
A still ‘Kind of Kindness’ by Yorgos Lanthimos
New films by Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrea Arnold and Francis Ford Coppola, as well as a 1980s picture of Donald Trump, will compete for the Palme d’Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival next month, organizers announced Thursday.
Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux, who announced the selection at a news conference in Paris alongside festival president Iris Knobloch, said this year’s lineup was drawn from 2,000 submissions. Although Fremaux noted that he went into the process worried about the impact of last year’s attacks on American films, the lineup is generally filled with top international filmmakers, as well as a few highly anticipated blockbusters.

Cannes Film Festival President Iris Knobloch, right, and Cannes Film Festival Delegate General Thierry Fremaux hold a press conference to announce the International Cannes Film Festival lineup for the upcoming 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, April 11, 2024 in Paris. Attending the conference. Photo credit: Orleans Morissard
Among the 19 films selected for competition is Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness,” the follow-up to the Greek director’s Oscar-winning “Poor Things.” Its cast includes two “Poor Things” stars: Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe.
Italian filmmaker of “The Great Beauty,” Paolo Sorrentino, returns to Cannes with “Parthenope,” a Naples-set drama with Gary Oldman. Arnold, the British director of “American Honey” and “Fish Tank,” also returns to Cannes with “Bird,” starring Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski.

A sure draw will be Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice,” about the former president’s early business career. In it, Sebastian Stein plays Trump, Jeremy Strong plays Roy Cohen and Maria Bacalova plays Ivana Trump. Iranian director Abbasi was previously in competition for 2022’s “Holy Spider” at Cannes.
Many other big-name filmmakers are also returning to Cannes, which runs from May 14-25. Among them: David Cronenberg (“Shroud,” with Vincent Cassel and Diane Kruger); Paul Schrader (“Oh, Canada,” with Richard Gere and Uma Thurman) and acclaimed Chinese director Jia Zhang (“Cat by the Tides”). Also in the running is Sean Baker (“Anora”), whose “Red Rocket” and “The Florida Project” also premiered at Cannes. and French filmmaker Jacques Audiard (“Emilia Perez”), who won the Palme in 2015 for “Dheepan.”
As previously reported, Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” will premiere in competition at Cannes. The 85-year-old director’s self-financed, long-shot epic will debut 50 years after his Palme d’Or win for “The Conversation.”

This year’s Cannes follows a banner 2023 edition that featured the premieres of three films that earned best picture nominations at the Academy Awards: Martin Scorsese’s “Colors of the Flower Moon”; “Region of Interest” by Jonathan Glazer; and Justin Triet’s Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall.”
“Anatomy of a Fall” was only the third film directed by a woman to win the Palme. There are four female filmmakers in the competition this year. Fremaux said he may add more choices in the coming weeks.
Cannes has already hosted some notable world premieres out of competition, including George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and Kevin Costner’s “Horizon, An American Saga.” George Lucas will be awarded the honorary Palme d’Or at the closing ceremony. The festival will open on May 14 with the French comedy “The Second Act,” starring Léa Seydoux and Vincent Lindon.
Greta Gerwig, following the success of “Barbie,” heads the jury that will decide the Palme d’Or.

Frémaux noted that some entries will increase further due to recent events. The first selection he announced Thursday was Yolande Zuberman’s documentary “The Beauty of Gaza,” about transmigration from Tel Aviv.
A new addition this year: the fair is launching a competitive immersive section that includes virtual and augmented reality works.
(tags to translate)Cannes 2024 lineup
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