Cannes Film Festival: Ken Loach, Wes Anderson, Wim Wenders in competition

“Cinema has a bright future ahead of it,” swears Iris Knobloch. And, first of all, those from May 16 to 27, at the Cannes Film Festival. The new president of the great cinema mass launched the press conference for its 76th edition. The midnight blue room of the UGC Normandy, in Paris, had been dressed, in small touches, in the colors of the festival to welcome this announcement of the official selection (official competition, out of competition, un certain regard and Cannes Première) - the selections parallels will be known next week.

Iris Knobloch took over this year from Pierre Lescure, whose "elegance and passion" she recalled. Between the commonplaces of use, the former boss of Warner Europe insists on the "power" of the Festival. In particular to make admissions to theaters, citing Without filter (palme d'or 2022) or As Bestas (in the Cannes Première 2022 selection). And is delighted that the streaming platforms have, according to her, taken the measure of the importance of the passage in dark rooms.

Thierry Frémaux, the stainless general delegate, then takes the microphone to call out the different selections. He has good news for us. We will hear a lot of Italian spoken on the Croisette, Harrison Ford will give a boost to the Festival. Wes Anderson will climb the steps of the Palace again with a prestigious cast. And Africa has never been so present. The official competition, he says, was fine-tuned late into the night.

A total of 19 films were selected. Many filmmakers already palmed will return to competition, including the British Ken Loach, the Turkish Nuri Bilge Ceylan or the Italian Nanni Moretti. These films could be joined by a twentieth, Killers of the Flower Moon by Martin Scorsese, with his favorite actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert de Niro. It is for the moment planned out of competition but the festival would like to see it compete for the Palme d'Or: "The request has been made" to producers Paramount and Apple TV, "the main thing being that we have an answer before the festival does not begin", underlined Thierry Frémaux.

The competition “mixes young filmmakers who come rarely or for the first time (to Cannes) with veterans whose name, work and work we know. In terms of art, there is no expiry date for filmmakers or for works”, declared Thierry Frémaux.

"Six female directors in competition is a number never reached," Frémaux confirmed to journalists after the press conference. Among these women, two French women, directors Catherine Breillat and Justine Triet. Also note the presence of a young Senegalese filmmaker Ramata-Toulaye Sy, the Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania and the Italian Alice Rohrwacher. The film that will open the festival, Jeanne du Barry (out of competition), is also directed by Frenchwoman Maïwenn. The sixth film by the actress and director retraces the life of the favorite of King Louis XV, with Johnny Depp and Benjamin Lavernhe.

The official selection, which includes films in and out of competition, presented at Un Certain regard or at special screenings, is strong in works from the United States and Italy, with in the parallel sections a film from Mongolia - a first in the history of the festival. This 76th edition chaired by the Swedish director Ruben Östlund. At 48, he succeeds French actor Vincent Lindon, who awarded him the Palme d'Or in 2022 for his satirical film Without Filter. He had already received the supreme award in 2017 with The Square.

Club zero par Jessica Hausner

The zone of Interest par Jonathan Glazer

Fallen Leaves by Aki Kaurismaki

Olfa's daughters (Four daughters) by Kaouther Ben Hania

Asteroid City par Wes Anderson

Anatomy of a fall by Justine Triet

Monster par Kore-Eda Hirokazu

The Sun of the Future by Nanni Moretti

The Chimera by Alice Rohrwacher

Dry grasses ustune (Les herbes sèches / About dry grasses) par Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Last summer by Catherine Breillat

La Passion de Dodin Bouffant par Tran Anh Hung

Kidnapped by Marco Bellocchio

May December by Todd Haynes

Firebrand par Karim Aïnouz

The old Oak par Ken Loach

Banel et Adama par Ramata-Toulaye Sy (Premier film)

Perfect Days par Wim Wenders

Youth by Wang Bing

Opening film: The Animal Kingdom, by Thomas Caillet with Adèle Exarchopoulos and Paul Kircher

The criminals of Rodrigo Moreno

How to have sex de Molly Manning Walker Walker (premier film)

Goodbye Julia by Mohamed Kordofani (First film)

Crowrã (The Buriti Flower) by João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora

Simple as Sylvain by Monia Chokri

Los Colonos (Les Colones / The Settlers) par Felipe GÁLVEZ (Premier film)

Omen by Baloji Tshiani (First Film)

The Breaking Ice par Anthony Chen.

Rosalie by Stéphanie Di Giusto

The new boy par Warwick Thornton

If only I could hibernate par Zoljargal Purevdash (Premier film)

Hopeless par Kim Chang-hoon (Premier film)

Terrestrial Verses par Ali Asgari et Alireza Khatami

Nothing to Lose, by Delphine Deloget (First film)

The Packs by Kamal Lazraq (First film)

Portraits ghosts (Portraits fantômes/Pictures of Ghosts) by Kleber Mendonça Filho

Anselm (The rushing of time/Le bruit du temps, Anselm Kiefer) by Wim Wenders

Occupied City par Steve McQueen

Man in Back par Wang Bing

Time to love by Katell Quillévéré

Closing your eyes (Fermer les yeux) par Victor Erice

Bonnard, Pierre and Marthe, by Martin Provost

Omar la Fraise, par Elias Belkeddar

Kennedy par Anurag Kashyap

Acid by Just Philippot

Killers of the Flower Moon par Martin Scorsese

The Idol par Sam Levinson

Cobweb par Kim Jee-woon

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny by James Mangold