At 11:00 this morning, Thierry Frémaux, the artistic director of the Festival de Cannes, led the most anticipated press conference of the year. Cinephilia Global shares the line-up for the next edition of the French competition, scheduled to run from 17 to 28 May.
The chatter surrounding the event was dampened by a clear note of reality: David Lynch is not expected to have a film in competition this year, despite his own hints that a project might be underway. Lynch arrived in Cannes this week, but no feature from his hands currently graces the official lineup.
Beyond the Lynch headlines, several long-running rumors continued to circulate. The festival confirmed the out-of-competition entry The Second Weapon, and it will include a tribute to Tom Cruise. In another notable development, the return of David Cronenberg is confirmed, marking his first appearance in eight years.
In the cast of Cronenberg’s circle, Viggo Mortensen, Lea Seydoux, and Kristen Stewart star in a story set in a near-future world where pain is banished and humanity adapts to a synthetic environment. The narrative carries Cronenberg’s signature blend of introspection and speculative tension.
The American presence on the Cannes stage
Names familiar to a global audience will again appear, including voices from Japan and other strong national cinema traditions. Notables from Korea and Europe join the roster, alongside enduring auteurs such as the Dardenne brothers, Ruben Östlund (Palme d’Or winner in 2017 with The Square), Cristian Mungiu (whose work was once a Palme d’Or contender with 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days in 2007), and Park Chan-wook.
At this stage, the festival remains open to surprises. One clear highlight is the American presence embodied by James Gray, whose Armageddon Time presents a summer-drenched drama set in Queens, New York, during the 1980s. Anne Hathaway and Anthony Hopkins are among the principal names associated with the project.
A cinematic journey through memory and myth
The French cinema landscape is expected to send a strong delegation, with Arnaud Desplechin presenting Frère et sœur, a story about the rift-and-reunion between two brothers, played by Marion Cotillard and Melvil Poupaud. After two decades and the loss of their parents, the siblings reunite in a charged, wordless moment that will resonate with audiences.
Michael Hazanavicius returns with a playful homage to cinema history, a project that nods to silent-era aesthetics while poking fun at contemporary movie-making. The film—described as Z for its enigmatic title—reimagines a low-budget zombie production besieged by real apparitions. It is slated to open the competition and bring a gleam of retro charm to the festival.
From drama to a broader screen
Olivier Assayas continues to expand the reach of his work, revisiting one of his most beloved films, Irma Vep, now reframed around an American actress, Alicia Vikander, who travels to Paris to join a remake of Les vampires, a touchstone French crime story from the silent era.
Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi returns with the project Les amandiers, a drama rooted in her recent work at a prestigious acting school she leads. Louis Garrel appears in this project as an actor-director hybrid. Claire Denis adds another layer with Stars at Noon, a Franco-American co-production examining the tense relationship between a journalist and a financier during the 1984 conflict in Nicaragua.
Russia, Ukraine, and a festival of perspectives
Kelley Reichardt brings her singular voice back to Cannes, collaborating again with her preferred leading player, Michelle Williams, to chart the inner life of an artist on the eve of a major retrospective. The festival also presents a complex look at recent history through Tchaikovsky’s Wife and Natural History of Destruction, two Ukrainian and Russian co-creations exploring conflict and resilience, with a wide assembly of artists and financiers from multiple nations.
The program includes two long-awaited music-centered portraits, Moonage Daydreams about David Bowie and Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind, produced by Brett Morgen and directed by Ethan Coen for IMAX, offering a multi-layered panorama of rock legends and the era they shaped. [Attribution: Cannes press conference coverage, 2025]