2024 Directors’ Fortnight Golden Coach Award: Andrea Arnold (and “Bird”) Honored in Cannes

British filmmaker Andrea Arnold is packing her bags for the Cannes Film Festival. She’ll need to make some space in her luggage for Directors’ Fortnight Golden Coach Award but the will she replicate the double showcase that Kelly Reichardt had in 2022 when she was honored in the Quinzaine and shored up (Showing Up) in Palme d’Or competition as well? The competition line-up for the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will be unveiled on Thursday and the perennial favorite Arnold is among the best bets for a Palme d’Or competition berth.

Arnold’s debut feature Red Road (2006) was one of those rare moments where a debut feature film was inserted in a Palme d’Or line-up. It won the Jury Prize. Her following oeuvres in Fish Tank (2009) and American Honey (2016) won that same award. Will she four-peat with Bird? Mostly filmed in Kent, England, and starring Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski – the logline has been kept under wraps. Arnold will be feted on May 15th at the opening night ceremony for the Quinzaine. Her last feature was the Cannes Premiere selected docu Cow.