No matter what many have already started to voice, this year selection is "audacious" to say the least and exciting/interesting as even when there are some cinema Gods in the selection there are ALSO some newcomers, young filmmakers that have their films for the first time in the main competition. This undoubtedly makes great food for the possibility of a great festival, like when the official selection care more about quality and less about commercial cinema.Still this year the Selection will bring to Cannes a rain of huge movie-stars, European and American, which indeed attracts press coverage; so in a way, this will be a great fest with great cinema and great movie stars. An odd combination of elements that not often go well together, but seems this time could be explosively good. Just for fun will make the list of "movie stars" that will walk the red carpet and you will see more clearly what I mean.
The list of those out of the Official Selection is long. Had to be as when I read again my long list becomes very clear that there were too many great French films and in general, too many great films from "traditional" cinema strong countries. So, because who the directors are, imagine that could not end up in lesser than the main competition official selection sections; still there is hope that some French films and elsewhere films could be part of La Quinzaine selection, where there is always a good mix of known and newcomer directors.
This year main competition has some oddities, like for example, a film that has already premiered, critics have seen it, many have already reviewed and is in the competition. Yes I'm talking about Nanni Moretti's film, a film that according to me , HAD to be in competition -no matter what- and indeed it is, but that doesn't mean that is odd to not have a premiere in Cannes.
In the press conference Thierry Fremaux said there were 16 films in competition and that there could be 4 more to come, to make 20 films in competition. But as many noticed, including me, he announced 17 films, so it's not clear if there is room for 3 or 4 more films. So we will sooner than later will find out how many films will be in this year competition.From the 17 films already announced we can say that up-to-this-moment, the festival is more European as more than half of the films have production teams from European countries, even when they were filmed in English. Which makes this selection the one with the most English-spoken films, probably ever or in a very long time (will check this later to be exact). But please pay attention to France, once again French movie produces high quality cinema either being the sole, the majority or the minority producer. Vive Le Cinéma Française!
Talking about the Un Certain Regard section, we see there has to be room for more films as there are only 14 announced today. Assume that soon we will learn the film that will open the section plus more films up to perhaps 20 (?).
The post will be constantly updated with info released by fest organizers and could include new films in the Official Selection, Cannes Classics, events, etc.
Festival runs from May 13 to 24. In BLUE female directors.
Competition
Carol, Todd Haynes, UK and USA
Dheepan (aka Erran), Jacques Audiard, France
Il Racconto dei Racconti (The Tale of Tales), Matteo Garrone, Italy, France and UK
La loi du marché (A Simple Man), Stéphane Brizé, France
Louder Than Bombs, Joachim Trier, Norway, Denmark, USA and France
Macbeth, Justin Kurzel, UK, USA and France
Marguerite et Julien, Valérie Donzelli, France
Mia Madre, Nanni Moretti, Italy, Germany and France
Mon Roi, Maïwenn, France
聂隐娘 Nie Yin niang (The Assassin), Hou Hsiao Hsien, Taiwan
(*) Saul Fia (Son of Saul), László Nemes, Hungary
山河故人Shan He Gu Ren (Mountains May Depart), Jia Zhang-ke, China, France and Japan
Sicario, Denis Villeneuve, USA
The Lobster, Yorgos Lanthimos, Greece, UK, Ireland, Netherlands and France
The Sea of Trees, Gus van Sant, USA
海街 diary Umimachi Diary (Our Little Sister), Kore-eda Hirokazu, Japan
Youth, Paolo Sorrentino, Italy, Switzerland, UK and France
Out of Competition
Opening Film: La Tête Haute (Standing Tall), Emmanuelle Bercot, France
Irrational Man, Woody Allen, USA
Inside Out, Peter Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen, USA (animation)
Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller, Australia and USA
The Little Prince, Mark Osborne, France (animation)
The Jury
President: Joel and Ethan Coen, filmmakers, USA
Un Certain Regard
Comoara (The Treasure), Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania and France
Chauthi Koot (The Fourth Direction), Gurvinder Singh, India
Hrútar (Rams), Grímur Hákonarson, Iceland
(*) Je Suis Un Soldat (I Am A Soldier), Laurent Larivière, France
岸辺の旅 Kishibe no tabi (Journey to the Shore), Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan
Las Elegidas (The Chosen Ones), David Pablos, Mexico
Louisiana - The Other Side, Roberto Minervini, Italy and France (documentary)
마돈나 Madonna, Shin Suwon, South Korea
Maryland (aka Close Protection), Alice Winocour, Belgium and France
(*) Masaan (Fly Away Solo), Neeraj Ghaywan, India
무뢰한 Mu-roe-han (The Shameless), Oh Seung-Uk, South Korea
(*)ناهید Nahid, Ida Panahandeh, Iran
Un etaj mai jos (One Floor Below), Radu Muntean, Romania, Sweden and France
Zvizdan (The High Sun), Dalibor Matanić, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia
Une Certain Regard Jury
President: Isabella Rosellini, actress and director, Italy
Special Screenings
Amnesia, Barbet Schroeder, Switzerland and France
Asphalte, Samuel Benchetrit, France
(*) Hayored Lema'Ala, Elad Keidan, Israel and France
Oka, Souleymane Cisse, Mali and France
(*) Panama, Pavle Vučković, Serbia
(*) Sipur Al Ahava Ve Choshech (A Tale of Love and Darkness), Natalie Portman, USA
Midnight Screenings
(*)오피스 O Piseu (Office), Hong Won-chan, South Korea
Amy, Asif Kapadia, UK (documentary)
Cannes Classics
Ingrid Bergman, in Her Own Words, Stig Björkman, Sweden (documentary)
(*) First film, competes for the Camera d'Or
Short Films Competition
Ave Maria, Basil Khalil, Palestine, France and Germany, 14'
Copain (Buddy), Jan Roosens and Raf Roosens, Belgium 14'
Le Repas Dominical (Sunday Lunch), Céline Devaux, France 13'
Love is Blind, Dan Hodgson, UK, 6'
Patriot, Eva Riley, UK, 14'
Presente Imperfecto (Present Imperfect), Iair Said, Argentina, 15'
Sali (Tuesday), Ziya Demirel, Turkey and France, 12'
The Guests, Shane Danielsen, Australia, 10'
موج '٩٨ Waves '98, Ely Dagher, Lebanon and Qatar, 14'
Cinéfondation Selection
Четырнадцать шагов 14 Steps, Maksim Shavkin, Russia, 37', Moscow School of New Cinema
Abwesend (Absent), Eliza Petk, Germany, 13', Deutsche Film & Fernsehakademie (dffb)
Ainahan ne Palaa (To Return Until), Saila Sorri, Finland, 17', Aalto University, ELO Film School Helsinki
Anfibio(Anphibian), Héctor Silva Núñez, Cuba, 15', EICTV
Asara Rehovot Mea Etsim (Ten Buildings Away), Miki Polonski, Israel, 25', Minshar for Art
El Ser Magnético (The Magnetic Nature), Mateo Bendesky, Argentina, 17', Universidad del Cine (FUC)
Het Paradijs (Paradise), Laura Vandewynckel, Belgium 6', RITS School of Arts Brussels
Koshtargah (Slaughterhouse), Behzad Azadi, Iran, 24', Art University of Tehran
Leonardo, Félix Hazeaux, Thomas Nitsche, Edward Noonan, Franck Pina, Raphaëlle Plantier, France, 6', MOPA (ex Supinfocom Arles)
Les Checheurs (The Wheels of Emotions), Aurélien Peilloux, France, 32', La Fémis
Locas Perdidas (Lost Queens), Ignacio Juricic Merillán, Chile, 28',Carrera de Cine y TV Universidad de Chile
Manoman, Simon Cartwright, UK, 11' National Film and Television School
Retriever, Tomáš Klein and Tomáš Merta, Czech Republic, 23', FAMU Prage
Ri Guan Zhi Xia (Under the Sun), Qiu Yang, Australia, 19', The VCA, Film & TV School, Melbourne University
Share, Pippa Bianco, USA, 11', AFI's Directing Workshop for Women
Tsunami, Sofie Kampmark, Denmark, 7', The Animation Workshop
Victor XX, Ian Garrido López, Spain, 20', ESCAC
Vozvrashenie Erkina (The Return of Erkin), Maria Guskova, Russia, 28', High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors
Short Films and Cinéfondation Jury
President: Abderrahmane Sissako, director, Mauritania
If you wish to watch the Press Conference check the following video that has (awful) English Translation. For French and no translation go here.