The Cannes party begins with 18 contenders for the Palme d’Or

by Fabien Lemercier

14/04/2022 - This very beautiful selection features 14 filmmakers who have already been in competition in the past and five first timers, with 12 European titles pursuing the supreme Cannes prize

The Cannes party begins with 18 contenders for the Palme d’Or

Crimes of the Future by David Cronenberg

A pandemic, a war in Eastern Europe, a very tense interval between two rounds of presidential elections in France, cinemas struggling to attract the volume of spectators they knew a few years ago, multiple streaming platforms with big pockets drowning the great majority of film works into a gigantic and hypnotising vortex: the Cannes Film Festival’s return to the Croisette on its usual dates for the first time since 2019 is both a blessing for cinephiles, and a high stakes event for the visibility of the 7th art’s current masters across the world and their young “padawans.”

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The suspense was therefore at its most extreme today in Paris, where general delegate Thierry Frémaux unveiled a large part (around fifty titles) of the Official Selection of the 75^thCannes Film Festival (17 - 28 May), even if a few candidates are still in the running for the remaining slots. The lineup so far is very strong, bringing together in competition the lustre of many success stories already awarded in the past, and the best of a younger generation, to create a very exciting billing (even if some will lament, as usual, the absence of someone or other, for various reasons — launching strategy, too tight timing, artistic choices from the team of Cannes selectors, baseless rumours, etc.).

The very beautiful lineup of Cannes 2022 so far includes 18 feature films in competition. Shining bright among them are five former award winners, with Belgian brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (Palme d’Or winners in 1999 and 2005, Best Director award in 2019, Grand Prize in 2011 and Best Screenplay in 2008 — their 9th time in competition), Romania’s Cristian Mungiu (Palme d’Or in 2007, Best Screenplay in 2012 and Best Director in 2016 — his 4th time taking part), Swedish director Ruben Östlund (Palme d’Or in 2017 — his 2nd time participating) and Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda (Palme d’Or in 2018 and Jury Prize in 2013 — his 6th time taking part).

Joining them in competition are six illustrious contenders themselves already familiar with Cannes’ most prestigious section, such as Canada’s David Cronenberg (Special Jury Prize in 1996 — his 6th time participating), American director James Gray (his 5th time at the festival), South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-Wook (Grand Prize in 2004 and Jury Prize in 2009 — his 4th time), France’s Arnaud Desplechin (his 7th time), veteran Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski (Best Screenplay in 1982 and Grand Jury Prize in 1978 — his 6th time taking part), and Russian filmmaker Kirill Srebrennikov (his 3rd time) whose opposition to Putin’s regime is well established.

Three filmmakers will be making their second appearance in this section, two of them great figures of the 7th art worldwide and nearly thirty years after their first time at the festival: French director Claire Denis (with a film in English for her 2nd time participating since 1988) and Italy’s Mario Martone (who returns for the first time since 1995). This will also mark a second time taking part in the festival for Franco-Italian director Valeria Bruni Tedeschi.

Five first-time Competition contenders complete the lineup of Palme seekers, with American director Kelly Reichardt, Belgium’s Lukas Dhont (Caméra d’Or in 2018 for Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lukas Dhont
film profile]), Danish director of Iranian origins Ali Abbasi (Un Certain Regard winner in 2018 with Border [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ali Abbasi
film profile]), Swedish director of Egyptian origins Tarik Saleh (winner at Sundance in 2017 with The Nile Hilton Incident [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tarik Saleh
film profile]) and Iran’s Saeed Roustayi (his new film after Just 6.5, revealed in Venice Orizzonti in 2019).

On a geo-cinematic level, Europe largely dominates the lineup of the 2022 competition, with 12 titles in the running for the Palme d’Or: three from France (Desplechin, Denis, Bruni Tedeschi), two from Sweden (Östlund and Saleh), one from Denmark (Abassi), two from Belgium (Dhont, the Dardennes), one from Italy (Martone), one from Romania (Mungiu) and one from Poland (Skolimowski), to which we can add one from Russia (Serebrennikov).

Asia is present with three films (Kore-eda, Park Chan-Wook, Roustayi) as is North America (Reichardt, Cronenberg and Gray). The other continents are absent for the moment from the lineup of contenders for the Palme. It is also worth noting that, for the second year in a row, no feature film from Latin America has made the cut. Finally, only three female directors are in competition so far, but it is likely that their numbers will grow with the few additions to come next week, when the still mysterious composition of the jury will also be revealed.

The Official Selection renews the experiment launched last year with the Cannes Premières programmes, with works from Marco Bellocchio, Rachid Bouchareb, Panos H Koutras and Olivier Assayas (a few episodes from his Irma Vep [+see also:
series review
interview: Olivier Assayas
series profile] series).

Among the films playing out of competition are Elvis by Baz Luhrmann, Top Gun: Maverick by Joseph Kosinski, Three Thousand Years of Longing by Australian director George Miller, Novembre [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by France’s Cédric Jimenez and Mascarade [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicolas Bedos
film profile] from French director Nicolas Bedos. The Un Certain Regard section counts 15 films so far (seven of them being feature debuts, and eight of them directed by women - read news) and playing in Special Screenings and Midnights Screenings are, among other titles, a documentary from Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, another by American filmmaker Ethan Coen about Jerry Lee Lewis, as well as Smoking Causes Coughing [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by France’s Quentin Dupieux. Finally, the opening film of the festival will be the zombie comedy Final Cut [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michel Hazanavicius
film profile] from Oscar-winning director Michel Hazanavicius.

The titles announced:

Competition

Holy Spider [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ali Abbasi
interview: Ali Abbasi
interview: Zar Amir Ebrahimi
film profile] - Ali Abbasi (Germany/Denmark/France/Sweden)
Forever Young [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
film profile] - Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (France/Italy)
Crimes of the Future [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - David Cronenberg (Canada/Greece/France)
Tori and Lokita [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joely Mbundu
interview: Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
film profile] - Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne (Belgium/France)
Stars at Noon [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Claire Denis (France)
Brother and Sister [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Arnaud Desplechin (France)
Close [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eden Dambrine
interview: Lukas Dhont
interview: Lukas Dhont
film profile] - Lukas Dhont (Belgium/Netherlands/France)
Armaggedon Time - James Gray (USA)
Broker - Hirokazu Kore-eda (Japan/South Korea)
Nostalgia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mario Martone
interview: Pierfrancesco Favino
film profile] - Mario Martone (Italy/France)
R.M.N [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cristian Mungiu
interview: Judith State
film profile] - Cristian Mungiu (Romania/France)
Triangle of Sadness [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ruben Östlund
interview: Ruben Östlund
film profile] - Ruben Östlund (Sweden/UK/USA/France/Greece)
Decision to Leave - Park Chan-Wook (South Korea)
Showing Up - Kelly Reichardt (USA)
Leila's Brothers - Saeed Roustaee (Iran)
Boy from Heaven [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tarik Saleh
film profile] - Tarik Saleh (Sweden/France/Finland/Denmark/Morocco)
Tchaikovski's Wife [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Kirill Serebrennikov (Russia/France/Switzerland)
EO [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Jerzy Skolimowski (Poland/Italy)

Cannes Première

Nos frangins [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Rachid Bouchareb (France)
Exterior Night [+see also:
series review
trailer
interview: Marco Bellocchio
series profile] - Marco Bellocchio (Italy)
Dodo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pános H Koútras
film profile] - Panos H Koutras (Greece/France/Belgium)
Irma Vep [+see also:
series review
interview: Olivier Assayas
series profile] - Olivier Assayas (USA/France) (series)

Out of Competition

Final Cut [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michel Hazanavicius
film profile] - Michel Hazanavicius (France) (opening film)
Top Gun: Maverick - Joseph Kosinski (USA)
Elvis - Baz Luhrmann (USA)
Novembre [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Cédric Jimenez (France)
Three Thousand Years of Longing - George Miller (Australia/USA)
Mascarade [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicolas Bedos
film profile] - Nicolas Bedos (France)

Midnight Screenings

Hunt - Lee Jung-Jae (South Korea)
Moonage Daydream - Brett Morgen (USA)
Smoking Causes Coughing [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Quentin Dupieux (France)