A strong showing by female directors and a resurgence of thrillers and other genre movies are among the highlights of the Official Selection announced for next month鈥檚 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
The 78th edition of the world鈥檚 most prestigious film fest, which attracted a record 2,909 feature submissions, will open May 13 with the comedy 鈥淧artir un jour鈥 by French newcomer Am茅lie Bonnin. It鈥檚 the first time a debut feature has launched the festival.
Two A-list actors will make their directorial debuts at the fest: Scarlett Johansson鈥檚 drama, 鈥淓leanor the Great,鈥 starring 95-year-old June Squibb as a woman starting a new life in New York City, will premiere in the Un Certain Regard sidebar program. So will 鈥淯rchin,鈥 from 鈥淏abygirl鈥 star Harris Dickinson, soon to play John Lennon in a four-film Beatles biopic series; his drama is about a London street drifter.
Six films by female directors are among the 19 competing for the fest鈥檚 top prize, the Palme d鈥橭r; they include 1980s-set AIDS drama 鈥淎lpha,鈥 by body horror specialist Julia Ducournau, who won the Palme in 2021 with her erotic automotive nightmare, 鈥淭itane.鈥 The other women competing for the Palme this year are Kelly Reichardt, Hafsia Herzi, Carla Simon, Chie Hayakawa and Mascha Schilinski.
This year鈥檚 festival is one movie shy of the record set in 2023 when seven female-directed films battled for the Palme. But that number could grow; the competition often has 22 films, and Cannes artistic director Thierry Fr茅maux said more will be announced in the days to come.
These could include 鈥淒ie, My Love鈥 from Scotland鈥檚 Lynne Ramsay, a psychological thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson and LaKeith Stanfield; and 鈥淐outure鈥 by France鈥檚 Alice Winocour, a drama of beauty and trauma starring Angelina Jolie, set during Paris Fashion Week.
Festival president Iris Knobloch, joining Fr茅maux at a Paris press conference Thursday morning, said Cannes is 鈥渧ery attentive鈥 to the desire expressed by many people to increase its female participation. She noted that the Palme jury is led by French actress Juliette Binoche. She follows Greta Gerwig from the 2024 fest, who 鈥減asses the torch鈥 from one woman to another as jury president for the first time in 60 years.
Fr茅maux said his programmers noted the 鈥渞eturn of the genre鈥 鈥 films of action, adventure and horror that often play well in multiplexes.
This is reflected in two of the most-anticipated titles premiering at Cannes 鈥25, one a drama and other a comedy but both described as spy thrillers: the Tom Cruise-led 鈥淢ission: Impossible 鈥 The Final Reckoning,鈥 by Christopher McQuarrie, which will screen out of competition; and Wes Anderson鈥檚 鈥淭he Phoenician Scheme,鈥 a Palme competitor starring Canada鈥檚 Michael Cera, Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson and a host of other stars.
Other Palme contenders with thriller themes include Reichardt鈥檚 鈥淭he Mastermind,鈥 a Vietnam War-era art heist film starring Josh O鈥機onnor; Kleber Mendon莽a Filho鈥檚 鈥淭he Secret Agent,鈥 set during Brazil鈥檚 military dictatorship in the 1970s; and Dominik Moll鈥檚 鈥淒ossier 137,鈥 starring L茅a Drucker as a French police inspector investigating a crime that gets personal.
Jafar Panahi鈥檚 鈥淎 Simple Accident,鈥 meanwhile, could almost qualify as a thriller owing to the extreme efforts the Iranian filmmaker had to make to evade authoritarian censors in Iran, his home country.
Playing opposite Paul Mescal, O鈥機onnor also stars in 鈥淭he History of Sound,鈥 a gay romance and road movie by Oliver Hermanus.
Additional highlights of the Palme contest include the Cannes debut of genre ace Ari Aster (鈥淗ereditary鈥), whose new drama, 鈥淓ddington,鈥 stars Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal as a small-town sheriff and mayor battling each other in Eddington, N.M.
Aster鈥檚 competition rivals include two-time Palme winners Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Belgian brothers who are making their tenth bid for the golden palm with 鈥淵oung Mothers,鈥 a drama set in a maternity home.
Other returning Palme veterans include Norway鈥檚 Joachim Trier, whose new film, 鈥淪entimental Value,鈥 stars Renate Reinsve, who won best actress for Trier鈥檚 鈥淭he Worst Person in the World鈥 at the 2021 festival.
It鈥檚 been nearly two decades since Texas auteur Richard Linklater was last at Cannes, but he aims to impress the locals with his Palme contender, 鈥淣ouvelle Vague,鈥 a French-language film starring Zoey Deutch, Aubry Dullin and Guillaume Marbeck about the making of Jean-Luc Godard鈥檚 1960 New Wave landmark, 鈥淏reathless.鈥
Knobloch described the festival as being in 鈥渁 dialogue with the world,鈥 a discussion that has expanded in recent years as the French film celebration has started to have greater influence on the eventual nominees and winners at the Academy Awards.
Films premiering at Cannes last year received 31 Oscar nominations and nine wins, led by Sean Baker鈥檚 鈥淎nora鈥 with five wins. The Oscar best picture race also had two other Cannes 鈥24 premieres, 鈥淭he Substance鈥 and 鈥淓milia P茅rez,鈥 while 鈥淔low鈥 won the Oscar for best animated feature.
Spike Lee’s new film “Highest 2 Lowest,” a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s classic聽1963 crime drama “High and Low,” was MIA from Thursday’s announcement. But Lee posted on Instagram he’s been invited to screen it out of competition, so it will likely be included in a future announcement.
No Canadian films were announced Thursday for Cannes but that could change when more Official Selection titles are announced in the coming days, along with films in the Directors鈥 Fortnight and Critics鈥 Week programs.
Robert De Niro will receive an honorary Palme d鈥橭r at the Cannes Film Festival, which runs May 13-24.
Here鈥檚 the current list of films in competition for the Palme d’Or:
鈥淎lpha鈥 (Julia Ducournau)
鈥淒ossier 137鈥 (Dominik Moll)
鈥淭he Eagles of the Republic鈥 (Tarik Saleh)
鈥淓ddington鈥 (Ari Aster)
鈥淔uori鈥 (Mario Martone)
鈥淭he History of Sound鈥 (Oliver Hermanus)
鈥淎 Simple Accident鈥 (Jafar Panahi)
鈥淟a Petite Derni猫re鈥 (Hafsia Herzi)
鈥淭he Mastermind鈥 (Kelly Reichardt)
鈥淣ouvelle Vague鈥 (Richard Linklater)
鈥淭he Phoenician Scheme鈥 (Wes Anderson)
鈥淩enoir鈥 (Chie Hayakawa)
鈥淩omeria鈥 (Carla Simon)
鈥淭he Secret Agent鈥 (Kleber Mendon莽a Filho)
鈥淪entimental Value鈥 (Joachim Trier)
鈥淪irat鈥 (脫liver Laxe)
鈥淪ound of Falling鈥 (Mascha Schilinski)
鈥淭wo Prosecutors鈥 (Sergei Loznitsa)
鈥淵oung Mothers鈥 (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
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