Celebrating its anniversary, the Cannes Festival welcomed a slate of renowned cinematographers to its 75th edition competition, drawing four major figures who have repeatedly shaped the festival’s prestige: Hirokazu Kore-eda, Cristian Mungiu, Ruben Östlund, and the French-Canadian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. These titans, already distinguished by previous Palme d’Or wins, again target the coveted prize alongside a field rich in talent.
Kore-eda, the Japanese filmmaker celebrated for his intimate portraits of family life, brings A Family Affair back to the competition, building on his 2018 recognition. The Dardenne brothers, long associated with socially conscious dramas, present Tori and Lokita, continuing their tradition of intimate, observational storytelling. Östlund, who turned heads with The Square, returns with Kroisette, a title that promises to dissect contemporary social anxieties with his characteristic sharp humor and keen eye for human behavior.
Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu rounds out the quartet, aiming to reaffirm his status with RMN, a project exploring the impact of European policies in Transylvania. Mungiu previously captured attention with 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days in 2007, and this year’s edition, as detailed by the festival’s general delegate, focuses on how policy shapes ordinary lives. The event runs from May 17 to 28, underscoring Cannes’ longstanding role as a global showcase for cinema.
From among 2,200 films, organizers included French director Arnaud Desplechin with Frère et Sœur, Claire Denis with Stars at Noon, a film shot in Central America, and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi with Les amandiers, broadening the competition’s international flavor.
Canadian icon David Cronenberg returns with Crimes of the Future, a staple of Cannes and a symbol of the festival’s enduring appetite for provocative, boundary-pushing cinema. Cronenberg’s presence is marked by a red carpet that will feature stars such as Kristen Stewart, Léa Seydoux, and Viggo Mortensen, highlighting the festival’s commitment to high-profile collaborations and daring storytelling. The lineup promises a major visual and thematic spectrum as it unfolds on the croisette.
One anticipated highlight is The Time of Armageddon, directed by James Gray with appearances by Anne Hathaway and Anthony Hopkins, a competition selection that signals a broad, inclusive slate with 18 official titles announced, though no Hispanic or Latin American entries have been specified to date. Additional titles will be announced in the days ahead, broadening the festival’s reach across continents and genres.
back to normal
Frémaux described this edition as a return to normalcy after the disruptions of the pandemic. The festival previously canceled a physical celebration in 2020 due to health restrictions and held a scaled event in July 2021, marking Cannes’ gradual return to its traditional rhythm and grandeur.
The official competition is not the only section presenting outstanding filmmakers. It was already known that Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis sequel alongside Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick would appear without a bidders’ presence in one segment. Tom Cruise expressed a desire to pay tribute to cinema’s enduring quality, reinforcing the festival’s role as a stage for collaborations and tributes to the art form.
The Cannes program then featured films like Three Thousand Years of Longing and the Australian director George Miller, while current events intersected the festival with projects such as Novembre, a film centered on the 13 November 2015 attacks in Paris by French director Cedric Jimenez. The trial of those events is actively developing, anchoring the festival in present-day discourse.
Amid ongoing geopolitical tensions, a sense of resilience remains a thread through the festival. Ukrainian director Maksim Nakonechnyi will present Butterfly Vision in Un Certain Regard, while Sergei Loznitsa, a prominent documentary figure, will screen Natural History of Destruction, a sequel to Babi Yar, shot amid the Donbas conflict and linked to the broader context of the war in Ukraine. Cannes has navigated geopolitical sensitivities by excluding official Russian delegations in alignment with international sanctions, while still welcoming artists who continue to explore important historical and contemporary issues through film, including Kirill Serebrennikov, who left Russia and pursued a project related to Tchaikovsky’s wife.
In other highlights, Ethan Cohen presents Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind in private sessions, Brett Morgen showcases Moonage Daydream, a documentary on David Bowie’s cinematic influence, and Marco Bellocchi contributes to Cannes Première with Esterno Notte, signaling a festival that interweaves legacy, biography, and contemporary cinema.
The competition will open with French director Michel Hazanavicius’s Z (comme Z), featuring Romain Duris and Bérénice Bejo. At the moment, Sunday and the Fog stands as the sole Hispanic title among the early selections, from Costa Rica’s Ariel Escalante, recognized at Un Certain Regard. The festival’s leadership remains optimistic about the future, with Frémaux noting that the event could incubate the next wave of cinematic stars and movements. The traveling nature of the festival around the world is celebrated, underlining Cannes’ mission to celebrate cinema in all its forms, from bold experimentation to intimate, character-driven storytelling.