Cannes favourites dominate a delayed 2021 line-up

“Cinema is not dead,” declared the artistic director of the Festival de Cannes, Thierry Frémaux, as he announced more than 60 films that will feature in the various strands of the official selection, as the world’s most famous film festival returns, after a year off for the pandemic.

Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard star in the opening night films Annette, by Leos Carax

The opening film – screening as part of the official competition – will be Annette, the first English-language film from French director Leos Carax, who’s previously been in contention for the Palme d’Or with Pola X and Holy Motors.  Other French directors in the programme include François Ozon, who’s back in competition for the fourth time, with Everything Went Fine, Bruno Dumont, whose France is his fourth film up for the top prize, Mia Hansen-Løve with her English-language film Bergman Island and a previous Palme d’Or winner Jacques Audiard, with Paris 13th District.

Other former winners in the line-up include Italy’s Nanni Moretti, with Three Floors and Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul, with Memoria.

A Hero, from Iran’s Asghar Farhadi, is his fourth film in competition at Cannes, and the Australian, Justin Kurzel, returning after Macbeth with Nitram.

After Basic Instinct and Elle, the veteran Dutch director Paul Verhoeven is back in competition with Benedetta. Norway’s Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person In The World will be his second film in competition. The American actor-turned-director Sean Penn will be back in competition for the third time, with Flag Day. Wes Anderson, who opened the festival with Moonrise Kingdom, is back with The French Dispatch, which was pulled from last year’s unscreened selection. Another American, Sean Baker, makes the jump from the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar, where he made his name with The Florida Project, to the big time, with Red Rocket.

A total of 24 films have, so far, been announced in the Official Competition, but there’s speculation that a higher profile Hollywood film might be included in the line-up closer to the time.

Another two higher profile American directors, Todd Haynes and Tom McCarthy, are screening their latest films, The Velvet  Underground and Stillwater, out of competition.

The only British film in the official selection is Cow, from Andrea Arnold, which is screening as part of a new strand, called Cannes Premiere, which includes Oliver Stone’s JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass and Charlotte Gainsbourg’s film about her mother, Jane Birkin, Jane Par Charlotte.

While Cannes is an opportunity for films to build up a profile that can see them push towards Oscar recognition, Netflix – which has increasingly been dominating awards season – won’t be screening any films on the Croisette this year; in order to be eligible for the Official Competition, films have to screen in French cinemas, but Netflix prefers to launch its productions directly on its own platform and it doesn’t want to downgrade its films by screening them in lesser programming strands at Cannes.

Originally scheduled for May, the 74th edition of the event has been delayed until July, in the hope that there’ll be fewer coronavirus restrictions in place, but as things stand, fewer delegates are expected to attend than normal, because of restrictions on entering and returning from France – and the regular Covid tests for those who do make it to the Croisette.

And here is the full line-up:

In Competition

Opening Film

ANNETTE

 

Leos CARAX (France)

***
A FELESÉGEM TÖRTÉNETE
(THE STORY OF MY WIFE)
Ildikó ENYEDI (Hungary)
BENEDETTA Paul VERHOEVEN (Netherlands)
BERGMAN ISLAND Mia HANSEN-LOVE (France)
DRIVE MY CAR Ryusuke HAMAGUCHI (Japan)
FLAG DAY Sean PENN (USA)
HA’BERECH
(AHED’S KNEE)
Nadav LAPID (Israel)
CASABLANCA BEATS Nabil AYOUCH (Morocco)
HYTTI NRO 6
(COMPARTMENT NO.6)
Juho KUOSMANEN (Finland)
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD Joachim TRIER (Norway)
LA FRACTURE Catherine CORSINI (France)
THE RESTLESS Joachim LAFOSSE (Belgium)
PARIS 13TH DISTRICT Jacques AUDIARD (France)
LINGUI Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN (Chad)
MEMORIA Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL (Thaïland)
NITRAM Justin KURZEL (Australia)
FRANCE Bruno DUMONT (France)
PETROV’S FLU Kirill SEREBRENNIKOV (Russia)
RED ROCKET Sean BAKER (USA)
THE FRENCH DISPATCH Wes ANDERSON (USA)
TITANE Julia DUCOURNAU (France)
TRE PIANI Nanni MORETTI (Italy)
TOUT S’EST BIEN PASSÉ François OZON (France)
A HEROS Asghar FARHADI (Iran)

Un Certain Regard

MONEYBOYS C.B Yi (Austria) 1st film
BLUE BAYOU Justin CHON (USA)
FREDA Gessica GÉNÉUS (Haïti) 1st film
DELO

(HOUSE ARREST)

Alexey GERMAN JR. (Russia)
BONNE MÈRE Hafsia HERZI (France)
NOCHE DE FUEGO Tatiana HUEZO (Mexico)
LAMB Valdimar JÓHANSSON (Iceland) 1st film
COMMITMENT HASAN Hasan Semih KAPLANOGLU (Turkey)
AFTER YANG Kogonada (USA)
LET THERE BE MORNING Eran KOLIRIN (Israel)
UNCLENCHING THE FISTS Kira KOVALENKO (Russia)
WOMEN DO CRY Mina MILEVA (Bulgaria)

Vesela KAZAKOVA (Bulgaria)

REHANA MARYAM NOOR Abdullah Mohammad SAAD (Bangladesh)
GREAT FREEDOM Sebastian MEISE (Austria)
LA CIVIL Teodora Ana MIHAI (Romania / Belgium) 1st film
GAEY WA’R NA Jiazuo (China) 1st film
THE INNOCENTS Eskil VOGT (Norway)
UN MONDE Laura WANDEL (Belgium) 1st film

Out of Competition

DE SON VIVANT Emmanuelle BERCOT (France)
EMERGENCY DECLARATION HAN Jae-Rim (Korea)
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND Todd HAYNES (USA)
BAC NORD Cédric JIMENEZ (France)
ALINE, THE VOICE OF LOVE Valérie LEMERCIER (France)
STILLWATER Tom MCCARTHY (USA)

Midnight Screenings

BLOODY ORANGES Jean-Christophe MEURISSE (France)

Cannes Premiere

HOLD ME TIGHT Mathieu AMALRIC (France)
COW Andrea ARNOLD (UK)
LOVE SONGS FOR TOUGH GUYS Samuel BENCHETRIT (France)
DECEPTION Arnaud DESPLECHIN (France)
JANE PAR CHARLOTTE Charlotte GAINSBOURG (France) 1st film
IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE HONG Sang-Soo (Korea)
MOTHERING SUNDAY Eva HUSSON (France)
EVOLUTION Kornél MUNDRUCZO (Hungary)
VAL Ting POO (USA)

Leo SCOTT (USA)

JFK REVISITED: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS Oliver STONE (USA)

Special Screenings

O MARINHEIRO DAS MONTANHAS
(MARINER OF THE MOUNTAINS)
Karim AÏNOUZ (Brazil)
BLACK NOTEBOOKS Shlomi ELKABETZ (Israel)
BABI YAR. CONTEXT Sergei LOZNITSA (Ukraine)
H6 Yé Yé (France) 1st film
THE YEAR OF THE EVERLASTING STORM Jafar PANAHI (Iran), Anthony CHEN (Singapor), Malik VITTHAL (USA), Laura POITRAS (USA), Dominga SOTOMAYOR (Chile), David LOWERY (USA), and Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL (Thailand)