2014 Critics’ Week: Djinn Carrénard, David Robert Mitchell, Nadav Lapid & Mélanie Laurent Populate 53rd Edition

It’s almost astonishing that we’ve managed to guess two (we also had Nadav Lapid pegged for the Main Comp) of the eleven titles unveiled by the Cannes Critics’ Week sidebar earlier today. On our radar we had Djinn Carrénard’s sophomore film (Faire L’Amour has been selected as the opening film) and Jonas Alexander Arnby’s debut (When Animals Dream is one among the seven comp titles) as strong possibilities and we’re excited that an American indie personality we’ve featured on this site before in David Robert Mitchell will be showcasing his sophomore film, It Follows (starring Maika Monroe and Keir Gilchrist) in a section that showcased The Myth Of The American Sleepover back in 2010. Mélanie Laurent’s Respire (which could catapult the careers of thesps Lou de Laâge and Joséphine Japy) receives the Special Screening status alongside Lapid’s The Kindergarten Teacher. Also on the competing field of seven  we find Jellyfish and Camera d’Or winner Shira Geffen (for Jellyfish) return to the section with Self Made. Of Charles Tesson’s selection below, I’m liking Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s The Tribe as a possible filmic agitator. Here are the complete announcement:

Opening Film: Faire L’Amour, dir: Djinn Carrénard (France)
Closing Film: Hippocrate, dir: Thomas Lilti (France)

Special Screenings
Respire, dir: Mélanie Laurent (France)
L’Institutrice, dir: Nadav Lapid (Israel)

Critics’ Week Features
Più Buio Di Mezzanote*, dir: Sebastiano Riso (Italy)
The Tribe*, dir: Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy (Ukraine)
It Follows, dir: David Robert Mitchell (U.S.)
Gente De Bien*, dir: Franco Lolli (Colombia)
When Animals Dream*, dir: Jonas Alexander Arnby (Denmark)
Hope*, dir: Boris Lojkine (France)
Self Made, dir: Shira Geffen (Israel)

* Denotes first film, eligible for the Camera d’Or

Critics’ Week Shorts
Safari, dir: Gerardo Herrero (Spain)
The Chicken, dir: Una Gunjak (Croatia)
Crocodile, dir: Gaëlle Denis (UK)
Une Chambre Bleue, dir: Tomasz Siwiński (Poland)
TrueLoveStory, dir: Gitanjali Rao (India)
Petit Frère, dir: Rémi St-Michel (Canada)
A Ciambra, dir: Jonas Carpignano (Italy)
La Contre-Allée, dir: Cécile Ducrocq (France)
Les Fleuves M’Ont Laissée Descendre Où Je Voulais, dir: Laurie Lassalle (France)
Boa Noite Cinderela, dir: Carlos Conceiçao (Portugal)