DRAMA: Jim Jarmusch's ‘Father Mother Sister Brother' is Now Back at Cannes? [Updated]

UPDATE: Last night, it seemed that Jim Jarmusch’s “Father Mother Sister Brother” would be selected by Directors’ Fortnight (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs), but it was suddenly pulled from the lineup. What happened?

Rumor has it that after initially rejecting the film, Cannes now wants it back—and may offer it a slot in Cannes Première or the Main Competition. Wild story. There is a lot of drama surrounding this film, and now all bets are off.

EARLIER: It was late last night that word got out about Jim Jarmusch’s “Father Mother Sister Brother” getting rejected by the Cannes Film Festival. It was quite the surprise since Jarmusch tends to get a free pass at the festival, and last month Variety had reported that the film was one of the few films locked for competition.

Jarmusch isn’t the only big filmmaker who might have been rejected. Christian Petzold, Karim Ainouz, László Nemes, and Ildiko Enyedi had all submitted their latest works for Cannes as well.

I’m guessing that Jarmusch’s film not even being part of the sidebars means that it’s now headed to the Venice Film Festival in September. What a turn of events. Nobody saw this one coming.

“Father Mother Sister Brother” stars Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Adam Driver, Tom Waits, and Charlotte Rampling, and was supposed to be Jarmusch’s ninth title to compete for the Palme d’Or — he’s never won the big prize. The fact that not even the starry A-list cast could convince Cannes boss Thierry Fremaux to accept it surely means something.

The film tells three separate stories set in different countries and revolving around relationships between adults, children, their somewhat distant parents and each other. The first part, “Father,” is set on the East Coast in the Northeastern U.S., “Mother” in Dublin, and “Sister Brother” in Paris.

Back in November, Jarmusch told France Inter that the film was submitted for Cannes, and that it would probably premiere there. Jarmusch hasn’t released a film since “The Dead Don’t Die,” which was the opening night film of Cannes 2019, and garnered mixed reviews.

The Ohio-born filmmaker has been a mainstay of the indie movie scene since the ‘80s. His minimalist, unhurried and idiosyncratic films don’t follow transitional narrative structures, but rather tend to focus more on mood. Jarmusch’s best films are “Paterson,” “Only Lovers Left Alive,” “Stranger Than Paradise,” “Broken Flowers,” “Down By Law,” and “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.”