Yesterday the much awaited press conference with the announcement of the Official Selection for the Cannes Film Festival took place and, besides the long speeches, the list of films was out-of-the-ordinary and gave absolute feeling that festival wishes to recoup its past glories and top-of-mind in the festival circuit and the film industry.
Nineteen (19) films were announced in Competition and we know that at least four (4) more could come in the following days but the quality of the filmmakers is truly extraordinary. On a personal note two of my most admired directors have slots in this year competition, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Aki Kaurismäki, but even when film went to Cannes Premiere, worth mentioning is none other that Victor Erice with his first film after 30 years!
Much buzz generated the news of the "many" female directors in Competition, news that were promoted as "milestone" for Cannnes by Cannes orginizers but thruth is that five (5) female directors in Competition is still far from parity, specially when has been proven several times that women can and do make extraordinary films; so, undoubtedly in each year there are (could be) many films available for consideration.
Among the nineteen films already announced there are two (2) documentaries which also is highly unusual to say the least and more so if we consider that one doc is a French-Chinese coproduction and the other a French, Germany and Tunisia coproduction. None of the two docs come from large and "traditional" documentary markets.
There is one film from Africa, a France, Senegal and Mali coproduction by Ramata-Toulay Sy, it is his first film and already opens in the most famous event in cinema world. I'm very curious as in the surface (do not like to learn much about films before watching) seems like a "regular" love story which I have to believe will not be.
So, after cruising the net and get basic info about each movie let's see what or better, who we have in these 19 films -besides film director, of course. One film absolutely called my wild imagination as reunites Juliette Binoche with Benoît Magimel and is all about gastronomy and love as Binoche portraits a cook and Magimel a famous gastronome, al in Pot au Feu by Trần Anh Hùng. Then there is Firebrand the first international film by Braziliam Karim Aïnouz starring none other than Alicia Vikander along side to Jude Law. On another competition slot is none other than Todd Haynes with a film starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore. Also in Un Certain Regard section there is a film with none other than Cate Blanchett (!!!); the film: The New Boy by Warwick Thornton. Last you have Wes Anderson's film with "everybody" as usual; but, as it happens often, it is a true guess game to find who will come to Cannes and who will not, my best guess are Tom Hanks, Maya Hawke, Scarlett Johannson and perhaps Margot Robbie or Tilda Swinton, plus other Anderson regulars like Jason Schwartzman.
Worth mentioning that this year multiplicity goes to Sandra Hüller (remember Toni Erdmann?), she has two (2) films in competition as is starring in Triet's Anatomy of a Fall and Glazer's The Zone of Interest. Was forgetting club Zero by Jessica Hausner starring none other that Mia Waskowska and Sidse Babett Knudsen! Gee, there will be nice red carpets but most of all, great actors also means great movies that with extraordinary directors make this year's Cannes lineup outstanding.
It's not clear where Pedro Almodovar short film will be presented as actually could be included in any section except the Competition. Imagine will go to Short Films perhaps Out of Competition as IF short is in the short films competition then we all know which short has to be the winner (lol!). Nevertheless doubt will be in any competition.
Post will be In Progress until festival site uploads info about all films and/or announced all films in all festival sections.
The award ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 27th, 2023.
The List
Official Selection
Competition
Anatomie d'une chute (Anatomy of A Fall), Justine Triet, France
Asteroid City, Wes Anderson, USA
Banel e Adama, Ramata-Toulaye Sy, France, Senegal and Mali -1st Film
Club Zero, Jessica Hausner, Austria, UK, Germany, France and Denmark
Firebrand, Karim Aïnouz, UK
Il sol dell'avvenire, Nanni Moretti, Italy and France
青年 Jeunesse (Youth), Wang Bing, France and China (documentary)
怪物 Kaibutsu (Monster), Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan
Kuolleet lehdet (Dead Leaves), Aki Kaurismäki, Finland
Kuru Otlar Üstüne (About Dry Grasses), Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey, France, Germany and Sweden
May December, Todd Haynes, USA
La Chimera, Alice Rohrwacher, Italy
La Passion de Dodin Bouffant (The Pot au Feu), Trần Anh Hùng, France
Les Filles d'Olfa (Four Daughters), Kaouther Ben Hania, France, Tunisia and Germany (documentary)
L'été dernier,Catherine Breillat, France
Perfect Days, Wim Wenders, Japan and Germany
Rapito (Kidnapped), Marco Bellocchio, Italy, France and Germany
The Old Oak, Ken Loach, UK, Belgium and France
The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer, Poland, UK and USA
International Jury
President: Ruben Östlund, director, Sweden
Out of Competition
Opening Film: Jeanne du Barry, Maïwenn, France, Belgium and UK
거미집 Geomijip (Cobweb), Kim Jee-woon, South Korea
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, James Mangold, USA
Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese, USA
The Idol, Sam Levison, USA (TV Series)
Special Screenings
Anselm (Das Rauschen der Zeit), Wim Wenders, Germany (documentary)
Man in Black, Wang Bing, China, France and USA (video artwork)
Occupied City, Steve McQueen, UK, Netherlands, and USA (documentary)
Retratos Fantasmas (Pictures of Ghosts), Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil (documentary)
Cannes Premiere
Cerrar Los Ojos (Close Your Eyes), Victor Erice, Spain and Argentina
Bonnard, Pierre et Marthe, Martin Provost, France
首 Kubi (Neck), Takeshi Kitano, Japan
Le Temps d'Aimer, Katell Quillévéré, France and Belgium
Midnight Screenings
Acide, Just Philippot, France, 18' (short film)
Kennedy, Anurag Kashyap, India
Omar La Fraise, Elias Belkeddar, France
Un Certain Regard
Opening Film: Le Règne animal, Thomas Cailley, France
Crowrã (The Buriti Flower), João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora, Brazil and Portugal
Goodbye Julia, Mohamed Kordofani, Sudan, Egypt, Germany, France, Sweden and Saudi Arabia 1st Film
화란 Hwaran (Hopeless), Kim chang-hoon, South Korea 1st Film
How to Have Sex, Molly Manning Walker, UK 1st Film
Баавгай Болохсон If Only I Could Hibernate, Zoljargal Purevdash, Switzerland, Qatar, France and Mongolia 1st Film
Kadib Abyad (The Mother of All Lies), Asmae El Moudir, Germany and Morocco (documentary)
Les Meutes (Hounds), Kamal Lazraq, France 1st Film
Los Colonos (The Settlers), Felipe Gálvez, Dinamarca, Chile and Argentina 1st Film
Los Delincuentes (The Delinquents), Rodrigo Moreno, Argentina, Chile and Brazil
Omen, Baloji, Congo, South Africa, Netherlands, France and Belgium 1st Film
Rien à perdre, Delphine Deloget, France 1st Film
Rosalie, Stéphanie Di Giusto, France
Simple Comme Sylvain (The Nature of Love), Monia Chokri, Canada
Terrestial Verses, Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami, Iran
燃冬 The Breaking Ice, Anthony Chen, China
The New Boy, Warwick Thornton, Australia
Un Certain Regard Jury
President:
Camera d'Or
Created in 1978 by Gilles Jacob, who was then the General Delegate. It's awarded to the best first feature film presented in the Official Selection, La Semaine de la Critique or Quinzaine des Réalisateurs. It is designed to encourage young creation and it's a catalyst for the career of filmmakers as it offers a unique, international showcase. In accordance with the tradition, the jury consists of French representatives of the industry and two guest along with the President.
The Jury
President:
Cannes Classics
Cinéma de la Plage
Short Films
CINEF Selection
Short Films and CINEF Jury
President:
L’Œil d’or Prize
Since 2015 LaScam (Société civile des auteurs multimedia) has been awarding the prize to a documentary screened in one of the Festival categories: Official Selection (Competition, Un Certain Regard, Out of Copetition, Midnight Screenings, Special Screenings, Short Films, Cannes Classics and Cannes Premiere), Directors' Fortnight and Semaine de la Critique. Since last year, 2021, the winning documentary becomes eligible to be submitted to Oscar consideration.
The Jury
President:
Press Conference video with English translation