A Look into the Cannes 2021 Official Selection
4 min read
Image Courtesy - Cannes Film Festival
It has been two years since Cannes officially closed its 2019 festival with a bang; a finale that showcased new works from Bong Joon-Ho, Celine Sciamma, Quentin Tarantino, Jim Jarmusch, Xavier Dolan, Jessica Hausner, and a bunch of other notable auteurs. Last year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic — the festival had to unfortunately skip a 2020 in-person bow. Adopting an official laurel certificate, the festival still managed to showcase and provide a brief glimmer of what could have been. But now, after years of anticipation, another edition of Cannes is right around the corner. With Thierry Frémaux once again announcing a grandiose list of notable titles, this year proves to be yet another great edition. What is also particularly noteworthy to mention is the addition of a brand new section entitled Cannes Premieres; a brilliant new category that takes auteur fanfare outside of the competition sphere.
In Cannes Premieres, Frémaux has programmed a brilliant concoction of new work from a variety of beloved filmmakers. Kornél Mundruczó returns with ‘Evolution'; after his critically acclaimed English-language Venice-winning feature Pieces of A Woman. Arnaud Desplechin — the brilliant mind A Christmas Tale & Ismael's Ghosts — returns with a seductive new feature titled ‘Deception'. After the success of American Honey, Andrea Arnold returns with a far more subdued project with her documentary ‘Cow'. Eva Husson's star-studded ‘Mothering Sunday' will also mark a significant premiere at the festival, alongside ‘In Front of Your Face' from Korean master Hong Sang-Soo.
In the special screenings category, Charlotte Gainsbourg marks her first directional feature with her aptly self-referential film titled ‘Jane Par Charlotte', while Oliver Stone makes yet another political splash with his extensive Kennedy documentary ‘JFK Revisited: Through The Looking Glass'. In the Un Certain Regard category, Frémaux and his team decided to revert back to the section's original routes. Now primarily focusing on new films from up-and-coming directors, the program features a variety of rich cinematic variations; including Kogonoda's ‘After Yang', Eskil Vogt's ‘The Innocents', and Justin Chon's ‘Blue Bayou'. As for the out of competition category — the genre-bending ‘Emergency Declaration' garnered the attention of various critics, due to the leading star power from the one and only Song Kang-Ho.
Finally, there's the official competition; the full course meal of the festival. Like always, Frémaux has programmed a five-star buffet of some of the most promising films from a variety of renowned international filmmakers. Asghar Farhadi, François Ozon, Nanni Moretti, Julia Ducournau, Wes Anderson, Sean Baker, Bruno Dumont, Justin Kurzel, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Jacques Audiard, Catherine Corsini, Nadav Lapid, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Mia Hansen-Løve, Paul Verhoeven, and Leos Carax all have films in this year's competition lineup. For my own money however, one of the titles that is seemingly behind dismissed in opening reactions is the latest feature from Finnish auteur Juho Kuosmanen After his Un Certain Regard hit with ‘The Happiest Day in the Life with Olli Maki' — a film in which I largely considered to be one of the best romance films of the past decade — his latest feature ‘Compartment No 6' is bound to draw in an even bigger crowd of cinephiles. After all, Cannes is all about the celebration and preservation of cinema, alongside discovering a variety of new cinematic hidden gems!
In Competition
UN HÉROS (A Hero), Asghar Farhadi
TOUT S'EST BIEN PASSÉ, François Ozon
TRE PIANI, Nanni Moretti
TITANE, Julia Ducournau
THE FRENCH DISPATCH, Wes Anderson
RED ROCKET, Sean Baker
PETROV'S FLU, Kirill Serebrennikov
PAR UN DEMI CLAIR MATIN, Bruno Dumont
NITRAM, Justin Kurzel
MEMORIA, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
LINGUI, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
LES OLYMPIADES (Paris 13th District), Jacques Audiard
LES INTRANQUILLES (The restless), Joachim Lafosse
LA FRACTURE, Catherine Corsini
JULIE (EN 12 CHAPITRES) (The worst person in the world), Joachim Trier
HYTTI NRO 6 (Compartment NO.6), Juho Kuosmanen
HAUT ET FORT (Casablanca beats), Nabil Ayouch
HA'BERECH (Le genou d'Ahed / Ahed's knee), Nadav Lapid
DRIVE MY CAR, Ryusuke Hamaguchi
BERGMAN ISLAND, Mia Hansen-Love
BENEDETTA, Paul Verhoeven
A FELESÉGEM TÖRTÉNETE (The story of my wife), Ildikó Enyedi
ANNETTE, Leos Carax
FLAG DAY, Sean Penn
Out of Competition
DE SON VIVANT, Emmanuelle Bercot
EMERGENCY DECLARATION, Han Jae-Rim
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND, Todd Haynes
STILLWATER, Tom McCarthy
ALINE (Aline, the voice of love), Valérie Lemercier
BAC NORD, Cédric Jimenez
Special Screenings
H6, Yé Yé
CAHIERS NOIRS (Black notebooks), Shlomi Elkabetz
O MARINHEIRO DAS MONTANHAS (Mariner of the mountains), Karim Ainouz
JFK REVISITED: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, Oliver Stone
JANE PAR CHARLOTTE, Charlotte Gainsbourg
THE YEAR OF THE EVERLASTING STORM, Jafar Panahi, Anthony Chen, Malik Vitthal, Laura Poitras, Dominga Sotomayor, David Lowery and Apichatpong Weerasethakul
BABI YAR. CONTEXTE (Babi Yar. Context), Sergei Loznitsa
Midnight Screenings
ORANGES SANGUINES (Bloody oranges), Jean-Christophe Meurisse
Un Certain Regard
THE INNOCENTS, Eskil Vogt
AFTER YANG, Kogonada
COMMITMENT HASAN, Hasan Semih Kaplanoglu
LAMB, Valdimar Johansson
NOCHE DE FUEGO, Tatiana Huezo
BONNE MÈRE, Hafsia Herzi
DELO (House arrest), Alexey German Jr.
BLUE BAYOU, Justin Chon
MONEYBOYS, C.B Yi
FREDA, Gessica Geneus
UN MONDE, Laura Wandel
WOMEN DO CRY, Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova
LA CIVIL, Teodora Ana Mihai
UNCLENCHING THE FISTS, Kira Kovalenko
ET IL Y EUT UN MATIN (Let there be morning), Eran Kolirin
REHANA MARYAM NOOR, Abdullah Mohammad Saad
Cannes Premiere
EVOLUTION, Kornél Mundruczo
TROMPERIE (Deception), Arnaud Desplechin
COW, Andrea Arnold
CETTE MUSIQUE NE JOUE POUR PERSONNE (Love songs for tough guys), Samuel Benchetrit
MOTHERING SUNDAY, Eva Husson
SERRE-MOI FORT (Hold me tight), Mathieu Amalric
IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE, Hong Sang-Soo
VAL, Ting Poo and Leo Scott
