UPDATE: Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths,” Jia Zhangke’s “Blown by the Winds,” and Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light,” are rumored to be IN competition. Oh, and Kirill Serebrennikov might have TWO films competing for the Palme d’Or (“Disappearance” and “Limonov”).
Audrey Diwan’s “Emmanuelle” won’t be at Cannes. I don’t want to go into further detail about this, but the reasons why might come out eventually. So far, Jacques Audiard, Gilles Lellouche’s “L’Amour Ouf”, and Christopher Honore’s “Marcello Mio” have been selected as the French picks.
Robert Minervini’s “The Damned” might also be downgraded from competition to the Un Certain Regard section to make way for another film … possibly Magnus Von Horn’s “The Girl With A Needle.”
So, the current predicted competition lineup is Coppola, Baker, Arnold, Cronenberg, Lanthimos, Leigh, Jia, Audiard, Sorrentino, Kapadia, Gomes, Abassi, Ye, Ainouz, Salles, Honore, Lellouche, Von Horn, Serebrennikov and, maybe, potentially, Serebrennikov.
EARLIER: Things are heating for Cannes. The lineup is set to be announced tomorrow morning. We already know that Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” will be in competition. That’ll be the hottest ticket on the Croisette this year. No question about it. I’m already cringing thinking about the lineups this film will have.
The obvious films in competition, which I can confirm will be vying for the Palme d’Or, are Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness,” Andrea Arnold’s “Bird,’ David Cronenberg’s “The Shrouds,” Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez,” Sean Baker’s “Anora,” and Paolo Sorrentino’s “Parthenope.”
I can confirm three surprising films that will also be in competition for the Palme d’Or. Roberto Minervini’s “The Damned,” Miguel Gomes’ “Grand Hotel” and Lou Ye’s still-untitled COVID documentary, which was shot in China.
It is a very high possibility, according to several of my sources, that Ali Abassi’s “The Apprentice,” a film about ‘80s Donald Trump, will be in competition. The film is still in post-production, but the cut sent over to Cannes is said to have impressed Thierry Fremaux and company enough for it to be in Palme d’Or contention.
Walter Salles is set to be back in competition with “Ainda estou aqui.” Salles’ last film, 2012’s “On the Road,” was also in competition, and so was 2004’s “The Motorcycle Diaries.” The buzz on “Ainda estou aqui” is said to be very good.
Karim Ainouz’s “Motel Destino” is also practically locked for competition. He was there last year with his ill-received “Firebrand.” His 2019 film, “The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão”,” won the top prize of Un Certain regard that year.
Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Limonov” is most likely going to Cannes. I kept hearing conflicting things about this one, but, despite Venice’s high interest, a Croisette debut is now in store for the film. He might even have another film in the can, this one about Joseph Mengele and titled “Disappearance.”
That’s 14 films sealed for Cannes competition: Coppola, Baker, Arnold, Cronenberg, Lanthimos, Audiard, Sorrentino, Gomes, Abassi, Ye, Minervini, Ainouz, Salles, Serebrennikov.
THE MAYBES …
Just a few days ago, I was told that Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths” was on the shortlist for Cannes competition. I believe, at this moment, that he still is. His last one, 2018’s “Peterloo,” was infamously rejected by Cannes and he was pretty vocal about it too. Given that there currently is only one British filmmaker in competition, maybe Leigh will be the second one.
Another Chinese film, Jia Zhangke’s “Blown by the Winds,” might sneak into competition as well, but I’m hearing it’s polarized some Cannes programmers and could instead be relegated to one of the sidebar sections, possibly Cannes Premiere, or just go to Venice.
Paul Schrader’s “Oh, Canada” has been submitted, and the filmmaker admitted as much in a recent interview, but I’m hearing it’s all up in the air and he might just bring it to Venice in September. No sure what’s going on with that one.
More intriguingly, Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer” has sparked a small war between Venice and Cannes for who gets to premiere the film. Both are “desperately” trying to convince Guadagnino to bring “Queer” to their fest. Last I heard, and because of last year’s nixing of Luca’s “Challengers,” this one might be going to Venice.
Other titles percolating as possibilities, that I have sadly not been hearing much about, include Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “Serpent’s Path,” Dea Kulumbegashvili’s “Those Who Find Me,” Nabil Ayouch’s “Everybody Loves Touda”,” Athina Rachel Tsangari’s “Harvest,” Michel Franco’s “Dreams,” Julian Schnabel’s “In the Hands of Dante”
Karim Moussaoui’s “L’effacement,” Babak Anvari’s “Hallow Road” and Justin Kurzel’s “The Order.”
Meanwhile, the French films are always the last ones to be selected. It’s a traditional process that veers very late into the night, right before the lineup announcement, so we can never really be sure what is in contention. At the moment, Audiard is the only one in. However …
I’m hearing that Audrey Diwan’s “Emmanuelle,” despite being in the editing stages, has been submitted for the festival. I’d be very surprised if she doesn’t crack the competition.
Others in serious contention include Alain Guiraudie’s “Miséricorde,” Noemie Merlant’s “Les Balconettes,” Francois Ozon’s “Quand Vient L’Automne,” Patricia Mazuy’s “The Prisoner of Bordeaux,” Guillaume Senez’s “Une Part Manquante,” Jessica Palud’s “Maria,” Arnaud Larrieu’s “Le Roman de Jim,” Laetitia Dosch’s “Le procès du chien,” Thierry de Peretti’s “A Son Image”, and Arnaud Desplechin’s “Spectateurs”
Callum Turner has stepped down as a director of Twentytwo Films, the production company he launched last August, and the British tabloids are already reading it as a sign he's clearing the decks for James Bond.