Cannes Film Festival: the 21 films vying for the top prize

AFP | Paris

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The Cannes Film Festival listed 21 films in its main competition at next month’s event, with at least one more movie set to be announced at a later date.

“Paper Tiger” with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson by American director James Gray has been widely tipped to join the line up.

Here are the films confirmed so far, listed with title and director:

“Amarga Navidad” (Bitter Christmas) by Pedro Almodovar

A seventh selection for the Spanish filmmaker with his latest film, already released in Spain, that tells the story of a director who draws on the lives of those close to her to write her stories.

“Histoires Parallelles” (Parallel Stories) by Asghar Farhadi

The exiled Oscar-winning Iranian filmmaker directs a French cast comprising Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert and Pierre Niney to tell “several stories that intertwine in a corner of Paris”, according to festival director Thierry Fremaux.

“La Vie d’une Femme” (A Woman’s Life) by Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet

French actress Lea Drucker plays a stressed-out surgeon in a hospital who encounters a novelist who comes to watch her work -- one of four Frenchmade films in the line-up.

“La Bola Negra” (The Black Ball) by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi

A Spanish historical film exploring gay lives, featuring Glenn Close and Penelope Cruz, that revisits a moment from the country’s Civil War.

“Coward” by Lukas Dhont

This film from a highly rated young Belgian director is set in the First World War with visuals “inspired by the colour photographs of the period”, Fremaux noted.

“Das Getraumte Abenteuer” (The Dreamed Adventure) by Valeska Grisebach

The story of a woman living in the border region between Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey who agrees to a deal to help a friend. From the German director of “Western”.

“Soudain” (Suddenly) by Ryusuke Hamaguchi

After the worldwide success of “Drive My Car”, the Japanese filmmaker returns with a film shot in France, with Virginie Efira as the director of a nursing home who befriends a Japanese stage director. “l’Inconnue” (The Unknown Woman) by Arthur Harari The screenwriter of the 2023 Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall” adapts the graphic novel he wrote with his brother about a man who wakes up in the body of a mysterious stranger.

“Garance” by Jeanne Herry

Cannes favourite Adele Exarchopoulos plays a heavy-drinking actress in this French production.

“Sheep in the Box” by Hirokazu Kore-eda

The latest film by the Japanese winner of the 2018 Palme d’Or for “Shoplifters” is about a couple who welcome a cutting-edge robot into their home.

“Hope” by Na Hong-jin

Starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, this film about a port city facing unexplained events is by South Korea’s sole representative in the main competition this year.

“Nagi Notes” by Koji Fukada

After tackling the pop industry’s exploitation of young Japanese women in his last film “Love on Trial”, Fukada heads to rural Japan for a feature about an encounter between two lonely souls.

“Gentle Monster” by Marie Kreutzer

The Austrian director brings together French stars Lea Seydoux and Catherine Deneuve -- both in two in-competition movies at Cannes -- in a story about a couple in which one partner suddenly reveals a monstrous side.

“Notre Salut” (Our Salvation) by Emmanuel Marre

The Belgian director revisits everyday life under the Vichy regime and the behaviour of civil servants attempting to govern the country.

“Fjord” by Cristian Mungiu

The Romanian winner of the 2007 Palme d’Or for “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” this time sets a story in Norway with Renate Reinsve about the emergence of a conflict between two families in a remote village.

“Les Histoires de la Nuit” (Stories of the Night) by Lea Mysius

The third feature from this rising French director is an adaptation of an award-winning novel by Laurent Mauvignier. It features Monica Bellucci alongside French stars Bastien Bouillon and Hafsia Herzi.