19/04/2021 - The new film from the French director, starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, will open the 74th edition of the festival in competition

The 74th edition of the Cannes Film Festival (6-17 July 2021) will open with Annette [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Leos Carax, selected in competition. Starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard as well as Simon Helberg, this musical is scored by Sparks (Ron and Russel Mael) who are also behind the lyrics and the original idea for the story, which centres on a stand-up comedian and his wife, an opera singer, who have a two-year-old daughter with an uncommon talent… Worth noting is the presence of Caroline Champetier as director of photography.

This sixth feature film from the director of Lovers on the Bridge (1991) and The Night is Young (in competition at the Berlinale in 1987), and his first in the English language, Annette will see Leos Carax join Cannes’ Official Selection for the fourth time. The filmmaker was in competition with Pola X in 1999 and with Holy Motors [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Leos Carax
film profile] in 2012, and presented the anthology film Tôkyô! [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in 2008 in the Un Certain Regard section. He was also revealed on the Croisette, in Critics’ Week in 1984, with Boy Meets Girl.

"Every Leos Carax film is an event. And this one delivers on its promises! Annette is the gift that lovers of cinema, music and culture were hoping for, one that we have been yearning for during the past year,” said Pierre Lescure, President of the Cannes Film Festival. "We couldn’t have dreamed of a more beautiful reunion with cinema and the silver screen, in the Palais des festivals where films come to assert their splendor," added Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate of the Cannes event. "Carax's cinema is an expression of these powerful gestures, these mysterious alchemies that make the secret of cinema’s modernity and eternity."

Produced by Charles Gillibert for Paris company CG Cinéma, by Paul-Dominique Vacharasinthu for Tribus P Films and by Adam Driver, Annette was co-produced by Arte France Cinéma and Théo Films; by German company Detailfilm; by Belgian companies Wrong Men, Scope Pictures and RTBF; by Swiss company Garidi Films; by Mexican company Piano and by Japanese company Eurospace. French distribution will be handled by UGC and the American release by Amazon. International sales are handled by Kinology.

(Translated from French)