18/04/2024 - Leonardo Van Dijl and Antoine Chevrollier will vie for the Grand Prize; the Special Screenings include Jonathan Millet's and Emma Benestan's films, plus shorts by Elena López Riera and Anna Hints

Two European filmmakers will take part in the competition section of the 63rd Critics’ Week, unspooling between 15 and 24 May within the 77th Cannes Film Festival. Unveiled today in an online press conference (available to view via the Critics’ Week website) by artistic director Ava Cahen, the line-up for this year’s edition includes 11  feature films, seven of which will be jostling in competition and assessed by a jury led by Rodrigo Sorogoyen (read our news).

These seven films battling it out for the Critics’ Week Grand Prize include first feature films by Belgium’s Leonardo Van Dijl (Julie Keeps Quiet) and French director Antoine Chevrollier (Block Pass). Likewise in the running are three European co-productions, including a first feature film by the Taiwanese-American artist KEFF (Locust, co-produced by France) and two second feature films: Baby (co-produced by France and the Netherlands) by Brazilian director Marcelo Caetano (revealed in the IFFR Bright Future line-up in 2017 by way of Body Electric) and the documentary The Brink of Dreams (notably co-produced by France and Denmark) by Egypt’s Nada Riyadh and her compatriot Ayman El Amir. Rounding off the competition are Simon of the Mountain by Argentinian Federico Luis and the American production Blue Sun Palace by the filmmaker of Chinese origin Constance Tsang.

The 2024 selection also boasts special screenings of four feature films out of competition: Ghost Trail [+see also:
interview: Pauline Seigland
film profile] by French director Jonathan Millet, which is set to open this year’s edition, Across the Sea by French-Moroccan filmmaker Saïd Hamich Benlarbi, Queens of Drama by France’s Alexis Langlois, and Animale by his compatriot Emma Benestan (article), who’s entrusted with the closing slot.

Showcasing a psychological thriller revisiting the spy movie genre, a portrait of a tennis player feeling the pressure from an investigation into her coach, a tragic and romantic genre film about the temptation of weapons and gangs for Taiwanese youth, a queer melodrama set in Sao Paulo, an intimist chronicle about Chinese immigration in New York, intolerance and friendship in the French countryside, a surprising dive into the world of disability, a lesbian musical, a western-slasher-body horror-revenge movie, feminist mash-up, a melodrama about the underground life of a Moroccan immigrant in Marseille, and a documentary about a group of female artists determined to fulfil their dreams and desires without the approval of men, this year’s Critics’ Week looks set to be a wonderfully diverse edition. It’s worth noting that three of the 11 selected feature films are directed by women.

Lastly, ten short films will be in competition, while another three, helmed by Elena López Riera (El agua [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elena López Riera
film profile]), Lucie Borleteau (Fidelio: Alice's Journey [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lucie Borleteau
film profile]) and Anna Hints (Smoke Sauna Sisterhood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anna Hints
film profile]), will be shown as Special Screenings.

The selection:

Feature Films

Competition

Baby - Marcelo Caetano (Brazil/France/Netherlands)
Blue Sun Palace - Constance Tsang (USA)
The Brink of Dreams - Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir (Egypt/France/Denmark/Qatar/Saudi Arabia)
Julie Keeps Quiet – Leonardo Van Dijl (Belgium/Sweden)
Locust – KEFF (Taiwan/France/USA)
Block Pass – Antoine Chevrollier (France)
Simon of the Mountain – Federico Luis (Argentina/Chile/Uruguay)

Special Screenings

Ghost Trail [+see also:
interview: Pauline Seigland
film profile] – Jonathan Millet (France/Germany/Belgium) (opening film)
Queens of Drama - Alexis Langlois (France/Belgium)
Across the Sea - Saïd Hamich Benlarbi (France/Morocco/Belgium/Qatar)
Animale - Emma Benestan (France/Belgium) (closing film)

Short Films

Competition

Alazar - Beza Hailu Lemma (Ethiopia/France/Canada)
The Girl and the Pot (A menina e o pote) - Valentina Homem (Brazil)
My Senses Are All I Have to Offer (As minhas sensações são tudo o que tenho para oferecer) - Isadora Neves Marques (Portugal)
What We Ask of a Statue Is That It Doesn’t Move (Ce qu’on demande à une statue, c’est qu’elle ne bouge pas) - Daphné Hérétakis (Greece/France)
Ella se queda (She Stays) - Marinthia Gutiérrez Velazco (Mexico)
Montsouris (Montsouris Park) - Guil Sela (France)
Absent (Noksan) - Cem Demirer (Turkey)
Radikals - Arvin Belarmino (Philippines/USA/Bangladesh/France)
Supersilly - Veronica Martiradonna (France)
Dancing in the Corner (Taniec w Narożniku) - Jan Bujnowski (Poland)

Special Screenings

Las novias del sur (Les fiancées du sud/Southern Brides) - Elena López Riera (Switzerland/Spain)
1996 ou Les Malheurs de Solveig - Lucie Borleteau (France)
Sauna Day (Sannapäiv) - Anna Hints and Tushar Prakash (Estonia)

Invitation Courts Métrages Festival de Morelia

Extinción de la especie (Extinction of the Species) - Matthew Porterfield and Nicolasa Ruiz (Mexico)
Ha - María Almendra Castro Camacho (Mexico)
Xquipi (Ombligo) (The Navel/Le nombril) - Juan Pablo Villalobos Díaz (Mexico)

(Translated from French)