Cannes Spitball #3 — Jia Zhangke’s ‘We Shall Be All’ Won’t Be Ready

Here’s some film news from mainland China.

Last year, there was info about Jia Zhangke’s new film, according to an official Chinese board sheet. The film is called “We Shall Be All.”

It’s been in production since November 2022. Just to be clear, this is not a documentary like Jia’s last film, “Swimming Out Til the Sea Turns Blue.” It’s set to be Jia’s first film since 2018’s “Ash is Purest White.”

The story is said to be about Qiao and Bing, their on-and-off two-decade relationship and the friends who have disappeared over time. More Interestingly, Qiao and Bing are the same names Jia used in “Unknown Pleasure” (2002) and “Ash Is Purest White” (2018).

Jia seems to be using the “Boyhood” method of filmmaking for this one as certain scenes are said to have been shot as far back as 2001. The balance was filmed last year. No release date has been announced.

Jia won the Golden Lion at Venice for “Still Life” in 2006, but his last five films competed for the Palme d’Or. Sadly, he won’t be at Cannes this year. There’s word that the film is just not ready and will likely be headed to Venice in the fall.

Speaking of Cannes, press accreditations are currently open for the 2024 edition of the fest which is set to take place May 14-May 25. As with every month, I’ve updated our predictions, and there are currently 45 titles on our radar for the 76th edition of the festival.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kind of Kindness”
Steve McQueen’s “Blitz”
Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis”
David Cronenberg’s “The Shrouds”
Sean Baker’s “Anora”
Andrea Arnold’s “Bird”
Leos Carax’s “C’est Pas Moi”
Clint Eastwood’s “Juror #2”
Paul Schrader’s “Oh, Canada”
Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer”
Jim Jarmusch’s “Brother Mother Father Sister”
Justin Kurzel’s “The Order”
George Miller’s “Furiosa”
Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The End“
Pablo Larrain’s “Maria”
Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths”
Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist”
Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez”
Paolo Sorrentino’s “Partenhope”
Lucrecia Martel’s “Chocobar”
Michel Franco’s “Dreams”
Julian Schnabel’s “In the Hands of Dante”
Audrey Diwan’s “Emanuelle”
Guy Maddin’s “Rumors”
David Lowery’s “Mother Mary”
Na Hong-jin‘s “Hope: Part One”
Carlos Reygadas’ “Wake of Umbra”
Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Limonov”
Ali Abassi’s “The Apprentice”
Arnaud Desplechin’s “Spectateurs”
Bi Gan’s “Resurrection”
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “Serpent’s Path”
Dea Kulumbegashvili’s “Those Who Find Me”
Francois Ozon’s “Quand Vient L’Automne”
Alain Guiraudie’s “Miséricorde”
Peter Greenaway’s “Lucca Mortis”
Christophe Honore’s “Summer Boy”
Emmanuel Mouret’s “Une honnête femme”
Karim Ainouz’s “Rosebushpruning”
Xavier Beauvois’ “La Vallée des Fous”
Patricia Mazuy’s “Alma et Mina”
Robert Guedignan‘s “La Pie Voleuse”
Kevin Costner’s “Horizon“
Noémie Merlant’s “The Balconettes”