This morning’s Cannes press conference had absolutely no surprises at all. 99% of what we predicted would be in competition was, in fact, in competition. The Un Certain Regard selection did have a few surprises though, including three American debuts.
Nevertheless, the lack of “Hollywood” movies in competition has rather irked the likes of Variety and THR, with the latter confessing that “Cannes, once the undisputed heavyweight champion of international film festivals, has been on the ropes of late.” All of this despite the fact that Jarmusch, Malick, Sachs, and most likely Tarantino, will all be in competition this year at the fest. The THR statement feels hyperbolic and rather unearned, especially since the same complaints were targeted at Cannes just last year, but the festival ended up premiering more than a dozen of the finest films of 2018.
Of note, in regards to today’s announcement, Marti DIop is set to become the first black female director to ever compete for the Palme D’or with her debut feature, “Atlantiques,” which is part of this year’s official competition.
Werner Herzog has a new movie premiering out-of-competition and it’s not non-fiction! According to Indiewire, "Family Romance, LLC" was shot in Japan with non-professionals and is in Japanese (supposedly Herzog doesn't even speak Japanese). A nice and welcome OOC surprise was Abel Ferrera’s secret narrative film, “Tommaso,” which stars pal Willem Dafoe in a role that is said to loosely based on Ferrara himself.
We knew that Kore-eda’s latest, “The Truth,” is still in post-production, so his exclusion from today’s selection was not surprising. Tarantino is also still in post, but, given Cannes head Thierry Frémaux‘s confidence levels this morning, and the fact that he praised “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” as “magnificent,” one would be led to believe that the Tarantino is indeed going to be announced in the coming days.
Alluding to the Tarantino, Fremaux added in an interview with ScreenDaily, that “The press announced that Tarantino would be in the Selection when really he shouldn’t have been named as being in the mix. I saw a large part of the film a month ago but I knew then it would be difficult for him to finish the film in time. It is scheduled to come out in July. Will it be ready two months in advance? He wants to come to Cannes, the studio wants it to come to Cannes. I would love him to come and I know he is working hard but I don’t know, he doesn’t know and the studio doesn’t know. We’re following it day-to-day.”
Also, of note, there are currently two empty slots reserved for competition; both Abdelatif Kechiche’s latest film, Mektoub My Love: Intermezzo, which is said to be 4 hours long, and the Tarantino, are the titles aiming to complete the lineup.
Some US indies from Sundance and SXSW are now in Special screenings: “For Sama” (SXSW), and “Share” (Sundance), but expect more to appear at the Quinzaine, which will be announced later next week.
A few titles that were rumored to appear in competition are now, according to Cannes insider Cedric Succivalli, said to appear at the Quinzaine, including new works by Zlotowski, Dupieux, Bonello, and Pariser.
What do the other notable omissions mean for the Cannes/Venice rivalry? Quite simply, it means that Venice will most likely be premiering new films by Roy Andersson, James Gray, Robert Guediguian, Patrizio Guzman, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Cristi Puiu, Kelly Reichardt, Josh & Ben Safdie, Trey Edwards Shults, and Chloe Zhao.
The ‘Smile’ franchise has a new director. David Bruckner, who made “The Night House” and the 2022 “Hellraiser” reboot, has been hired to direct “Smile 3” for Paramount.