11/04/2024 - The competition boasts a few surprises and a highly eclectic line-up, with two former winners, 11 other filmmakers who have competed previously and six new entries

A return to the competition for a legendary filmmaker who will this year celebrate the 50th anniversary of his first Palme d’Or win, a flurry of big names from world cinema and several new faces: after a final stretch that proved to be particularly lively behind the scenes of the Official Selection of the 77th Cannes Film Festival (14-25 May), with some exciting surprises into the bargain, General Delegate Thierry Frémaux (flanked by president Iris Knobloch) unveiled his choices today at midday in Paris, and the line-up is certainly not lacking in pizzazz.

For now, the appealing and eclectic 2024 Cannes line-up includes 19 features in competition. Standing out among them are two former laureates: US helmer Francis Ford Coppola (his fourth time in competition, winner of the Palme d’Or in 1974 for The Conversation and in 1979 for Apocalypse Now) with Megalopolis and France’s Jacques Audiard (his sixth time, having won the Palme d’Or in 2015 for Dheepan [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Jacques Audiard
film profile], the Grand Prize in 2009 and the Best Screenplay Award in 1996) with Emilia Perez.

They are joined by eight hopefuls who are very familiar faces at this lofty level on the Croisette: Canada’s David Cronenberg (his seventh time, Special Jury Award in 1996) with The Shrouds, Italy’s Paolo Sorrentino (his seventh time, Jury Prize in 2008 and returning for the first time since 2015) with Parthenope, China’s Jia Zhangke (his sixth time – Best Screenplay Award in 2013) with Caught by the Tides, Brit Andrea Arnold (her fourth time – singled out with the Jury Prize three times) with Bird, Russia’s Kirill Serebrennikov (his fourth time, after participating in 2018, 2021 and 2022) with Limonov: The Ballad, Greece’s Yorgos Lanthimos (his third time – Jury Prize in 2015 and Best Screenplay Award in 2017, Golden Lion at Venice last year) with Kinds of Kindness [+see also:
trailer
film profile], France’s Christophe Honoré (his third time) with Marcello Mio and the USA’s Paul Schrader (his third time, after participating in 1985 and 1988) with Oh Canada.

Three filmmakers will be making their second appearance in the race for the Palme d’Or: Danish director of Iranian heritage Ali Abbassi (singled out with the Best Actress Award in 2022) with the US flick The Apprentice, which follows the early years of Donald Trump; Brazil’s Karim Aïnouz (who is back for the second year in a row and who was victorious in Un Certain Regard in 2019) with Motel Destino; and the USA’s Sean Baker with Anora.

Six first-time entrants round off the batch of Palme d’Or hopefuls: Portugal’s Miguel Gomes (although five of his films have previously been screened in the Directors’ Fortnight) with Grand Tour [+see also:
trailer
interview: Marta Donzelli, Gregorio Pa…
film profile], Sweden’s Magnus von Horn (who first rose to fame in the Directors’ Fortnight in 2015 and secured an Official Selection label in 2020) with The Girl with the Needle, India’s Payal Kapadia with All We Imagine as Light (her first fiction feature, following the documentary A Night of Knowing Nothing [+see also:
film review
interview: Payal Kapadia
film profile], which was premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight in 2021 and won the Golden Eye for Best Documentary at the festival), and France’s Coralie Fargeat, who first turned heads with Revenge [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Coralie Fargeat
film profile] and is rocking up with US genre film The Substance, Gilles Lellouche (selected out of competition in 2018) with Beating Hearts and Agathe Riedinger with her feature debut, Wild Diamond.

Looking at it from a geographical standpoint, Europe comfortably dominates the competition line-up, with 12 filmmakers: five are French (Audiard, Honoré, Fargeat, Lellouche, Riedinger), one British (Arnold), one Italian (Sorrentino), one Greek (Lanthimos), one Portuguese (Gomes), one Danish (Abassi, who is nevertheless of Iranian heritage, as previously stated), one Swedish (von Horn) and one Russian (Serebrennikov). North America is represented by four helmers (Coppola, Cronenberg, Baker and Schrader), Asia by two (Zhangke and Kapadia) and South America by one (Aïnouz), while Africa is totally absent this year. Lastly, for the time being, only four female directors are partaking in the competition (which is more than likely to provoke a reaction), although a few additions are still to be revealed, as is the composition of the jury chaired by Greta Gerwig (see the news).

For its fourth edition, the Cannes Première programme will offer works by Cambodia’s Rithy Panh (the fiction film Meeting with Pol Pot), Morocco’s Nabil Ayouch (Everybody Loves Touda), and France’s Alain Guiraudie (Miséricorde), Emmanuel Courcol (En fanfare), Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu (Jim’s Story) and Leos Carax (the medium-length film C'est pas moi).

The out-of-competition selection abounds with event films, with the previously announced The Second Act by Quentin Dupieux occupying the opening slot (see the article), Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga by George Miller (see the news) and the first instalment of Horizon, An American Saga by Kevin Costner, alongside features by Canada’s Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson and Guy Maddin (Rumours, with Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander among the cast) and China’s Peter Chan.

Also taking part are the 15 films (for now) screening in Un Certain Regard (read news), Special Screenings for documentaries by Ukraine’s Sergei Loznitsa, France’s Claire Simon, her fellow countrywoman Yolande Zauberman and Haiti’s Raoul Peck, as well as a fiction film by France’s Daniel Auteuil. Furthermore, in Midnight Screenings, we have features hailing from Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia and France (the latter helmed by Noémie Merlant).

And that’s not to mention a new, immersive competition comprising eight selected works. Lastly, an Honorary Palme d'Or will be handed to George Lucas during the closing ceremony.

Here is the list of Official Selection titles announced so far:

Competition

The Apprentice - Ali Abbasi
Motel Destino - Karim Aïnouz
Bird - Andrea Arnold
Emilia Perez - Jacques Audiard
Anora - Sean Baker
Megalopolis - Francis Ford Coppola
The Shrouds - David Cronenberg
The Substance - Coralie Fargeat
Grand Tour [+see also:
trailer
interview: Marta Donzelli, Gregorio Pa…
film profile] - Miguel Gomes
Marcello Mio - Christophe Honoré
Caught by the Tides - Jia Zhang-Ke
All We Imagine as Light - Payal Kapadia
Kinds of Kindness [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Yorgos Lanthimos
Beating Hearts - Gilles Lellouche
Wild Diamond - Agathe Riedinger
Oh Canada - Paul Schrader
Limonov: The Ballad - Kirill Serebrennikov
Parthenope - Paolo Sorrentino
The Girl with the Needle - Magnus von Horn

Out of Competition

The Second Act - Quentin Dupieux (France) (opening film)
Horizon: An American Saga (Chapter 1) - Kevin Costner
She's Got No Name - Chan Peter Ho-Sun
Rumours - Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson and Guy Maddin
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - George Miller

Cannes Première

Everybody Loves Touda - Nabil Ayouch
C'est pas moi - Leos Carax (medium-length film)
En fanfare - Emmanuel Courcol
Miséricorde - Alain Guiraudie
Le Roman de Jim - Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu
Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot - Rithy Panh

Midnight Screenings

Twilight of the Warrior Walled in - Soi Cheang
The Surfer - Lorcan Finnegan
Les femmes au balcon - Noémie Merlant
I, The Executioner - Seung Wan Ryoo

Special Screenings

Le Fil - Daniel Auteuil
The Invasion - Sergei Loznitsa
Ernest Cole, Lost and Found - Raoul Peck
Apprendre - Claire Simon
La belle de Gaza - Yolande Zauberman

(Translated from French)