Alright, so here we are and the Cannes Film Festival still has no jury president announced, let alone a jury. The majority of the lineup isn’t even ready, even though it is set to be revealed next Tuesday. That’s how Cannes does it, they live for drama and controversy.
I’ve been intensely monitoring Intel and rumors for the last few months, a competition of 19-21 films is what I’m hearing, but there is still a ways to go, with many films (especially the French ones) likely added in the last minute.
What I can tell you is that Joanna Hogg’s “The Eternal Daughter,” and Kelly Reichardt’s “Showing Up” are most likely in. I had also been told by a few sources to watch out for Ari Aster’s 3-hour “Disappointment Blvd” sneaking into competition as well.
Filmmakers locked in for competition include David Cronenberg, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Ruben Ostlund, Park Chan-wook, The Dardennesp, Pietro Marcello, and Emanuele Crialese.
French films that have been VERY well-received by the Cannes selection committee so far include Arnaud Desplechin’s “Brother and Sister,” Alice Wincour’s “Revoir Paris,” Léa Mysius‘ “The Five Devils,” and Emmanuel Mouret’s “Chronique d'une liaison passagère.” Meanwhile, Jean-Paul Civeyrac‘s “Une Femme de Notre Temps” has surprised the committee in its staying power and could sneak in there as well.
On the American side, it’s absolute radio silence when it comes to James Gray’s “Armageddon Time,” the film is being test-screened in California this week, but odds are it’ll get into Cannes competition. The hesitations I have reside on there being absolutely no Intel that it was even submitted. Who knows!
The same can be said about Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale.” Where is it going exactly? Aronofsky has been a Venice mainstay for close to 20 years now, but the film’s distributor (A24) has had a wobbly relationship with Venice these past few years, so a Cannes berth wouldn’t be out of the question.
UPDATE: We have been told “The Whale” is not ready. Venice is most likely. Ditto Florian Zeller’s “The Son,” Alejandro Gonalez Inarittu’s “Bardo,” Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City,” and Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones & All.”
It’s all up in the air, folks. However, we can almost confirm that 90-95% of the below predictions for the competition lineup of this the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival is as accurate as they come:
Broker — Hirokazu Kore-eda
Triangle of Sadness — Ruben Ostlund
Decision to Leave — Park Chan-wook
Disappointment Blvd. — Ari Aster
Armageddon Time — James Gray
Crimes of the Future — David Cronenberg
Showing Up — Kelly Reichardt
The Eternal Daughter — Joanna Hogg
Tori et Lokita — Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
Scarlet— Pietro Marcello
R.M.N — Cristian Mungiu
Tchaikovsky’s Wife — Kirill Serebrennikov
One Fine Morning — Mia Hansen Love
Frere et Soeur — Arnaud Desplechin
L'immensità — Emanuele Crialese
Revoir Paris — Alice Winocour
The Five Devils — Léa Mysius
Chronique d'une liaison passagère — Emmanuel Mouret
Holy Spider — Ali Abassi
Close — Lukas Dhont
Enys Men — Mark Jenkin
Three Thousand Years of Longing — George Miller