Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux confirmed that he still has 50 films to watch before he locks up the selection for the 78th Cannes Film Festival. It does look as though two films will be added to Competition, and another two to three in the Un Certain Regard sidebar.
Of course, when looking at all of the missing names from yesterday’s selection, you can’t help but wonder if some Cannes regulars will be making it or not. This year has been an unusual one in that Fremaux has received an unusual number of late submissions, but also decided to have the press conference happen a week earlier than usual.
Some of the missing names cinephiles are wondering about include Ramsay, Park, Bi Gan, Lapid, Campillo, Wandel, Guadagnino, Jarmusch, Nemes, Petzold, and of course, Malick. I’ll try to tackle all of them here, but some of these have just gone dark; there’s no trail to speak of.
First off, titles that were not submitted include Luca Guadagnino’s “After the Hunt,” Terrence Malick’s ‘Way of the Wind,” Benny Safdie’s “The Smashing Machine,” Na Hong-jin’s “Hope,” and Joseph Kosinski’s “F1.”
Jim Jarmusch’s “Father, Mother, Brother, Sister” and Laszlo Nemes’ “Orphan” were outright rejected for competition, but maybe one of them shows up in the Cannes Premiere section? Christian Petzold’s “Miroirs No.3” had been submitted, but last I checked, on Wednesday, Cannes hadn’t made a decision about the film — maybe it also shows up in one of the sidebars.
Before the lineup was announced, we knew that Lynne Ramsay’s “Die, My Love” would not be ready in time to be announced at Thursday’s presser but could potentially be added at a later date. She’s in the finishing stages of post-production. We’re all hoping she makes it.
Meanwhile, Nadav Lapid’s “Yes!” will only be seen by the selection committee this weekend. I would imagine that he’s a high possibility to be added to the competition since he’s a Golden Bear winner (“Synonyms”), and had his last film, “Ahed’s Knee,” competing for the Palme d’Or in 2021.
Laura Wandel’s “L’Interet D’Adam” was really liked by Cannes, and was formally invited by Fremaux, but not in competition. She might now instead go to one of the sidebars. Wandel made waves at Cannes 2021 with her excellent debut “Playground.”
I’ve heard that Robin Campillo’s “Enzo” is being eyed to open the Quinzaine des Realisateurs (Director’s Fortnight). Quentin Dupieux’s “The Piano Accident” will also be added in there somewhere — Quinzaine? Critics’ Week?
Last we checked, Bi Gan’s “Resurrection” had wrapped production a week ago. Quite simply, but here’s where it gets interesting … Gan was shooting and editing at the same time, and wanted to submit the film for Cannes. I would imagine a wet print is headed in Fremaux’s direction, if it hasn’t already.
The Korea Times reported Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice” had not been submitted for Cannes, but that the festival was willing to extend the submission deadline for him just in case he did end up completing post-production on the film. I’m not giving up on this one.