As the 71st Cannes Film Festival quickly approaches, the French Riviera is alive with the sound of movies. That is, if you can hear it above the Oohs and Aahs from the proclaimed lack of female directors, the ill-timed Netflix fiasco, early screenings and red carpet selfie halt.
The official selection for the 2018 festival has now been announced. And although there were some hums of satisfaction for the batch of films from regulars and newcomers alike, much of the press has been about what’s absent. Where’s Denis? Kawase? Ceylan? Malick? Etc, etc, etc. Don’t forget there’s still room for films to be added.
Let’s have a look, then. There’s a return to the competition for Alice Rohrwacher who won the Grand Prize of the Jury in 2014 for the extraordinary Le meraviglie / The Wonders. This year the Italian brings Lazzaro Felice. Representing Lebanon, Nadine Labaki is also back at the festival, with Capernaum. The director was at Cannes in 2007 with Sukkar banat / Caramel, and later would win the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury for Et maintenant on va où? / Where Do We Go Now? in 2011. Making up the trio of female filmmakers in competition this year is first-timer Eva Husson, with Girls of the Sun.
Given his winning BAFTA form it is something of a surprise that Pawel Pawlikowski makes only his first entry into competition, with romance Zimna Wojn / Cold War. Yomeddine, directed by A.B Shawky, and Netemo Sametemo / Asako I & II, from Ryusuke Hamaguchi are also first-timers. And then all the fuss about Spike Lee’s new movie BlacKKKlansman, on the surface could cause quite the stir – but he hasn’t been the Spike Lee we loved for years now.
A veteran of Cannes and, of course, cinema itself, is Jean-Luc Godard, and he’ll showcase another one of his video essays Le Livre d’Image. The last time he was here in 2014 his similar exploration Adieu au langage / Goodbye to Language was the joint winner of the Jury Prize. Asghar Farhadi is also back, stepping somewhat out of his discomfort zone with Todos Lo Saben / Everybody Knows. The director is in form with Cannes though, his last two entries have won prizes. In 2016 the Best Screenplay prize for Forushande / The Salesman, with Shahab Hosseini winning Best Actor. And in 2013 he won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury for Le passé / The Past, Best Actress going to Bérénice Bejo.
Other household names returning this year to Cannes include At War by Stéphane Brizé (La loi du marché / The Measure of a Man winning Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and Best Actor in 2015). Dogman director Matteo Garrone was last in Cannes for Il racconto dei racconti / Tale of Tales, but before that was a double Grand Prize of the Jury winner for Gomorra (2008) and Reality (2012).
Currently serving a ban in Iran, director Jafar Panahi has managed to land a film in competition, Three Faces, but does not yet know whether he will even be able to attend in France. Panahi first won in Cannes in 1995, winning the Golden Camera for Badkonake sefid / The White Balloon. Marking another great turn-out for Asian cinema, Jia Zhang-ke’s Ash is Purest White will be in competition – the director has a great reputation at the festival, most notably winning Best Screenplay for Tian zhu ding / A Touch of Sin in 2013.
Kore-eda Hirokazu also has a steady track record with the likes of 2013 Jury Prize winner Soshite chichi ni naru / Like Father, Like Son, and Dare mo shiranai / Nobody Knows, which won the Best Actor prize for 14 year-old Yûya Yagira. This year, Hirokazu brings Shoplifters to the Riviera. Chang-dong Lee won Best Screenplay and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury – Special Mention for Shi / Poetry in 2010. This year, the filmmaker has Buh-Ning / Burning in competition.
You may also know Christophe Honoré, director of Sorry Angel, and Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov, with Leto, he won the François Chalais Award for (M)uchenik / The Student in 2016. David Robert Mitchell is one of thee more mainstream names at the festival this year (barring Ron Howard), was a hit in Cannes in 2014 with It Follows. He is back with Under the Silver Lake, also in the main competition. Here are the line-ups in full:
IN COMPETITION
Asghar FARHADI — TODOS LO SABEN / EVERYBODY KNOWS
Stéphane BRIZÉ — AT WAR
Matteo GARRONE — DOGMAN
Jean-Luc GODARD — LE LIVRE D’IMAGE
Ryusuke HAMAGUCHI — NETEMO SAMETEMO / ASAKO I & II
Christophe HONORÉ — SORRY ANGEL
Eva HUSSON — GIRLS OF THE SUN
JIA Zhang-Ke — ASH IS PUREST WHITE
KORE-EDA Hirokazu — SHOPLIFTERS
Nadine LABAKI — CAPERNAUM
LEE Chang-Dong — BUH-NING / BURNING
Spike LEE — BLACKKKLANSMAN
David Robert MITCHELL — UNDER THE SILVER LAKE
Jafar PANAHI — THREE FACES
Pawel PAWLIKOWSKI — ZIMNA WOJNA / COLD WAR
Alice ROHRWACHER — LAZZARO FELICE
Kirill SEREBRENNIKOV — LETO
A.B SHAWKY — YOMEDDINE
UN CERTAIN REGARD
Ali ABBASI — GRÄNS / BORDER
Meryem BENM’BAREK — SOFIA
Andréa BESCOND, Eric METAYER — LITTLE TICKLES
BI Gan — LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT
Nandita DAS — MANTO
Antoine DESROSIÈRES — SEXTAPE
Lukas DHONT — GIRL
Vanessa FILHO — ANGEL FACE
Valeria GOLINO — EUPHORIA
Gaya JIJI — MY FAVORITE FABRIC
Wanuri KAHIU — RAFIKI / FRIEND
Etienne KALLOS — DIE STROPERS / THE HARVESTERS
Ulrich KÖHLER — IN MY ROOM
Luis ORTEGA — EL ANGEL
Adilkhan YERZHANOV — THE GENTLE INDIFFERENCE OF THE WORLD
OUT OF COMPETITION
Ron HOWARD — SOLO A STAR WARS STORY
Gilles LELLOUCHE — LE GRAND BAIN
MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
Joe PENNA — ARCTIC
YOON Jong-Bin — GONGJAK / THE SPY GONE NORTH
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Aditya ASSARAT, Wisit SASANATIENG, Chulayarnon SRIPHOL, Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL — 10 YEARS IN THAILAND
Nicolas CHAMPEAUX, Gilles PORTE — THE STATE AGAINST MANDELA AND THE OTHERS
Carlo DIEGUES — O GRANDE CIRCO MÍSTICO / THE GREAT MYSTICAL CIRCUS
Romain GOUPIL — LA TRAVERSÉE
Michel TOESCA — TO THE FOUR WINDS
WANG Bing — DEAD SOULS
Wim WENDERS — POPE FRANCIS – A MAN OF HIS WORD