11/04/2024 - Standing out on the line-up are films helmed by Roberto Minervini, Ariane Labed, Laetitia Dosch, Boris Lojkine, Konstantin Bojanov, Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, Julien Colonna and Louise Courvoisier

Somalia, Zambia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, India, Japan, China, Norway, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and France: such are the origins of the 15 films selected for the Un Certain Regard programme, which was unveiled today at the same time as the rest of the Official Selection (see the article) of the 77th Cannes Film Festival (14-25 May).

The showcase dedicated especially to emerging talents (with six feature debuts on the menu) nevertheless includes a clutch of well-known names, such as Italy’s Roberto Minervini (who took part in the Cannes Official Selection with his documentaries in 2013 and 2015, and was in competition at Venice in 2018), who will be duking it out with his first fiction feature, The Damned [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]; France’s Boris Lojkine (popular in the 2014 Critics’ Week and in the Piazza Grande at Locarno in 2019) with L’histoire de Souleymane [+see also:
film review
film profile]; Bulgaria’s Konstantin Bojanov (who rose to fame in the 2011 Critics’ Week) with his Indian film The Shameless [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Konstantin Bojanov
film profile]; and British-Zambian director Rungano Nyoni (who first turned heads in the 2017 Directors’ Fortnight) with On Becoming a Guinea Fowl [+see also:
film review
film profile].

Two directorial feature debuts by prominent European actresses are also on the programme, with September Says by French-Greek thesp Ariane Labed (Volpi Cup at Venice for Attenberg [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Athina Rachel Tsangari
film profile], seen recently in The Vourdalak [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adrien Beau
film profile] and glimpsed at IFFR this year in Swimming Home [+see also:
film review
film profile]; previously selected for the Directors’ Fortnight with her first short film, Olla) and Dog on Trial [+see also:
film review
interview: Laetitia Dosch
film profile] by French-Swiss helmer Laetitia Dosch (nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actress in 2018 for Montparnasse Bienvenüe [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Léonor Serraille
film profile]).

Also worth noting among the movies from the continent are the feature debuts by Norway’s Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (Armand [+see also:
film review
film profile]), France’s Louise Courvoisier (Holy Cow [+see also:
film review
interview: Louise Courvoisier
film profile]) and her fellow countryman Julien Colonna (Le Royaume [+see also:
film review
interview: Julien Colonna
film profile]).

This selection, which is very likely to be topped off at a later date (including with the identity of the opening film, in particular), has also opened its arms to welcome India’s Sandhya Suri (Santosh), Japan’s Hiroshi Okuyama (My Sunshine [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Vietnam’s Minh Quý Truong (Viet and Nam [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Somalia’s Mo Harawe (The Village Next to Paradise), Saudi Arabia’s Tawfik Alzaidi (Norah) and China’s Guan Hu (Black Dog).

Here is the list of films selected so far:

Norah - Tawfik Alzaidi (Saudi Arabia)
The Shameless [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Konstantin Bojanov
film profile] - Konstantin Bojanov (Switzerland/Bulgaria/France/Taiwan/India)
Le Royaume [+see also:
film review
interview: Julien Colonna
film profile] - Julien Colonna (France)
Holy Cow [+see also:
film review
interview: Louise Courvoisier
film profile] – Louise Courvoisier (France)
Dog on Trial [+see also:
film review
interview: Laetitia Dosch
film profile] - Laetitia Dosch (Switzerland/France)
Black Dog – Guan Hu (China)
The Village Next to Paradise – Mo Harawe (Austria/France/Germany/Somalia)
September Says – Ariane Labed (Ireland/UK/Germany)
L’histoire de Souleymane [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Boris Lojkine (France)
The Damned [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Roberto Minervini (Italy/USA/Belgium/Canada)
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Rungano Nyoni (UK/Zambia/Ireland)
My Sunshine [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Hiroshi Okuyama (Japan/France)
Santosh - Sandhya Suri (UK/Germany/France/India)
Viet and Nam [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Minh Quý Truong (Vietnam/Philippines/Singapore/France/Netherlands/Italy/Germany/USA)
Armand [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (Norway/Netherlands/Germany/Sweden)

(Translated from French)