The night of April 12 to 13 was long, underlined the general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, Thierry Frémaux, during the press conference unveiling the official selection of the 76e edition (which will take place from May 16 to 27), at the UGC Normandie, in Paris, on Thursday April 13, in the presence of the president, Iris Knobloch. Again Wednesday evening, the boss of Cannes telephoned filmmakers: “We made people happy last night, and also people sad,” he acknowledged. Still, the game is over, or almost, after watching 2,000 films, “an extravagant figure, a sign of great vitality”, estimated the master of ceremonies.
A certain number of first feature films, eligible for the Caméra d’or, are retained in the official selection: there are eight in Un certain regard, including the film by the Mongolian director Zoljargal Purevdash, If Only I Could Hibernatethat of the Sudanese Mohamed Kordofani, Goodbye Julia, and finally Augur, by Baloji Tshiani, a Zairian rapper who lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Only one first “long” appears in competition, Banel & Adams, by the young Franco-Senegalese Ramata-Toulaye Sy – Jury Prize at Clermont-Ferrand in 2022 with the short film Astel.
Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel
The competition, which to date brings together nineteen feature films – and could be augmented by an animated film, at least –, mixes “young filmmakers and veterans”, underlined Thierry Frémaux. It has six female directors, which is a Cannes record. We could add that the United States and Italy are well represented there, and welcome the presence of a documentary in the running for the Palme d’Or, Youth, Chinese Wang Bing.
The vast majority of films (and their authors) in competition do not arouse much surprise. In addition to the arrival of Wang Bing – who will also present in a special screening Man in Black –, let’s quote the Austrian Jessica Hausner (Club Zero), the Finnish Aki Kaurismaki (Fallen Leaves), Americans Wes Anderson (Asteroid City) et Todd Haynes (May December), le Japonais Hirokazu Kore-eda (Monster), the Italians Nanni Moretti (The sun of the future), Marco Bellocchio (Kidnapped) and Alice Rohrwacher (La Chimera). Wim Wenders, Palme d’or in 1984 with Paris, Texas, is back on the Croisette with Perfect Days. He will also defend in special session The Sound of Time, Anselm Kiefer, a 3D work that sheds light on the work of the German visual artist.
Catherine Breillat returns to walk the red carpet with Last summer, as well as Justine Triet (Anatomy of a fall). A third French filmmaker joins the competition, Tran Anh Hung, of Vietnamese origin, who won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1995 with Cyclo : in Cannes, he will present The Passion of Dodin-Bouffant, with Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel. Finally, the Briton Ken Loach, who won the Palme d’Or twice, in 2006 for The wind picks up and in 2016 for Moi, Daniel Blake, had this word, when Thierry Frémaux announced to him that he was in the game again, with his latest opus, The Old Oak : ” Are you sure ? »
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