated for abusing his position.

Locust by KEFF

With: Wilson Liu, Rimong Ihwar, Devin Pan, Yu An-Shun, Yi-Jung Wu, Ma Nien-Hsien, Rui-Hsiu Fan, Yu-Yan Chen

In Taiwan, as the 2019 Hong Kong protests erupt across the strait, Zhong-Han, a young silent thug, leads a life divided between his work in a family restaurant and parties in the dark Taipei underworld. But when a questionable businessman wants to buy the restaurant, Zhong-Han is drawn into a whirlwind of events that confronts him with the corrupt power games of his country.

Block Pass (La Pampa ) by Antoine Chevrollier

With: Artus, Damien Bonnard, Sayyid El Alami, Amaury Foucher, Mathieu Demy, Florence Janas, Léonie Dahan-Lamort

Willy spends his time with Jojo, his best friend, at La Pampa, the motocross course where Jojo trains for the French championship. One evening, Willy discovers Jojo’s secret. It’s time to leave childhood behind.

The Brink of Dreams (Rafaat einy ll sama) by Nada Riyadh ,Ayman El Amir

With: Majda Masoud, Haidi Sameh, Monika Youssef

In a remote conservative village in the South of Egypt, a group of disenfranchised Coptic girls rebel by forming an all-female street theater troupe. They dream of becoming actresses, dancers and singers, challenging their families and the villagers with their provocative performances. Shot across four years, this coming-of-age story focuses on those girls, as they transition from childhood to womanhood.

Simon de la montaña (Simon of the mountain) by Federico Luis Tachella

With: Lorenzo Ferro

Simon is 21 years old. He introduces himself as a mover’s helper. He claims not to know how to cook or clean the bathroom, but he does know how to make a bed. Recently, he seems to have become a different person…

Ghost Trail (Les Fantômes) by Jonathan Millet ,Olivier Boonjing – Opening Film

With: Adam Bessa, Tawfeek Barhom, Julia Franz Richter, Hichem Yacoubi, Sami Outalbali, Souheila Yacoub, Hala Rajab

Hamid, is part of a secret group pursuing the Syrian regime’s fugitive leaders. His mission takes him to France, on the trail of his former torturer whom he must confront. Based on true events.

Across the Sea (La mer au loin ) by Saïd Hamich

With: Ayoub Gretaa, Grégoire Colin, Anna Mouglalis

Twenty-seven-year-old Nour has immigrated illegally to Marseille, where he and his friends live a marginal and festive life. From 1990 to 2000, Nour loves, grows older and clings to his dreams, damaged by the melancholy of an irreversible exile.

Queens of Drama (Les Reines du drame) by Alexis Langlois

With: Asia Argento, Alma Jodorowsky, Bilal Hassani, Raya Martigny, Dustin Muchuvitz, Mona Soyoc, Jean-Biche, Nana Benamer, Julia Fiquet, Drag Couenne

2055. Steevyshady, a 65-year-old Youtuber, posts a video on Mimi4Ver, his channel dedicated to Mimi Madamour, a teen singer from the 00’s, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pas touche! her biggest hit. The lifted man films himself in his teenage bedroom, still covered with posters of the star. He confesses to having dragged her through the mud, because he never accepted her romance with punk singer Billie Kolher. Today, Steevy wants to pay tribute to them by telling their story…

Animale by Emma Benestan – Closing Film

With: Oulaya Amamra

Camargue, France – Nejma trains hard to win the local bullfighting competition. When she is mauled after a celebration, she starts to notice disturbing changes. News of a rogue bull on the loose terrifies the community, killing young men.

CE N’EST QU’UN AU REVOIR by Guillaume Brac

Documentary – 66 min – France – 2024

Can high school friendships last a lifetime? One thing’s for sure: before long, Aurore, Nours, Jeanne, Diane and the others will say goodbye to their boarding rooms, swimming in the Drôme and parties in the mountains. Louison will cut his dreads and the little family will break up. For some of them, it’s not the first time, and it hurts even more…

CHÂTEAU ROUGE by Hélène Milano

Documentary – 107 min – France – 2024

Goutte d’Or district, Paris, Château Rouge metro station, Georges Clemenceau secondary school. Teenagers, burdened with their carelessness and their wounds, have to grow up. They are shaping their personalities, losing their way, searching for themselves. Adults try to guide them despite the violence of the system.

FOTOGENICO by Marcia Romano ,Benoît Sabatier

With: Sasha Vaughan, Christophe Paou, Roxane Mesquida, Angèle Metzger

Unable to cope with grief, Raoul arrives in Marseille, the city of his lost daughter. He finds her old friends, her music band, and even her dealer. But where will this much too intimate quest lead him? And what if music was a scream that could light up his heart?

IN RETREAT by Maisam Ali – First Film

With: Harish Khanna

Somewhere between the end of autumn and the start of winter, the absent one returns home to a small town in the mountains. Now in his 50s, always away and late, having missed his brother’s funeral, he lingers at the threshold of the old home – what else can he attain other than delaying one more night of his arrival.

IT DOESN’T MATTER by Josh Mond

With: Christopher Abbott, Jay Will

Follows the cross country wanderings of Alvaro, a man from Staten Island, and his fortuitous relationship with a young filmmaker. Over the course of seven years, Alvaro comes to confront the issues that have left him down and out — and how he begins to heal.

KYUKA – BEFORE SUMMER’S END by Kostis Charamountanis – First Film

With: Elsa Lekakou, Konstantinos Georgopoulos, Simeon Tsakiris, Elena Topalidou, Stathis Apostolou

A single father and his two adult twin children go on a sailing holiday to the island of Poros, where the twins come across and befriend two girls, and get to meet their parents – including, unbeknownst to them, their birth mother, who abandoned them when they were small.

MI BESTIA by Camila Beltrán – First Film

With: Stella Martinez, Mallerly Murillo, Héctor Sánchez

Set in Bogotá in 1996. In the darkness caused by power outages, the townspeople are terrified of the arrival of the antichrist. Thirteen-year-old Ana is deeply tormented by this rumor that secretly invades her daily life, by the existential crises of her school’s priest or by the animistic superstitions of the maiden.

MOST PEOPLE DIE ON SUNDAYS by Iair Said

With: Iair Said, Rita Cortese, Antonia Zegers, Juliana Gattas

David, a young middle-class Jewish boy, overweight, homosexual and afraid of flying, returns to Buenos Aires from Europe when his uncle dies. During his time there, David learns that his mother has decided to disconnect his father from the ventilator.

UN PAYS EN FLAMMES de Mona Convert – First Film

Documentary – 71 min – France – 2024

In the Landes forest, a family passes down the secrets of fire from generation to generation. Under the eyes of animals, the days and the nights succeed one another. The father, Patrick, eats grass. The daughter, Margot, explodes. The child, Jean, codes firefly arrangements.