Last year, the Un Certain Regard section had several gems. Caméra d’Or jury prized Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel’s Armand and the UCR jury of Xavier Dolan bestowed the top prize to Black Dog. Other solid film items included Souleymane’s Story, September Says, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, Holy Cow and the Oscar-winning Flow. Christian Jeune will be looking to steal some high value directorial debuts from the Critic’s Week and Directors’ Fortnight sections (such as the buzz titles from actor-turn-directors Kristen Stewart and Harris Dickinson) and we are anticipatinga handful of return guests who’ve previously premiered their works at the Debussy. Here are our Un Certain Regard predictions.
A Prayer for the Dying
Dara Van Dusen
Producers: Eye Eye Pictures’ Dyveke Bjørkly Graver and Andrea Berentsen Ottmar
World Sales: Anton and New Europe Films
Way back in 2008, Dara Van Dusen had her first short selected for Cannes Cinéfondation. Fast-forward more than a decade later and she moved into her feature debut landing the Stewart O’Nan novel as her blueprint. Set in 1870, A Prayer for the Dying is a survival thriller featuring John C. Reilly, Johnny Flynn, Kristine Kujath Thorp and Gustav Lindh (of Cannes selected Ninjababy and Sick of Myself fame), this is set in Wisconsin, a small town of Scandinavian settlers still suffering the repercussions of the recent Civil War. When faced with a new and even deadlier threat, one man is forced to make a harrowing choice: save his young family or defend the community that gave him a second chance at life and meaning. The Oslo-based filmmaker had moved into production back in August in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Aisha Can’t Fly Away
Morad Mostafa
Producers: Bonanza Films’ Sawsan Yusuf
World Sales: MAD World
After a whirlwind development tour that included labs such as Cannes’ La Résidence de la Cinéfondation, Cannes La Fabrique Cinéma, Critics’ Week Next Step 2023, Torino, Locarno, Rotterdam with major post production coin awards at Atlas Workshop and Final Cut in Venice, we imagine all sections on the Croisette will be fighting to premiere Egyptian filmmaker Morad Mostafa‘s feature debut. Aisha Can’t Fly Away is about a 26-year-old African immigrant caregiver residing in Ain-shams, a Cairo neighborhood with a large African migrant community. Through her eyes, the film explores the intricate dynamics of a world where the authorities’ indifference to the violent tensions between Egyptians and various African nationalities has allowed different gangs to seize control. The situation quickly turns sour after one of them offers Aisha security in exchange for a favor. He was in the Critics Week with his 2023 short ‘I Promise you Paradise.’
Behind the Palm Trees
Meryem Benm’Barek-Aloïsi
Producers: Tessalit Productions’ Jean Bréhat.
World Sales: Pyramide Films
She shored up in the Un Certain Regard with her 2018 feature debut — Sofia would end up winning the Best Screenplay award. The Moroccan filmmaker Meryem Benm’Barek-Aloïsi only started shooting in October of last year, so the sophomore film might only be ready for Locarno/Venice. Behind the Palm Trees follows Mehdi who leads an exemplary life with his family and his new girlfriend, Selma. Everything is going wonderfully for the young couple, until Mehdi makes the acquaintance of Marie, a French expat who enjoys a high-society lifestyle. This stars Sara Giraudeau, Driss Ramdi, Carole Bouquet, Olivier Rabourdin, Rachel O’Meara, and Nadia Kounda.
The Chronology of Water
Kristen Stewart
Producers: Rebecca Feuer, Charles Gillibert, Maggie McLean, Dylan Meyer, Andy Mingo, Michael Pruss, Svetlana Punte, Ridley Scott, Kristen Stewart, Yulia Zayceva.
World Sales:
Believe the hype folks – Kristen Stewart has a legit shot at breaking into the line-up in Cannes and we’re betting on some UCR love. Shot last summer in Latvia and Malta, the book-to-film The Chronology of Water sees Imogen Poots play Lidia Yuknavitch — a young woman finds her voice through the written word and her salvation as a swimmer – ultimately becoming a triumphant teacher, mother and a singular modern writer. Thora Birch, Earl Cave, Michael Epp, Susannah Flood, Kim Gordon and Jim Belushi form the supporting cast. Stewart’s 2017 short ‘Come Swim’ was selected as a Special Screenings programme.
Chronicles from the Siege
Abdallah Al-Khatib
Producers: Evidence Film’s Salah Issaad
World Sales: TBD.
Palestinian-Syrian filmmaker Abdallah Al-Khatib‘s debut feature Little Palestine—Diary of a Siege (2021) was selected at the ACID section and perhaps his fiction debut will shore up on the Croisette as well. Recently prized at the Marrakech Atlas Labs, Chronicles from the Siege is told through five chronicles that bring to life the radical transformation of the residents of a war zone under siege into a relentless struggle for survival. Five chapters that offer a window into the human spirit faced with the most difficult choices, each struggling in their own way to preserve a semblance of normality and humanity despite the extreme circumstances. The cast is comprised of Nadim Rimawi, Saja Kilani, Ahmed Zitouni, Ahmad Kontar, Kassem Alkhoja, Walid Fedriche, Idir Benaibouche, Emad Azmi and Maria Zreik.
Des preuves d’amour
Alice Douard
Producers: Apsara Films’ Marine Arrighi De Casanova
World Sales: Pulsar Content
Certainly informed with some narrative threads to ‘L’Attente’ – her Best Short Fiction Film at the 2024 Césars, production on Alice Douard‘s directorial debut took place in May. Nabbing Ella Rumpf, Monia Chokri and Noémie Lvovsky, Des preuves d’amour is a drama that revolves around 32-year-old Céline who is awaiting the arrival of her first child. But Céline isn’t actually pregnant. It’s her wife Nadia who’ll be giving birth to their daughter in the three months’ time.
Don’t Let Me Die
Andrei Epure
Producers: Saga Film’s Ana Gheorghe and Alexandru Teodorescu.
World Sales:
UCR has loaded up on Romanian cinema for what certainly feels like two decades now, and Andrei Epure might just be the next in line with his directorial debut. A project that is based on Epure’s short film ‘Interfon 15,’ which was showcased at the Critics’ Week section in 2021, Don’t Let Me Die was actually developed through Critics’ Week Next Step programme and at Cannes Film Festival’s the Residence in 2022. Mixing comedy and horror, this follows Maria, who discovers the body of a neighbour with no family in front of her apartment building, and decides to arrange her funeral. Though the woman was a stranger, her disappearance haunts Maria. She needs to know who Isabela Ivan was. Cosmina Stratan (of Beyond the Hills fame) and Elina Löwensohn topline the project which was hot back in February a little everywhere in Romania.
The Dreamed Adventure
Valeska Grisebach
Producers: Komplizen Film’s Janine Jackowski, Jonas Dornbach, Maren Ade
World Sales: TBD.
After her critically acclaimed 2017 Western (read review), a standout in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, German filmmaker Valeska Grisebach is returning with The Dreamed Adventure – her fourth feature. While we haven’t pinpointed when production took place last year, a 2025 drop is expected and who knows, this might be bumped into the competition section. In the border region between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, a woman enters into a deal to help an old friend. She follows the hero on his adventure and enters dangerous territory where she is confronted with her own desires. Grisebach re-teams with cinematographer Bernhard Keller here.
Love Conquers All
Danielle Arbid
Producers: Easy Riders Films’ Omar El Kadi and Nadia Turincev.
World Sales: TBD.
At this point in the game, French-Lebanese filmmaker Danielle Arbid should be in the running for a competition slot. Her Dans les champs de bataille (2004) and Un homme perdu (2007) were Directors’ Fortnight selections and her last oeuvre in Simple Passion was a 2020 Cannes Label selection. Filming would have taken place at the beginning of the year which makes it near impossible for Love Conquers All to shore up but sometimes films move fast in post. Hiam Abbass and Mohamat Amine Benrachid topline the story that sees sixty-something widow Suzanne make the acquaintance of Osmane one evening in Beirut… He’s young, black, Sudanese and an illegal migrant. She’s white, Lebanese of Palestinian origin and twice his age… They fall in love, but Lebanon is on the edge of the abyss. The TV and social media are continually pumping out terrifying news updates. But Osmane moves in with Suzanne, nonetheless. Céline Bozon is the cinematographer here.
Ma frère
Lise Akoka & Romane Gueret
Producers: Superstructure Films’ Jean Dathanat and Pierre Grimaux
World Sales: StudioCanal
They claimed the top prize of the Un Certain Regard section back in 2022 with their directorial debut in The Worst Ones and they moved quickly into their sophomore project filming this past summer. Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret borrowed from their web-series 2020 ‘Tu préfères’ for a drama set in Paris in a working-class neighbourhood in the city’s 19th arrondissement. Shai and Djeneba are 19 years old and have always been friends. One is encumbered by a suffocating family, the other by overwhelming loneliness. One summer, they find themselves working as leaders at a summer camp, far from the tower blocks in whose shadow they were raised, where they are officially responsible for a tribe of children aged between 6 and 10. On the threshold of adulthood, they are forced to make certain choices in order to grow up and ultimately reinvent their friendship. Ma frère stars Shirel Nataf, Fanta Kebe, Zakaria Lazab and Mouctar Diawara.
Renoir
Chie Hayakawa
Producers: Eiko Mizuno-Gray and Jason Gray
World Sales: Goodfellas
We think this sophomore feature has outstanding chances of cracking the Palme d”Or line-up but it’s a stacked year for auteurs so we think Chie Hayakawa is welcomed back to the Un Certain Regard section where her debut feature played well in 2022 (Plan 75 landed a Special Mention award in the Caméra d’Or category and would go onto rep Japan for the Academy Awards). Renoir is the story of Fuki, a quirky and sensitive 11-year-old girl navigating a challenging summer during Japan’s late 1980s bubble economy. The coming-of-age drama follows Fuki as she copes with a terminally ill father and stressed-out working mother while encountering various adults dealing with their own struggles. Yui Suzuki toplines alongside Hikari Ishida and Lily Franky.
Romería
Carla Simón
Producers: Elastica Films’ María Zamora
World Sales: mk2 Films
Completing her trilogy that began with 2017’s Summer 1993 and that was followed by 2022 Golden Bear-winning Alcarràs, Carla Simón grabs from her own life, this time exploring a pivotal moment from her late adolescence with Romería. Some folk are speculating that this will be a Palme d’Or comp entry – which is entirely possibly when you have cinematographer Hélène Louvart onboard. Production took place last summer – this is about an orphaned young woman named Marina who travels to Vigo to seek information about her biological father, died from AIDS. She comes across her uncle and the rest of her family on her father’s side, who are nonetheless reluctant to look back to the past due to shame because of Marina’s biological parents’ struggles with substance abuse. Llúcia Garcia, Mitch, Tristán Ulloa, Celine Tyll, Miryam Gallego, Janet Novás, Sara Casasnovas and José Ángel Egido star.
Sauver Les Morts
Tamara Stepanyan
Producers: La Huit Production’ Stéphane Jourdain and by Pan Cinéma’s Camille Gentet
World Sales: TBD.
An Armenian docu filmmaker making her first foray into fiction, Tamara Stepanyan lassoed Camille Cottin and Zar Amir Ebrahimi (with smaller parts for Hovnatan Avédikian and Denis Lavant) this past June. Sauver Les Morts revolves around Céline, who comes to Armenia for the first time in order to straighten things out after the death of Arto, her husband. She discovers that he had been lying to her, that he went to war, that he used a fraudulent identity, and that his old friends have accused him of being a deserter. And so she embarks on a new journey to investigate Arto’s past: disabled ex-servicemen from the battles of 2020, veterans of the victorious clashes of the 1990s, terrors from a never-ending war. A woman is chasing after a ghost. How can she bury him? Can we save the dead? Cinematographer Claire Mathon was onboard here.
Skateboarding Is Not For Girls
Dina Duma
Producers: Macedonian’s Sisters and Brother Mitevski’s Labina Mitevska.
World Sales:
North Macedonian filmmaker Dina Duma shored up at the Residence of the Festival de Cannes in 2022 with her sophomore project which would finally move into production in April of last year. Filmed in Skopje, Skateboarding Is Not For Girls co-penned by Lidija Mojsovska and Teona Strugar Mitevska, this follows three generations of women as they navigate the clash between tradition and the challenges of modern times. Through the worldview of 12-year-old Adela, the film opens a world in which three generations of women dare to rewrite their own destinies and challenge the boundaries of a society shaped by tradition. Efqar Abaz, Jefrina Jashari and Simonida Selimović star. Frédéric Noirhomme was the cinematographer here.
Splitsville
Michael Angelo Covino
Producers: TeaTime Pictures’ Julie Johnson, Ro Donnelly, and Samantha Racanelli, Watch This Ready’s
Michael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin and Emily Korteweg.
World Sales: Neon International.
We don’t think NEON has a Crosiette splash in their playbook for Michael Angelo Covino‘s Splitsville but seeing that the American filmmaker showcased The Climb at the fest and was a jury member in the section then it’s not impossible for a section return. A comedy featuring Dakota Johnson, Adria Arjona, Kyle Marvin, Nicholas Braun, David Castañeda and O-T Fagbenle, Ashley (Arjona) asks for a divorce, leading good-natured Carey (Marvin) to run to his friends, Julie (Johnson) and Paul (Covino), for support. He’s shocked to discover that the secret to their happiness is an open marriage — that is, until Carey crosses the line and throws all of their relationships into chaos. Production wrapped back in November.
The Stories
Abu Bakr Shawky
Producers: Julie Viez, Mohamed Hefzy, Alexander Glehr, Olivier Guerpillon, Marta Reguerra Gutiez.
World Sales: Goodfellas.
One of the rare filmmakers to have his feature debut compete for the Palme d’Or with 2018’s Yomeddine (read review), in his third feature film, Egyptian-Austrian filmmaker Abu Bakr Shawky‘s latest is set in different time periods. Egypt. Summer 1967. Ahmed receives a letter from Austria – Liz has replied to his search for a pen pal. They begin a long-distance friendship that is viewed with suspicion by his relatives. From this summer onwards, Ahmed’s efforts to become a pianist despite his humble social background will gain an unstoppable momentum, as Liz pushes him towards his elusive goal: a public concert. Together, with this shared dream always in mind, Ahmed and Liz will live through war, family joys, opposition and dramas, failures and triumphs that rocked Egypt until the 1980s. Amir El Masry toplines The Stories.
Unidentified
Haifaa Al-Mansour
Producers: Haifaa Al Mansour and Brad Niemann
World Sales: Paradise City
Now on her fifth feature in and tons of television work since the pandemic, Saudi filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour of 2012 Wadjda fame got back into features with Unidentified (a recent Sony Pictures Classics grab). The thriller starring Mila Al Zahrani (re-team from her 2019 feature The Perfect Candidate) this revolves around the discovery of the lifeless body of a teenage girl in the desert. When no one claims the body, Noelle Al Saffan, a newly divorced, true crime aficionado who recently lost a child of her own, gets obsessively involved. Despite a ticking clock that seemingly guarantees the girl’s senseless death will be discarded as a cold case, Al Saffan is determined to identify the body and uncover the truth. While this would be the filmmaker’s first trip with a film to Cannes — she was a juror for the Un Certain Regard section in 2015.
Urchin
Harris Dickinson
Producers: Devisio Pictures’ Archie Pearch, Somesuch’s Scott O’Donnell.
World Sales: Charades
Part of the Palme d’Or winning ensemble in Triangle of Sadness, Harris Dickinson might be Croisette bound with his directorial debut. Working alongside cinematographer Josée Deshaies, Urchin is about a homeless person in London who is struggling to break free from a cycle of self-destruction while trying to turn his life around. Frank Dillane and Megan Northam topline.
La vie d’une femme
Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
Producers: TBD.
World Sales: Be For Film
After debuting Les Amours d’Anaïs in the Critics’ Week section back in 2021, we figure that Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet will be getting some added interest from the UCR section. Production on the drama took place last February and this sophomore feature features the likes of Léa Drucker, Mélanie Thierry, Charles Berling, Laurent Capelluto, and Marie-Christine Barrault. La vie d’une femme tells the tale of Gabrielle is fifty-five years old. She has no children. She is a surgical department head in Paris. She loves her husband. She is growing tired of her lover. Her mother’s Alzheimer’s is worsening. The public hospital is crumbling. Her most precious friend is faltering. The novelist who came to watch her work on a book is taking up more and more space in her life. Nothing is easy, but Gabrielle is not the type to give up. Gabrielle has decided to be happy.
Woman And Child
Saeed Roustaee
Producers: TBD.
World Sales: Goodfellas
Steadily building his presence on the international film festival circuit, it would not be considered a demotion if Saeed Roustaee moves to the Un Certain Regard section after seeing his third feature contend for a Palme d’Or with 2022’s Leila’s Brothers (read review). He previously showcased Just 6.5 in the Orizzonti section at the Venice Film Festival in 2019. His fourth feature is a contemporary family drama of revenge and forgiveness about a widowed nurse struggling with her rebellious son. Tensions reach a peak during the betrothal ceremony with her new boyfriend, but when a tragic accident occurs, she finds herself confronting feelings of betrayal as she seeks justice. Woman And Child is toplined by Parinaz Izadyar and Payman Maadi.
Yellow Letters
Ilker Çatak
Producers: Ingo Fliess
World Sales: Be For Films
Locarno and Venice festival programmers will be keeping a close tabs on what pans out here as The Teachers’ Lounge (huge winner at the 2023 Berlinale) filmmaker Ilker Çatak might have himself a juggernaut drama about a marriage under pressure. Yellow Letters follows an artist couple Derya and Aziz who experiences the arbitrariness of the Turkish state and lose their jobs and livelihood overnight. The trade-off between their ideals and the necessities of life proves to be a challenge for their marriage. Filming took place in Berlin last May. Özgü Namal, Tansu Bicer and Leyla Cabas star. Fascinating note here is that Berlin was shot as Ankara and Hamburg as Istanbul. Çatak re-teamed with cinematographer Judith Kaufmann here.
