New faces and returnees remain hopeful as they head for the big prize at cinema’s most prestigious annual event

 

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Right around the corner is the 77th Cannes Film Festival, which previews a range of films from all genres across the world. The event will run from May 14 to 25  and will be headed by jury president Greta Gerwig, the first female American director to be given the honor. Twenty-two selections are now officially hoping to take the grand prize award of Palme d’Or, including Academy Award winners Yorgos Lanthimos and Francis Ford Coppola. 

Two honorary Palme d’Ors are also said to be awarded this year to filmmaker George Lucas and animation studio Studio Ghibli.

And opening the competition is Quentin Dupieux’s “The Second Act,” a meta-comedy set in a strange restaurant follows a young woman with the intention of introducing her boyfriend to her father. It stars Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel, and Raphaël Quenard. 

READ: Studio Ghibli to receive honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes

A Cannes of comebacks

Some nominees were destined for a flight back to the Cannes Film Festival after presenting their films in previous years. Ali Abassi returns with the Donald Trump biographical drama “The Apprentice” after failing to snag the Palme d’Or for his 2022 release “Holy Spider.” Although there are talks of his being a no-show this year after his arrest in Iran, another regular, Mohammad Rasoulof, may appear yet again now with “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” after winning four out of his six prior nominations at the festival, including two Un Certain Regards. 

New kids on the block

Three newly selected features were added on Apr. 22, including “Trei Kilometri Până la Capătul Lumii” (Three Kilometers to the End of the World) by budding Romanian director Emanuel Parvu, “La Plus Précieuse des Merchandises” (The Most Precious of Cargoes) by Michel Hazanavicius, and “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” by Mohammad Rasoulof.

What else to expect

Succeeding her critically acclaimed documentary film “A Night of Knowing Nothing” that won the 2021 Caméra d’Or and L’Œil d’or for Best First Feature Film and Best Documentary respectively, Payal Kapadia’s up-and-coming first non-documentary film “All We Imagine as Light” has been highly anticipated at the 2024 festival. The synopsis reads: “In Mumbai, Nurse Prabha’s routine is troubled when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her boyfriend.”

It’s gained almost as much traction as its competitor, “Anora,” which is a comedy feature by Sean Baker and led by beloved It girl from “Scream,” Mikey Madison. Following his success from “Red Rocket” and a much similar offbeat comedy, “Tangerine,” Baker teases another picture surrounding the lives of sex workers.

Most anticipated at the Cannes Film Festival

Perhaps the buzziest titles at the competition belong to two of the biggest names in cinema at the moment. Yorgos Lanthimos made it to the mainstream this year with award-winning “Poor Things” and is now introducing his brand-new anthology “Kinds of Kindness” that once again stars Emma Stone, Margaret Qualley, and Willem Dafoe alongside Jesse Plemons, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, and Hunter Schafer. 

The other most widely discussed affair is the directorial comeback of Francis Ford Coppola, once rumored to be retired while he worked on his 20-year long passion project, “Megalopolis.” The industry has heard bouts of production mishaps on the self-financed project that eventually cost around $120 million from the filmmaker’s pocket. Surprisingly appearing at the festival without any more delays, its premise concerns the rebuilding of a metropolis utopia according to idealist Caesar, played by Adam Driver.

The 77th Cannes Film Festival holds an assemblage of films worthy of a round of applause. See the full lineup below.

In Competition

These are all the films in the running for the Palme d’Or.

Opening film: “The Second Act” – Quentin Dupieux (Out of Competition)

“All We Imagine as Light” – Payal Kapadia
“Anora” – Sean Baker
“The Apprentice” – Ali Abbasi
“Bird” – Andrea Arnold
“Caught by the Tides” – Jia Zhangke
“Emilia Perez” – Jacques Audiard
“Pigen Med Nålen” – Magnus von Horn
“Grand Tour” – Miguel Gomes
“Kinds of Kindness” – Yorgos Lanthimos
“L’Amour Ouf” – Gilles Lellouche
“La Plus Précieuse des Merchandises” – Michel Hazanavicius
“Limonov” – Kirill Serebrennikov
“Marcello Mio” – Christophe Honoré
“Megalopolis” – Francis Ford Coppola
“Motel Destino” – Karim Aïnouz
“Oh, Canada” – Paul Schrader
“Parthenope” – Paolo Sorrentino
“The Shrouds” – David Cronenberg
“The Substance” – Coralie Fargeat
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig” – Mohammad Rasoulof
“Trei Kilometri Până la Capătul Lumii” – Emanuel Parvu
“Wild Diamond” – Agathe Riedinger

Out of Competition

“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” – George Miller
“Horizon: An American Saga” – Kevin Costner
“Le Comte de Monte-Cristo” – Alexandre De La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte
“She’s Got No Name” – Peter Ho-sun Chan
“Rumours” – Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson

Un Certain Regard

Opening film: “When the Light Breaks” – Rúnar Rúnarsson

“Black Dog” – Guan Hu
“The Damned” – Roberto Minervini
“Flow” – Gints Zilbalodis
“Le Procès du Chien” – Laetitia Dosch
“Le Royaume” – Julien Colonna
“L’Histoire de Souleymane” – Boris Lojkine
“My Sunshine” – Hiroshi Okuyama
“Niki” – Céline Sallette
“Norah” – Tawfik Alzaidi
“On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” – Rungano Nyoni
“The Shameless” – Konstantin Bojanov
“Santosh” – Sandhya Suri
“September Says” – Ariane Labed
“Viet and Nam” – Minh Quý Trương
“The Village Next to Paradise” – Mo Harawe
“Vingt Dieux” – Louise Courvoisier

Midnight Screenings

“The Balconettes” – Noemie Merlant
“I, the Executioner” – Ryoo Seung-wan
“The Surfer” – Lorcan Finnegan
“Twilight of the Warrior” – Cheang Pou-soi

Cannes Premiere

“C’est Pas Moi” – Leos Carax
“En Fanfare” – Emmanuel Courcol
“Everybody Loves Touda” – Nabil Ayouch
“Le Roman de Jim” – Arnaud Larrieu & Jean-Marie Larrieu
“Maria” – Jessica Palud
“Miséricorde” – Alain Guiraudie
“Rendez-Vous Avec Pol Pot” – Rithy Panh
“Vivre, Mourir, Renaître” – Gaël Morel

Special Screenings

“An Unfinished Film” – Lou Ye
“Apprendre” – Claire Simon
“Ernest Cole, Lost and Found” – Raoul Peck
“The Invasion” – Sergei Loznitsa
“La Belle de Gaza” – Yolande Zauberman
“Le Fil” – Daniel Auteuil
“Lula” – Oliver Stone
“Nasty” – Tudor Giurgiu
“Spectateurs” – Arnaud Desplechin

Short Films Competition

“Across the Waters” – Viv Li
“Amarela” – André Hayato Saito
“Bad for a Moment” – Daniel Soares
“Les Belles Cicatrices” – Raphaël Jouzeau
“The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent” – Nebojša Slijepčević
“Ootidé” – Razumaitė Eglė
“Perfectly a Strangeness” – Alison McAlpine
“Rrugës” – Samir Karahoda
“Sanki Yoxsan” – Azer Guliev
“Tea” – Blake Rice
“Volcelest” – Éric Briche