CANNES BOSSES DRAW ON STAR WATTAGE AND PAST WINNERS IN 75TH FEST LINE-UP

Cannes festival president Pierre Lescure and general delegate/artistic director Thierry Frémaux shared the competition, Un Certain Regard and out of competition titles for the 75th edition of the event at a press conference overnight, held on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. 

Amongst the high-profile titles announced were new films from George Miller (Three Thousand Years of Longing, with Tilda Swinton), David Cronenberg (Crimes of the Future, with Kristen Stewart), Kelly Reichardt (Showing Up, a reteaming with star Michelle Williams) and James Gray (Armageddon Time, with Anne Hathaway) in the official selection. The Opening Slot was afforded to Z Comes Z (aka, Final Cut; pictured, below), the long-delayed zombie comedy from Michel Hazanvicius, Oscar winner for The Artist. (Pictured, above: Beast, from directors Riley Keough and Gina Gammell)

Frémaux also confirmed the World Premiere of Top Gun: Maverick, with star Tom Cruise attending, which will roll into a retrospective celebration of his career. Along with Baz Luhrman's Elvis, 20th-century rock legends will be celebrated in Ethan Coen’s out-of-competition doc Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind and Brett Morgen's  Moonage Daydream, a montage-driven midnight-movie tribute to David Bowie.

The competition lineup includes new work from several returning Palme d’Or winners - Ruben Östlund’s social satire Triangle of Sadness (pictured, below); Japanese helmer Kore-eda Hirokazu’s Korea-set Broker; Romanian director Cristian Mungiu’s politically charged RMN; and, Belgian duo the Dardenne brothers’ immigrant-focused Tori and Lokita.

The 18-strong competition features three female directors; in addition to Reichardt, Claire Denis will premiere Stars at Noon, with Margaret Qualley, and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi debuts her 80s-set coming-of-age story, The Almond Tree.

Two Ukrainian filmmakers will present works -, Sergei Loznitsa (The Natural History of Destruction, invited as a ‘Special Screening’) and Maksim Nakonechnyi (Butterfly Vision, to screen in Un Certain Regard), along with one Russian, dissident director Kirill Serebrennikov, in competition with Tchaïkovski’s Wife.

Further announcements regarding 2022 title are expected in the days ahead, which may address the absence of Emanuele Crialese’s L'immensità, starring Penelope Cruz; director Haruki Murakami animated pic Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman; Rebecca Zlotowski’s Les Enfants des Autres; and, the Disney/Pixar tentpole Lightyear, all of which had been high on the pre-announcement radar.

The line-up for the 75th Festival de Cannes is: 

OPENING NIGHT (Out of Competition):
Z Comme Z / Final Cut (Dir: Michel Hazanvicius; France)

COMPETITION
The Almond Tree (Dir: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi; France)
Armageddon Time (Dir: James Gray; U.S.)
Boy From Heaven (Dir: Tarik Saleh; Sweden)
Broker (Dir: Kore-eda Hirokazu; Japan)
Brother and Sister / Frère et Sœur (Dir: Arnaud Desplechin, France)
Close (Dir: Lucas Dhont; Belgium)
Crimes of the Future (Dir: David Cronenberg; Canada)
Decision to Leave (Dir: Park Chan-Wook; South Korea)
Eo / Hi-Han (Dir: Jerzy Skolimowski; Poland)
Holy Spider (Dir: Ali Abbasi; Iran)
Leila’s Brothers (Dir: Saeed Roustaee; Iran)
Nostalgia (Dir: Mario Martone; Italy)
RMN (Dir: Cristian Mungiu; Romania)
Showing Up (Dir: Kelly Reichardt; U.S.)
Stars at Noon (Dir: Claire Denis; France)
Tchaïkovski’s Wife (Dir: Kirill Serebrennikov; Russia)
Tori and Lokita (Dir: Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne; Belgium)
Triangle of Sadness (Dir: Ruben Östlund; Sweden)

UN CERTAIN REGARD
All the People I’ll Never Be / Retour à Séoul (Dir: Davy Chou; Cambodia)
Beast (Dirs: Riley Keough and Gina Gammell; U.S.)
Burning Days (Dir: Emin Alper; Turkey)
Butterfly Vision (Dir: Maksim Nakonechnyi; Ukraine)
Corsage (Dir: Marie Kruetzer; Austria)
Domingo and the Mist (Dir: Ariel Escalante Meza; Costa Rica)
Joyland (Dir: Saim Sadiq; Pakistan)
Metronom (Dir: Alexandru Belc; Romania)
Plan 75 (Dir: Hayakawa Chie; Japan)
Rodeo (Dir: Lola Quivoron; France)
Sick of Myself (Dir: Kristoffer Borgli)
The Silent Twins (Dir: Agnieszka Smocynska; Poland)
The Stranger (Dir: Thomas M. Wright; Australia)
Volada Land (Dir: Hlynur Pálmason; Iceland)
The Worst / Les Pires (Dirs: Lise Akora and Romane Gueret; France)

OUT OF COMPETITION
Elvis (Dir: Baz Luhrmann; U.S.-Australia)
Mascarade (Dir: Nicolas Bedos; France)
November (Dir: Cédric Jimenez; France)
Three Thousand Years of Longing (Dir: George Miller; Australia)
Top Gun: Maverick (Dir: Joseph Kosinski; U.S.)

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
Fumer Fait Tousser (Dir: Quentin Dupieux; France)
Hunt (Dir: Lee Jung-Jae; S. Korea)
Moonage Daydream (Dir: Brett Morgen; U.S.)

SPECIAL SCREENINGS
All That Breathes (Dir: Shaunak Sen; India)
The Natural History of Destruction (Dir: Sergei Loznitsa; Ukraine)
Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind (Dir: Ethan Coen; U.S.)

CANNES PREMIERE
Dodo (Dir: Panos H. Koutras; Greece)
Irma Vep (Dir: Olivier Assayas; France)
Nightfall (Dir: Marco Bellocchio; Italy)
Nos Frangins (Dir: Rachid Bouchareb; France)