Among the new additions, Nadav Lapid’s absurdist tale, focusing on a struggling jazz musician tasked with reinventing the Israeli national anthem, taking place in the aftermath of October 7th, but also Lynne Ramsay’s latest, Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut and Lav Diaz’s ‘Magellan’ starring Gael Garcia Bernál as the Portuguese explorer.
And the Palme d’or goes to…
As previously announced, the Jury for the 78th Festival de Cannes will be chaired by French actress Juliette Binoche. She will be joined by American actress and filmmaker Halle Berry, Indian director and screenwriter Payal Kapadia, Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher, French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, as well as Congolese director, documentarist and producer Dieudo Hamadi, Korean director and screenwriter Hong Sangsoo, Mexican director, screenwriter and producer Carlos Reygadas and American actor Jeremy Strong. They will collectively decide which films are worthy of awards. Some of them are pictured above in the header, though have left out Reygadas whom I can’t stand. Sorry, had a bad experience with the filmmaker cancelling on his plans to attend Cairo last minute and I was scheduled to conduct a masterclass with him — all that work preparing going to hell in the process of course.
But I digress. The Cannes Competition Jury is star spangled this year and I can’t wait to see what they’ll pick as their faves.
Nicole Kidman is Kering’s 2025 Women In Motion Awardee
It will be interesting to have a Festival de Cannes where both Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are on the red carpet. Obviously not for the same reason or even on the same day. Kidman will be in Cannes to accept the Kering Women in Motion award, which has been presented in Cannes since 2015 and recognizes female artists who, through their career and commitment, advance the place of women in cinema and in society. Since her 2017 pledge to work with a female director every 18 months, Kidman has exceeded that promise—collaborating with 19 to date—while using her platform and production company, Blossom Films, to elevate women’s voices in film. That’s commendable right there. Plus, Kering is what fashion dreams are made of, so all good with me.
The Award, which has been presented in Cannes since 2015, recognizes female artists who, through their career and commitment, advance the place of women in cinema and in society. Kidman will be returning to the festival for the first time since she was honored with the Cannes Film Festival’s 70th Anniversary Prize in 2017.
A major figure in cinema, Nicole Kidman has built a career marked as much by her artistic audacity as by her virtuosity and transformative portrayals that have reshaped the representation of women on screen. From Eyes Wide Shut and The Hours to Big Little Liesand Babygirl, her work reflects a deep commitment to bold, uncompromising storytelling.
It is noteworthy to mention that this will be the 10th anniversary edition of Women In Motion and Kidman will receive her award during the official Women in Motion dinner gala at the festival.
New titles are added to the already magnificent line up
Among my faves, is Magellan by Lav Diaz, which of course I’ve yet to watch. But now that I’ve met and interviewed Diaz for the second time and finally got to ask him how he wishes his audience to view his lengthy films, I can safely say I’ll enjoy this masterpiece starring Gael Garcia Bernál to the moon. And back. The film was added to the Cannes Premiere which are a whole other level of special to watch and enjoy anyway, presented in the Theatre Debussy and introduced by the cast and Thierry Frémaux.
More goodies include Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t!, which is being presented as part of the Midnight Screenings. Starring Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza and Chris Evans, the detective comedy, as it’s described, revolves an intriguing trio: a private investigator (Qualley), a cult leader (Evans), and a "mystery woman" (Plaza).
Kristen Stewart directing Imogen Poots in a first still from ‘The Chronology of Water’
Also recently announced as an addition to the Competition line up is Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson. It is an adaptation of the 2017 novel by Ariana Harwicz about a new mother in the French countryside who develops postpartum depression and begins spiraling down a rabbit’s hole of psychosis. To those of us who loved Lawrence in Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!, this should prove a special treat.
Another treat is going to be watching Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut, The Chronology of Water, based on the memoirs of the same name by Lidia Yuknavitch. The premise of the film, which stars Imogen Poots as Yuknavitch, is as follows, according to Wikipedia: “A young woman finds her voice through the written word and her salvation as a swimmer – ultimately becoming a triumphant teacher, mother and a singular modern writer.”
Last but not least, is provocative Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid’s latest, Yes, which has been added to the Directors’ Fortnight line up and stars Ariel Bronz, Efrat Dor, Naama Preis and Alexey Serebryakov. The film follows the story of a couple who sell “their art, souls and bodies to the elite,” according to the official synopsis. The name of the protagonist is “Y” which was also the name of the leading man in Lapid’s rousing Ahed’s Knee which world premiered in Competition in Cannes in 2021. So we shall see what other conundrums this film will make us examine, both on the big screen and within ourselves.
See the official selection line ups in full below:
Official selection
Competition
Alpha
Dir. Julia Ducournau
Die, My Love
Dir. Lynne Ramsay
Dossier 137
Dir. Dominik Moll
Eagles Of The Republic
Dir. Tarik Saleh
Eddington
Dir. Ari Aster
Fuori
Dir. Mario Martone
The History Of Sound
Dir. Oliver Hermanus
It Was Just An Accident
Dir. Jafar Panahi
The Mastermind
Dir. Kelly Reichardt
Nouvelle Vague
Dir. Richard Linklater
La Petite Derniere
Dir. Hafsia Herzi
The Phoenician Scheme
Dir. Wes Anderson
Renoir
Dir. Chie Hayakawa
Romeria
Dir. Carla Simon
The Secret Agent
Dir. Kleber Mendonca Filho
Sentimental Value
Dir. Joachim Trier
Sirat
Dir. Oliver Laxe
Sound Of Falling
Dir. Mascha Schilinski
Two Prosecutors
Dir. Sergei Loznitsa
Woman And Child
Dir. Saeed Roustaee
The Young Mother’s Home
Dir. Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
Out of competition
Colours Of Time
Dir. Cedric Klapisch
Highest 2 Lowest
Dir. Spike Lee
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
Dir. Christopher McQuarrie
Partir Un Jour
Dir. Amélie Bonnin
The Richest Woman In The World
Dir. Thierry Klifa
Vie Privée
Dir. Rebecca Zlotowski
Midnight Screenings
Dalloway
Dir. Yann Gozlan
Exit 8
Dir. Genki Kawamura
Honey Don’t!
Dir. Ethan Coen
No One Will Know
Dir. Vincent Mael Cardona
Sons Of The Neon Night
Dir. Juno Mak
Cannes Premiere
Amrum
Dir. Fatih Akin
Connemara
Dir. Alex Lutz
The Disappearance Of Josef Mengele
Dir. Kirill Serebrennikov
Love On Trial
Dir. Koji Fukada
The Love That Remains
Dir. Hlynur Palmason
Magellan
Dir. Lav Diaz
Orwell: 2+2=5
Dir. Raoul Peck
Splitsville
Dir. Michael Angelo Covino
The Wave
Dir. Sebastian Lelio
Special Screenings
Arco
Dir. Ugo Bienvenu
Bono: Stories Of Surrender
Dir. Andrew Dominik
Little Amelie
Dirs. Mailys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han
A Magnificent Life
Dir. Sylvain Chomet
Mama
Dir. Or Sinai
The Man Who Saw The Bear Who Saw The Man
Dir. Pierre Richard
Tell Her That I Love Her
Dir. Romane Bohringer
The Wonderers
Dir. Josephine Japy
Un Certain Regard
Aisha Can’t Fly Away
Dir. Morad Mostafa
Caravan
Dir. Zuzana Kirchnerová
The Chronology Of Water
Dir. Kristen Stewart
Eleanor The Great
Dir. Scarlett Johansson
The Great Arch
Dir. Stéphane Demoustier
Heads Or Tails?
Dirs. Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis
Homebound
Dir. Neeraj Ghaywan
I Only Rest In The Storm
Dir. Pedro Pinho
The Last One For The Road
Dir. Francesco Sossai
Love Me Tender
Dir. Anna Cazenave Cambet
Meteors
Dir. Hubert Charuel
My Father’s Shadow
Dir. Akinola Davies Jr.
The Mysterious Gaze Of The Flamingo
Dir. Diego Céspedes
Once Upon A Time In Gaza
Dirs. Tarzan Nasser and Arab Nasser
A Pale View Of Hills
Dir. Kei Ishikawa
Pillion
Dir. Harry Lighton
The Plague
Dir. Charlie Polinger
A Poet
Dir. Simon Mesa Soto
Promised Sky
Dir. Erige Sehiri
Sales: Luxbox
Urchin
Dir. Harris Dickinson
Sales: Charades (international); Gersh, UTA Independent Film Group (North America)
Directors’ Fortnight
Brand New Landscape
Dir. Yuiga Danzuka
Dangerous Animals
Dir. Sean Byrne
Death Does Not Exist
Dir. Félix Dufour-Laperrière
Enzo
Dir. Laurent Cantet and Robin Campillo
The Girl In The Snow
Dir. Louise Hémon
Girl On Edge
Dir. Jinghao Zhou
The Girls We Want
Dir. Prïncia Car
Her Will Be Done
Dir. Julia Kowalski
Indomptables
Dir. Thomas Ngijol
Kokuho
Dir. Lee Sang-il
Lucky Lu
Dir. Lloyd Lee Choi
Militantropos
Dirs. Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova and Simon Mozgovyi
Miroirs N° 3
Dir. Christian Petzold
The Party’s Over!
Dir. Antony Cordier
Peak Everything
Dir. Anne Émond
The President’s Cake
Dir. Hasan Hadi
Sorry, Baby
Dir. Eva Victor
Wild Foxes
Dir. Valéry Carnoy
Yes
Dir. Nadav Lapid
Critics’ Week
Competition
Imago
Dir. Déni Oumar Pitsaev
Kika
Dir. Alexe Poukine
Left-Handed Girl
Dir. Shih-Ching Tsou
Nino
Dir. Pauline Loquès
Reedland
Dir. Sven Bresser
Sleepless City
Dir. Guillermo Galoe
A Useful Ghost
Dir. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
Special screenings
Adam’s Sake
Dir. Laura Wandel
Baise-en-Ville
Dir. Martin Jauvat
Dandelion’s Odyssey
Dir. Momoko Seto
Love Letters
Dir. Alice Douard
All images courtesy of the Festival de Cannes, used with permission.