This past May witnessed a very strange Cannes Film Festival come and go. Was the weak competition lineup a warning sign of an industry grappling with a post-pandemic new world? Is cinema, as we know it, in a struggling state?
We won’t really know the answers to these questions for a few years, at least, and probably a couple more Cannes editions in the books. However, one troubling factor to have emerged from this last 75th edition of the fest was the number of competition titles that have yet to be picked up by a US distributor.
However, you can scratch one off the list. Tarik Saleh’s taut, tense and terrific thriller “Boy From Heaven” was picked up today by Samuel Goldwyn for US distribution. Sweden’s Oscar entry is set in Egypt and has been renamed “Cairo Conspiracy.” An early 2023 release is planned, don’t miss this one.
It’s surprising it took so long for Saleh’s film to be picked up especially since it won a prize and has broad appeal. I don’t like the title change, “Boy From Heaven” was much better. Regardless, and out of total curiosity, I checked to see which competition films still don’t have US distribution:
Brother and Sister (Arnaud Desplechin)
Forever Young (Valeri Bruni Tedeschi)
Leila’s Brothers (Saeed Roustayi)
Mother and Son (Leonor Seraille)
Tchaikovsky’s Wife (Kirill Serebrennikov)
Last year’s much larger 24-film competition only had 4 movies that have yet to get US distribution.
I’ve seen much of the selection from this year’s Cannes lineup, including the sidebars. Some films that deserved to be in competition, but weren’t: “Corporis De Humanis Fabrica,” “As Bestas,” “Godland,” “Metronom,” “Aftersun,” “La Nuit Du 12,” and “Funny Pages.”