Cinéma Is Back

You wait 15 months for a movie to return on the big screen, and suddenly 64 arrive at once. Well, not exactly, but there’s certainly a lot more to look forward to for the next few months as the 2021 Cannes Film Festival has just unveiled its lineup.

Arguably the most prestigious fortnight in the film industry, revered auteurs and the brightest shining young stars flock to the Croisette to present their new titles – except this year is a little different. The announcement is always an event, but, well, there haven’t been many physical events in quite some time: so there’s a bit more to unpack. 

Familiar Faces

A handful of titles had been confirmed before today, with Wes Anderson’s tenth feature The French Dispatch officially set to premiere in Cannes. A friend of the festival, he’ll also be in competition alongside French auteur Leos Carax with his new musical Annette – written by Sparks and starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, yes you read that right – and Paul Verhoeven with his new erotic thriller Benedetta.

Indie Darlings

Several key filmmakers we’ve been waiting years to return are finally gifting us with new stories on the Croisette. It’s been four years since The Florida Project and Sean Baker is now officially returning with Red Rocket, telling the story of a washed-up porn star who returns to his Texas hometown. 

Then there’s Mia Hansen-Løve, finally releasing her long-awaited new film Bergman Island starring Mia Wasikowska, Vicky Krieps and Tim Roth, and Julia Ducournau offering up Titane, her follow-up to 2016’s incendiary Raw. Add to that Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria and A24 joint After Yang, by Kogonada, and you’ve got yourself a very handsome lineup indeed.

SLOW PROGRESS TOWARDS GENDER BALANCE

It’s still a pretty male-dominated selection, with just four women presenting new films in competition – a tied personal best for the festival, matching the number of female filmmakers in competition in 2019 and 2011, coming in at just under 17% in total. The wider Official Selection sees 28 female filmmakers across 64 titles – which in itself is a major increase from the 47 films selected in 2019.

WHAT ABOUT UK TALENT?

Well, we’re in for a treat. It might just be one name for now, but it’s an unmissable one: Andrea Arnold will be heading to Cannes with Cow (no, not Kelly Reichardt’s first one, catch that one in cinemas) after previously making waves with her American roadtrip odyssey American Honey in 2016. Details remain scant – but with Arnold, you know you’re in good hands.

Festival director Thierry Frémaux also teased that further sections of the festival, including Director’s Fortnight (which previously premiered Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse and Gaspar Noé’s Climax) and Critic’s Week, spotlighting first-time directors, will be unveiled over the coming days and weeks, alongside plenty of other surprises.

Any questions? How’s your calendar looking? Here’s the full line-up to whet your appetite – it might be a little while until they all reach us in the UK, but a long-term plan is certainly better than none at all…

Official Competition

Ha’berech (Le Genou D’ahed / Ahed’s Knee) (Nadav Lapid)
Haut Et Fort (Casablanca Beats) (Nabil Ayouch)
Hytti Nro 6 (Compartment No.6) (Juho Kuosmanen)
Julie (En 12 Chapitres) (The Worst Person In The World) (Joachim Trier)
La Fracture (Catherine Corsini)
Les Intranquilles (The Restless) (Joachim Lafosse)
Les Olympiades (Paris 13th District) (Jacques Audiard)
Lingui (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)
Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Nitram (Justin Kurzel)
Par Un Demi Clair Matin (Bruno Dumont)
Petrov’s Flu (Kirill Serebrennikov)
Red Rocket (Sean Baker)
The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson)
Titane (Julia Ducournau)
Tre Piani (Nanni Moretti)
Tout S’est Bien Passé (François Ozon)
Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
Un Héros (A Hero) (Asghar Farhadi)
Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Love)
Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven)
A Feleségem Története (L’histoire De Ma Femme / The Story Of My Wife) (Ildikó Enyedi)
Annette (Leos Carax)
Flag Day (Sean Penn)

Un Certain Regard

Un Monde (Laura Wandel)
After Yang (Kogonada)
Lamb (Valdimar Jóhannsson)
Bonne Mère (Hafsia Herzi)
Noche De Fuego (Tatiana Huezo)
Commitment Hasan (Hasan Semih Kaplanoglu)
The Innocents (Eskil Vogt)
Noche De Fuego (Tatiana Huezo)
Freda (Gessica Généus)
Moneyboys (C.B Yi )
Blue Bayou (Justin Chon)
Delo (House Arrest) (Alexey German Jr.)
La Civil (Teodora Ana Mihai)

Premieres

Cow (Andrea Arnold)
Cette Musique Ne Joue Pour Personne (Love Songs for Tough Guys) (Samuel Benchetrit)
Tromperie (Deception) (Arnaud Desplechin)
Evolution (Kornél Mundruczo)
Serre-moi Fort (Hold Me Tight) (Mathieu Amalric)
In Front of Your Face (Hong Sang-soo)
Mothering Sunday (Eva Husson)

Out of Competition

Aline (Aline, the Voice of Love) (Valérie Lemercier)
Stillwater (Tom McCarthy)
The Velvet Underground (Todd Haynes)
Emergency Declaration (Han Jae-rim)
De Son Vivant (Emmanuelle Bercot)
Bac Nord (Cédric Jimenez)

Special Screenings

Jane Par Charlotte (Charlotte Gainsbourg)
JFK Revisited: Through The Looking Glass (Oliver Stone)
O Marinheiro Das Montanhas (Le Marin Des Montagnes/mariner Of The Mountains) (Karim Aïnouz)
Cahiers Noirs (Black Notebooks) (Shlomi Elkabetz)
H6 (Yé Yé)

Midnight Screenings

Oranges Sanguines (Bloody Oranges) (Jean-Christophe Meurisse)