75th Cannes. Director's Fortnight Lineup
Tuesday, April 19, 2022 at 12:36PM by Nathaniel R
The 54th edition of Directors Fortnight, a sidebar which plays alongside Cannes 75th Official Selection films, has announced its lineup for this May's screenings and festivities. The opening night ceremony will honor director Kelly Reichardt with the Carrosse d'Or for her oeuvre, which they describe like so
"Political humanistic and grounded in American land, her seven feature films tell an intimate counter - history of her country, attached to territories and underdogs."
The lineup this year includes the following 23 features (if there's an asterisk it's a first film and thus also eligible for the Camera d'Or)...
1976* by Manuela Martelli (Chile)
Martelli is a Chilean actress who you might have seen in films like Machuca or Il Futuro. This is her feature length directorial debut.
The Water* by Elena López Riera (Spain)
No word on what this is about but it stars Bárbara Lennie (Petra, Everybody Knows)
The Dam* by Ali Cherri (Sudan/Serbia/Germany/France)
Cherri is a Lebanese director who previously made a few shorts. This is described as "a political fable set against the backdrop of the Sudanese Revolution."
The Super 8 Years* by Annie Ernaux & David Ernaux-Briot (France)
Annie Ernaux is a French novelist (Happening, a great French film opening very soon in the US, is based on one of her novels). Now she's made a film with her son that's compiled from super 8 footage
Ashkal by Youssef Chebbi (Tunisia)
A crime drama
The Five Devils by Léa Mysius (France)
This centers on a girl whose aunt returns from prison, bringing the past back with her in a violent way. This is Mysius' second feature. Adèle Exarchopoulus, Swala Emati, and Moustapha Mbengue star.
De Humani Corporis Fabrica by Véréna Paravel & Lucien Castaing-Taylor (UK)
This duo's most famous film previously was the fishing industry documentary Leviathan (2012).
Continental Drift (South) by Lionel Baier (Switzerland)
A political comedy.
Enys Men by Mark Jenkin (UK)
A horror film about the gentrification of a fishing village.
Falcon Lake* by Charlotte Le Bon (Canada)
Actress (Anthropoid, The 100 Foot Journey, The Promise) turned director. This is a coming of age drama about a teenager in love with an older girl.
Will-o’-the-Wisp by João Pedro Rodrigues (Portugal)
This one is supposedly a musical !? Rodrigues' films have gotten a lot of attention from gay cinephiles in the past but they're usually very dark. Some of his most famous films are his controversial fetishistic debut O Fantasma (2000), the Oscar submission To Die Like a Man (2009) which was about a trans woman struggling with her relatipnships, and our favourite of his, the mysterious wonder called The Ornithologist (2016).
Funny Pages* by Owen Kline (US)
This is a comedy from the son of Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates.
God’s Creatures by Anna Rose Holmer & Saela Davis (US/Ireland)
We mentioned this one in the Best Actrtess Oscar chart. It's an Irish drama starring Emily Watson as a mother who lies to protect her song (Paul Mescal) setting in motion even more trouble. Holmer and Davis previously made the great American indie The Fits.
Harkis by Philippe Faucon (France)
Faucon previous directed Fatima (2015) which won Best Film at the César Awards. No word on what this one is about.
Men by Alex Garland (UK) -SPECIAL SCREENING
We discussed the trailer here.
The Mountain by Thomas Salvador (France)
He directs, co-writes, and stars in this romance. Louise Borgoin is the female lead. This is his second feature. He also wrote, directed, and starred in his debut Vincent about a man with superhuman powers.
Pamfir * by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk (Ukraine)
This one is said to be a genre-mashup. Which genres we don't yet know. The plot description is very vague suggesting a decent guy led to dark places to support his family.
The Green Perfume* by Nicolas Pariser (France) – CLOSING FILM
A comic thrillermystery with an actor on the run after his friend is poisoned mid performance. Rising star Vincent Lacoste, who just won his first César for Lost Illusions, headlines.
Paris Memories by Alice Winocour (France)
Winocour, best known as a screenwriter (the Oscar nominated Mustang) is also a director. Have you seen the thriller she made starring Matthias Schoenaerts called Disorder or the astronaut drama she made with Eva Green called Proxima? This one is about a journalist who gets caught up in a terrorist attack at the Crazy Horse Club (A French venue known for nude shows and burlesque). True to Winocour's form the cast is delicious: Virginia Efira, Benoît Magimel, and Grégoire Colin co-star
Scarlet by Pietro Marcello (Italy/Frane) – OPENING FILM
Marcello is coming off of the extremely well received Martin Eden so all eyes will be on this one. This time he's made a French language period film.
Under the Fig Trees by Erige Sehiri (Tunisia/France)
The official synopis reads: "Among the trees, young women and men working the summer harvest develop new feelings, flirt, try to understand each other, find – and flee – deeper connections." Sehiri is a director/producer. She previously made two documentary features.
One Fine Morning by Mia Hansen-Løve (France)
The ubiquitous Léa Seydoux stars as a woman who, while looking for a nursing home for her ailing father, begins an affair. Hansen-Løve (Bergman Island, Things to Come) is of course a favourite of cinephiles.
A Male * by Fabian Hernández (Colombia)
The spanish title is Un Varón which probably has some connotation we're not aware of. It's about a boy who lives in a youth shelter in Bogota and leaves at Christmas hoping for a family reunion.
Reader Comments (2)
Hey, good luck to all of those first-time filmmakers.
Hello! I watched some paintings from this list in front of the Cannes festival and for me personally Pamfir * by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk (Ukraine) seems to be one of the best paintings from this list I will even writemyessay on this topic because many people underestimate directors from small and unpopular filmography countries in vain.