Cannes Spitball #2 — Serebrenikkov and Dardenne in Competition

UPDATE: Mascha Schilinski’s “The Doctor Says I’ll Be Alright” is being highly tipped for Cannes competition. The amount of internal buzz I’ve been hearing about this film is deafening.

I’m also hearing about new films from Cannes regulars Saeed Roustaee (“Woman And Child”), Maryam Touzani (“Calle Malaga”), Haifaa Al-Mansour (“Unidentified”), and Mario Martone (“Fuori”).

UPDATE: I’m hearing that Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s “Young Mother” has been selected for competition. They are Cannes regulars, having already won the Palme d’Or, so this isn’t a surprising development.

EARLIER: The beginning of the month brings out our second spitball of this coming May’s Cannes Film Festival. I’ll be writing one of these every month, with updates in between, until the announcement of the lineup in April.

Things are clearly starting to rev up with the selection committee. We have Juliette Binoche as Jury President. Press accreditations are now open, and with the fest just four months away, rumors are flying away.

First off, you can scratch off Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Jupiter” from showing up — I’m told the film hasn’t even been shot yet. Meanwhile, Lynne Ramsay’s “Die, My Love” was recently implied to be premiering on the Croisette. Then there’s yesterday’s report of Ari Aster’s “Eddington” eyeing a Cannes debut.

I can also confirm that Kirill Serebrenikkov’s “Disappearance,” shot in 2023, has had a spot reserved in competition since last year. Yes, him again. This will be the fourth time the Russian filmmaker competes for the Palme d’Or in the last seven years. “Disappearance” follows the story of notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele during his fugitive years, from Paraguay to the Brazilian jungle.

On-paper, there are too many films to choose from this year — an innumerable amount of A-list auteurs who are expected to have new films ready for Cannes. The list of directors looking to compete for the Palme d’Or is impressive: Ramsay, Ducournau, Jarmusch, Anderson, Reichardt, Park, Malick, Trier, and many more.

Every year, anywhere between 19 to 23 films get selected for competition. These are my current best bets, 19 films that seem destined for Palme d’Or contention:

Die, My Love (Lynne Ramsay)  
Alpha (Julia Ducournau)  
Father Mother Sister Brother (Jim Jarmusch)  
The Phoenician Scheme (Wes Anderson)  
The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)  
Eddington (Ari Aster)
No Other Choice (Park Chan-wook)  
The Way of the Wind (Terrence Malick)  
Highest 2 Lowest (Spike Lee)
Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)  
The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendoca Filho)  
Young Mother (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)  
Orphan (Laszlo Nemes)  
Resurrection (Bi Gan)  
Yes! (Nadav Lapid)  
Disappearance (Kirill Serebrenikkov)  
The Love That Remains (Hlynur Pálmason)  
Chocobar (Lucrecia Martel)
Private Life (Rebecca Zlotowski)  
Two Prosecutors (Sergei Loznitsa)

I’ve named six U.S. directors in competition, and even that’s a stretch, I’m thinking Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague,” which has been submitted to Cannes, will be playing out of competition. Who knows if Aster’s “Eddington,” produced by A24, will be accepted as he’s turned into a polarizing filmmaker. Another A24 title, David Lowery’s “Mother Mary” recently test screened, and given some of the reactions I’ve heard, maybe it’s best not to include it here.

Other possibilities, albeit on the outside looking in, are new films from Darren Aronofsky (“Caught Stealing”), Yorgos Lanthimos (“Bugonia”), Benny Safdie (“The Smashing Machine”), Fatih Akin (“Amrum”), Luca Guadagnino (“After the Hunt”) Olivier Hermanus (“The History of Sound”) and Greg Araki (“I Want Your Sex”).

Notice, only two French filmmakers in my predictions (Ducournau and Zlotowski). It’s become mandatory to have anywhere between 4-6 films from France in competition. This year, it’s going to be a bloodbath of well-known France-based directors vying for those elusive competition spots:

The Magnificent Life of Sylvain Pagnol (Sylvain Chomet)   
Dossier 173 (Dominik Moll)
Sacrifice (Roman Gavras)   
Une Affaire (Arnaud Desplechin)
Enzo (Robin Campillo)  
Stitches (Alice Wincour)

How about another 17 potential contenders, stemming from all over the world.

Wake of Umbra (Carlos Reygadas)  
Hope (Na Hong-jin)  
Rosebushpruning (Karim Aïnouz)  
Miroirs No. 3 (Christian Petzold)
In the Hands of Dante (Julian Schnabel) 
Eagles of the Relublic (Tarik Saleh)  
Tu ne fera point d’image (Kaouther BenHania)   
After (Oliver Laxe)  
L’interet D’Adam (Laura Wandel)  
The Drama (Kristofer Borgli)
At the Sea (Kornél Mundruczó)
Silent Friend (Ildiko Enyedi)
Duse (Pietro Marcello)
Romería (Carla Simon)
El Ser Querido (Rodrigo Sorogoyen)
Dry Leaf (Alexandre Koberidze)

Ukrainian filmmaker Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi, who made a major splash 10 years ago with “The Tribe,” has his much anticipated “Occupation” brewing in post-production, but Slaboshpytskyi recently told me the film might not be ready on time for Cannes.

As for Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” there’s no way in knowing what Warner Bros will be doing with that one. Puck’s Matt Belloni recently reported that it might have been “punted” to 2026, but for now, its August 8, 2025 release date remains intact. PTA hasn’t been at Cannes since 2002’s “Punch-Drunk Love.”

In fact, when it comes to U.S. titles, it’s always unpredictable if studios are willing to risk a Cannes premiere, or how Cannes boss Thierry Fremaux will judge the American crop submitted to him on any given year. He’s been known to reject plenty of A24 films, and already has Jarmusch, Reichardt, Anderson, Malick, Aster and Lee eyeing debuts on the croisette.

Out-of-competition, we can probably expect Mission: Impossible,” and “F1” to make a splash. Will Danny Boyle want to risk screening “28 Years Later” on the Croisette a month before the film gets released? Probably not. Ditto Pixar’s “Elio.”