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The Cannes Film Festival is expected to reveal, on Thursday, the list of films participating in the competition, to be organized according to the usual dates before the Corona virus pandemic, that is, between May 17 and 28. 20 films will participate in the official competition. The war in Ukraine is expected to cast a shadow over this cycle. The exceptional transformation this year is the end of the festival’s partnership with Canal +, and the adoption of the France Télévision group and the Pro website as new media partners.
reveal Cannes Film Festival Thursday, the list of candidates, one month before the start of the artistic competition for the Palme d’Or. It seems that international events, particularly the war in Ukraine, will cast a shadow over this cycle.
Filmmakers from all over the world turn their eyes to the Champs-Elysees cinema at eleven o’clock on Thursday morning, when the festival’s general delegate, Thierry Frémaux, will announce the list of films selected and included in the festival’s competition.
Frémaux may also announce the name of Spike Lee’s successor as the head of the jury, and the specialized “Variety” magazine is likely to take over the task this year, the Spanish actress Penelope Cruz or the French Marion Cotillard.
More than two thousand films were submitted to participate in the festival in this session, which is held according to the usual dates before the pandemic, that is, from May 17 to 28. The festival could make itself a platform for Ukrainian filmmakers or their Russian colleagues who have strayed from the Putin regime.
After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Cannes Festival quickly announced that it would not receive an official “Russian delegation”, but that it might invite famous directors such as Kantmir Balagov, 30, who fled Russia, or Kirill Serebrenkov, 52, who is opening a work for him. Avignon Theater Festival.
On the Ukrainian side, director Sergey Loznitsa, who made a film about the Allied destruction of German cities at the end of World War II, may be on the shortlist.
20 films in competition
About 20 films are competing to succeed French Julia Ducornu, who won the Palme d’Or for her movie “Titan” in July 2021, and it is expected that the Canadian director David Cronenberg for the science fiction movie “Crimes of the Future”, in which the actors were combined, will be among the hopefuls. Viggo Mortensen, Lea Seydoux, Kristen Stewart, and Australian George Miller, director of the famous “Mad Max” series.
Among the directors whose films are expected to be included in the competition is the Swedish Robin Ostlund, who won the Palme d’Or in 2017 for “The Square”, and he may seek to grab it again this year through “Triangle or Sadness”. The American Terrence Malick, who directed a movie about the life of Christ, in which Mark Rylance plays the role of Satan, may also be on the list.
Among the names in circulation are a few female directors, such as the American Kelly Reichardt, whose works are well received by critics, or the French Rebecca Zlotowski and Alice Winocour, each with a film starring the French-Belgian actress Virginie Evira, who is also the presenter of the opening and closing ceremonies of this edition of the festival.
South Korean cinema may appear again through a new work by director Bong Joon Ho, who won the 2019 Palme d’Or for his movie “Parasite”, and then followed it up with the Oscar for Best Picture. The list may also include a movie by fellow countryman Park Chan-wook.
Streaming platform films excluded
Although French cinema is expected to be well-attended again in the race, Netflix’s “Blond”, a re-read of Marilyn Monroe’s life, will not be among the contenders, as Cannes rules exclude films for streaming platforms that are not shown in French cinemas.
Frémaux wants to change this rule, especially since great directors no longer hesitate to deal with platforms, as Martin Scorsese and Jane Campion did with Netflix and soon Ridley Scone with Apple, but there is opposition to this trend from the owners of French halls on the festival board.
So far, little information has been leaked about this seventy-fifth session, the last under the presidency of Pierre Lescure, who announced that he would hand over the presidency of the festival in July to lawyer Iris Knoblock, who previously worked at the American “Warner” studios, and until last summer took over the management of the festival. French and then European activities.
One of the distinguishing features of this edition is the end of the festival’s partnership with Canal +, and the adoption of France Télévision Group and Pro website as new media partners.
FRANCE 24/AFP