La Petite Dernière
Hafsia Herzi
Producers: June Films’ Naomi Denamur and Julie Billy
World Sales: mk2
In her first pair of attempts, actress-filmmaker Hafsia Herzi has managed to have the Un Certain Regard selection committee smitten with her output – both 2019’s Tu mérites un amour and 2021’s Bonne Mère were selected for the prestigious sidebar. Perhaps with La Petite Dernière she’ll step over to the other section. Production on her third feature took place this past May with the likes of Aloïse Sauvage, Anouar Kardellas, Luna Ribeiro, Elisa Libri, Nacer Bouhanni, Olivia Courbis, Vincent Pasdermadjian, Rita Benmanana, Victorien Bonnet and Nemo Schiffman. A loosely based book to film adpatation, this focuses on Fatima, who is the youngest daughter in a family of Algerian migrants in France. She discovers her love for women, which brings her into conflict with her family, her faith and her own identity. Herzi re-teams with cinematographer Jérémie Attard for a third time in a row.
The Phoenician Scheme
Wes Anderson
Producers: Wes Anderson, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson, John Peet
World Sales: Focus Features
It’s a strong indication that when you stamp your film with a May theatrical release date that the logic is a red carpet preem is in the cards. Following his competition trio of Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The French Dispatch (2021) and Asteroid City (2023), The Phoenicia Scheme is the story of a family and a family business. Benicio del Toro plays tycoon Anatole “Zsa-zsa” Korda, one of the richest men in Europe; Mia Threapleton is Sister Liesl, his daughter/a nun; Michael Cera is Bjorn Lund, their tutor. Also starring: Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Ayoade, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Wes Anderson teams with cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel for a first time. Fun trivia note: The French Dispatch was an official selection for two Cannes editions – it originally invited to the 2020 class and we know which massive global event disrupted those plans.
Rose
Markus Schleinzer
Producers: Schubert’s Johannes Schubert, ROW Pictures’ Karsten Stöter, Walker+Worm’s Tobias Walker and Philipp Worm.
World Sales: The Match Factory
He was one of those rare directors to break into the Palme d’Or competition with a debut film, Austrian filmmaker (and often actor) Markus Schleinzer shot his third feature during parts from May to December of last year. Toplined by Sandra Hüller, with Caro Braun, Godehard Giese and Robert Gwisdek, Rose is a historical drama is set in the turbulent aftermath of the Thirty Years’ War, it follows a mysterious soldier who arrives in a secluded Protestant village. Claiming to be the long-lost heir to a forsaken estate, Rose presents a document to authenticate the claim, sparking unease and suspicion among the tight-knit community…Schleinzer’s 2011’s debut Michael was in the running for the Palme, and this film could be a strong Un Certain Regard candidate as well.
Rosebush Pruning
Karim Aïnouz
Producers: Viola Fügen, Michael Weber, Simone Gattoni, Annamaria Morelli.
World Sales: The Match Factory
Karim Aïnouz will be rushing to make it his eighth trip to the much hyped Rosebush Pruning. Production took place last September with Riley Keough, Callum Turner, Elle Fanning, Jamie Bell, Lukas Gage, Tracy Letts, Elena Anaya and Pamela Anderson. The Brazilian filmmaker adapted Marco Bellocchio’s Fists in the Pocket. This is about a family struggling with genetic illnesses lives on a country estate. Personal drama develops amongst them in this intimate portrait.
Secret Agents
Kleber Mendonça Filho
Producers: Emilie Lesclaux, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Wagner Moura, Brent Travers
World Sales: mk2
With competition offerings of Aquarius (2016) and Bacurau (2019) plus the lovely ode to moving pictures with 2023’s docu Pictures of Ghosts (Special Screenings seelection), Kleber Mendonça Filho is tipped to return to comp especially with this political period drama. Production on Secret Agents took place back in August with Wagner Moura, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Gabriel Leone, Irandhir Santos, Udo Kier and Hermila Guedes suited up. Set in 1977, during the final years of the military dictatorship in Brazil, Marcelo, a 40-year-old teacher, fleeing from his mysterious past returns to Recife in search of some peace, but soon realizes that the city is far from being the refuge he is looking for.
Sentimental Value
Joachim Trier
Producers: Mer Film’s Maria Ekerhovd, Eye Eye Pictures’ Andrea Berentsen Ottmar
World Sales: mk2
Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier re-teamed with his The Worst Person in the World thesp Renate Reinsve for his sixth feature film back in August of last year. An Oslo-based dramedy that also stars Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Stellan Skarsgård, Elle Fanning, and Cory Michael Smith, Sentimental Value follows Nora and her sister Agnes as they mourn the loss of their mother and adjust to the return of their father Gustav. Gustav has written a script and offered the main part to his daughter Nora, but she categorically refuses the role. Trier has been on the Croisette three previous occasions – beginning with Oslo, August 31st in the 2011 Directors’ Fortnight and was in competition for a first time with Louder than Bombs in 2015. Trier re-teams with cinematographer Kasper Tuxen. This is a NEON pick-up.
Silent Friend
Ildikó Enyedi
Producers: Pandora Film’s Reinhart Brundig.
World Sales: Films Boutique
What will be one of the most polished films if selected for the comp as it went into production back in the summer of 2023, Silent Friend is Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi‘s seventh feature film. After winning the Caméra d’or in 1989 for her feature debut My 20th Century (an Un Certain Regard selection) and premiering for a first time in the competition with 2021’s The Story of My Wife, she re-teamed with Léa Seydoux for a tale that spans the decades. Veteran Tony Leung Chiu-wai also shores up in the final portion of the film. Set in the botanical garden of Marburg, a medieval university town in Germany, and tells three stories connected to a tree over a period of time in years 1908, 1972 and 2020. The film sheds light on the volatile nature of so-called reality, showing the radical shifts in human perception of plants, animals and humans. Enyedi teamed with cinematographer Gergely Pálos.
Sirat
Óliver Laxe
Producers: Agustín Almodóvar, Pedro Almodóvar, Xavi Font, Óliver Laxe, Oriol Maymó, Mani Mortazavi, Andrea Queralt.
World Sales: The Match Factory
If included on the big stage, French-born Spanish filmmaker Óliver Laxe would have a sort of superfecta. Having premiered his first three films in all sections along the Croisette. After You All Are Captains (2010 – Directors’ Fortnight), Mimosas (2016 Critics’ Week) and the Jury Prize winning Fire Will Come (2019 – Un Certain Regard), his fourth feature film shot in May in Spain and in Morocco stars Sergi López and Bruno Núñez. Sirat (aka After) is about a father and son who arrive at a rave in the middle of the arid and ghostly mountains of southern Morocco. They are looking for their respective daughter and sister, who disappeared months ago at one of these raging parties. Driven by fate, they decide to follow a group of “ravers” in search of one last party to be held in the desert, in the hope that she will be there. Laxe re-teamed with cinematographer Mauro Herce and utilized 16mm.
Two Prosecutors
Sergei Loznitsa
Producers: SBS Productions’ Kevin Chneiweiss
World Sales: Coproduction Office
Having been selected for Cannes on nine occasions, Two Prosecutors is a return to fiction for Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa (his last was the 2018 Un Certain Regard selected Donbass). Based on a novel by Georgy Demidov, the film focuses on a young prosecutor who sets out to challenge a system during Stalin’s Great Terror in 1937 after discovering a letter from a prisoner that is a desperate plea for help. Previously Loznitsa was in comp with My Joy in 2010, In The Fog in 2012 and A Gentle Creature in 2017. Production took place in October.
Untitled Jafar Panahi project
Jafar Panahi
Producers: Unknown.
World Sales: Unknown.
Each of his feature films feels like a tiny miracle—a testament to the idea that cinema cannot be chained, as long as you have a camera (or even just a phone) to capture it. Of course, it goes without saying, but the buzz around a new Jafar Panahi film will always be veiled in secrecy. Is this fact or fiction? Since premiering his Camera d’Or winning film The White Balloon in 1995, the Iranian filmmaker followed this with Cannes preems for Crimson Gold (2003), This is Not a Film (2011) and his first trip to comp with 3 Faces (2018). His last film No Bears premiered at Venice Film Festival in 2022.
Vie privée
Rebecca Zlotowski
Producers: Les Films Velvet’s Frederic Jouve.
World Sales: Goodfellas
Production on Rebecca Zlotowski‘s sixth feature film took place back in October so it’ll be a bit of a rush to make the deadline. It would be a nice narrative for the French filmmaker to break into the comp after being present in all the sections along the Croisette. Her feature debut Belle Épine was a 2010 Critics’ Week selection, 2013’s Grand Central was an Un Certain Regard pick and 2019’s An Easy Girl was programmed in for the Directors’ Fortnight. Vie privée is a French murder mystery film starring Jodie Foster, Daniel Auteuil, Virginie Efira, Mathieu Amalric, Vincent Lacoste and Luana Bajrami. This is about a renowned psychiatrist Lilian Steiner who mounts a private investigation into the death of one of her patients, whom she is convinced has been murdered. Sony Pictures Classics landed the project. If not ready for Cannes, this would be a contender for Venice.
Yes!
Nadav Lapid
Producers: Les Films du Ba, Komplizen Film, Bustan Film
World Sales: Les Films du Losange
Production on Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid‘s fifth feature film would have taken place around April of last year in Tel Aviv. Simply titled Oui, this is about Y who was a pianist and composer. Now he and his wife Jasmine amuse those in power with performances and favors. He decides that what takes real courage is not saying “no,” as he believed in his youth, but saying “yes”. Y is a man who never says “no” and always says “yes”. Lapid’s sophomore feature The Kindergarten Teacher (2014) was selected for Critics’ Week (the section also showcased his 2016 short ‘From the Diary of a Wedding Photographer’) and his fourth feature Ahed’s Knee (2021) was a Jury Prize winner in the competition.
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