Cannes 2015: Official Selection Lineup Revealed

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‘The Sea of Trees’

This year’s Cannes Film Festival is just around the corner, and the official selection lineup was announced today, with new films from Todd Haynes, Yorgos Lanthimos, Denis Villeneuve, and Gus Van Sant all in competition.

Out of competition titles include the latest Disney Pixar venture Inside Out, the much anticipated (by me) Mad Max: Fury Road, Woody Allen‘s latest, Irrational Man, and the new adaptation of The Little Prince, which also looks wonderful.

This year’s Cannes Film Festival runs from May 13th – 24th, stay tuned for more films added to the lineup in the coming weeks.

OPENER

“Standing Tall” (Emmanuelle Bercot, France). Screening out of competition, Bercot’s fourth feature (which she co-wrote with Marcia Romano) follows the troubled upbringing of a boy named Malony (Rod Paradot), and also stars Catherine Deneuve appearing as a juvenile judge who tries to intervene in his life. As either actress or director, Bercot is no stranger to Cannes: Her 2001 helming debut, “Clement,” made its premiere in Un Certain Regard, and she also won prizes at the festival for her short films “Les Vacances” (1997) and “La Puce” (1999). (Sales: Elle Driver)

COMPETITION

“The Assassin” (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan). This Tang Dynasty-era martial-arts epic, starring Shu Qi and Chang Chen (the lovers in Hou’s “Three Times”), is the Taiwanese auteur’s first film since “Flight of the Red Balloon,” which opened the festival’s Un Certain Regard sidebar in 2007. It will be his seventh time in competition, after 1993’s “The Puppetmaster” (which received a jury prize), “Good Men, Good Women” (1995), “Goodbye, South, Goodbye” (1996), “Flowers of Shanghai” (2008), “Millennium Mambo” (2001) and “Three Times” (2007). (Sales: Wild Bunch)

“Carol” (Todd Haynes, U.S.-U.K.). Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara star in this adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel about a lonely young department-store clerk who falls for an elegant older woman in 1950s New York. Haynes’ recent films (“Far From Heaven,” “I’m Not There”) have played the fall festival circuit, and this latest drama, which the Weinstein Co. is releasing Stateside this fall, will mark his first appearance at Cannes since 1998’s “Velvet Goldmine,” which received a prize for artistic contribution from the jury. (Sales: HanWay Films)

“Erran” (Jacques Audiard, France). Audiard has proven himself a specialist in gritty stories from Paris’ underbelly, and his latest, already acquired by IFC’s Sundance Selects for Stateside release, stars Vincent Rottiers as a Sri Lankan Tamil fighter working as a caretaker on a council estate in the city. Audiard was previously in competition with 1996’s “A Self-Made Hero” (which won a screenplay prize), 2009’s “A Prophet” (which received the Grand Prix), and 2012’s “Rust and Bone.” (Sales: Wild Bunch)

“The Lobster” (Yorgos Lanthimos, Greece-U.K.-Ireland-Netherlands-France). Lanthimos won the 2009 Un Certain Regard prize for his attention-grabbing “Dogtooth,” and wound up bypassing a second Un Certain Regard slot in favor of a Venice competition berth for “Alps” (2011). This time, he cracks the big leagues with a love story set in a dystopian future where single people are arrested and forced to find a mate within 45 days. Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Ben Whishaw, Olivia Colman, Lea Seydoux and John C. Reilly star in the mostly Irish-financed production. (Sales: Protagonist Pictures)

“Louder Than Bombs” (Joachim Trier, Norway-France-Denmark). Trier was previously in Un Certain Regard with his well-received “Oslo, August 31st” (2011), and he cracks the competition for the first time with this starry English-language drama about the secrets that emerge about a war photographer (Isabelle Huppert) three years after her death in a car accident. Gabriel Byrne and Jesse Eisenberg star as her husband and son, respectively; the cast also includes David Strathairn and Amy Ryan. (Sales: Memento Films Intl.)

“Macbeth” (Justin Kurzel, U.K.-France-U.S.). Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard play Shakespeare’s bloodthirsty power couple in this Scottish-filmed adaptation (which will also offer a foretaste of this year’s other Cotillard-Fassbender-Kurzel collaboration, “Assassin’s Creed”). The competition berth marks a big step up for Australian director Kurzel from his trip to the Croisette in 2011, when “Snowtown,” his psychological chiller about the serial killer John Bunting, bowed in the festival’s parallel Critics’ Week sidebar. (Sales: Studiocanal)

“Marguerite and Julien” (Valerie Donzelli, France). Co-written by Donzelli and her regular collaborator Jeremie Elkaim, this tale of an incestuous love affair between the two eponymous siblings (played by Anais Demoustier and Jeremie Elkaim) is based on a 1971 Jean Gruault script that was almost filmed by Francois Truffaut. The competition slot reps a big boost for Donzelli after her 2011 Critics’ Week hit, “Declaration of War.” (Sales: Wild Bunch)

“Mon roi” (Maiwenn, France). In addition to opening the festival with “Standing Tall,” Emmanuelle Bercot stars here as a woman recovering from a passionate but destructive romance; her lover is played by Vincent Cassel. Maiwenn was previously at Cannes with her ensemble drama “Polisse” (2011), which won a jury prize. (Sales: Studiocanal)

“Mountains May Depart” (Jia Zhangke, China-Japan-France). Jia’s first feature shot outside his native China is a generations-spanning drama that unfolds in three parts, set in the 1990s, the present day and 2025, respectively. The filmmaker has had three prior films in competition at Cannes: “Unknown Pleasures” (2002), “24 City” (2008) and “A Touch of Sin” (2013), which won a screenplay prize. His 2010 documentary, “I Wish I Knew,” screened in Un Certain Regard. (Sales: MK2)

“My Mother” (Nanni Moretti, Italy-France). In her third collaboration with Moretti, Margherita Buy plays a filmmaker weathering a number of behind-the-scenes crises in this sardonic tragicomedy, also starring John Turturro. In addition to his Palme d’Or-winning “The Son’s Room” (2001), Moretti has had five previous films in competition at Cannes: “Ecce bombo” (1978); “Dear Diary” (1994), which won him a directing prize; “Aprile” (1998); “The Caiman” (2006); and “We Have a Pope” (2011). (Sales: Films Distribution)

“Our Little Sister” (Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan). A strong Japanese female cast, led by Masami Nagasawa, Haruka Ayase and Suzu Hirose, headlines this adaptation of Akimi Yoshida’s popular serialized comic about four sisters living in the eponymous city. Kore-eda received a jury prize and an ecumenical prize at Cannes just two years ago for “Like Father, Like Son,” and he was also in competition with “Nobody Knows” (2004) and “Distance” (2001). His 2009 film “Air Doll” premiered in Un Certain Regard. (Sales: Wild Bunch)

“The Sea of Trees” (Gus Van Sant, U.S.). Matthew McConaughey and Ken Watanabe play two men who meet by chance in Japan’s “Suicide Forest,” where both have gone to end their lives; Naomi Watts also stars. Van Sant was previously at Cannes with “Restless,” which opened Un Certain Regard in 2011. Before that, he won the Palme d’Or and a directing prize for “Elephant” (2003), and was also in competition with “Last Days” (2005) and “Paranoid Park” (2007), which won a special 60th anniversary prize from the festival. (Sales: Bloom)

“Sicario” (Denis Villeneuve, U.S.). The Canadian director is no stranger to Cannes, which screened his films “Cosmos” (1996, Directors’ Fortnight), “August 32nd on Earth” (1998, Un Certain Regard) and “Polytechnique” (2009, Directors’ Fortnight). Since then, Villeneuve has become one of the most sought-after talents in Hollywood, and he cracks the competition for the first time with this crime drama starring Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin and Jon Bernthal, and set against the backdrop of the Mexican drug trade. (Sales: Lionsgate Intl.)

“A Simple Man” (Stephane Brize, France). After their well-regarded collaborations “Mademoiselle Chambon” (2009) and “A Few Hours of Spring” (2012), Brize and actor Vincent Lindon team for a third time with this drama about a 51-year-old man who begins working as a supermarket security guard and is soon faced with a moral dilemma. The film marks Brize’s first time in competition at Cannes; he was previously at the festival with his 1999 debut, “Blue Cities” (Directors’ Fortnight). (Sales: MK2)

“Son of Saul” (Laszlo Nemes, Hungary). The sole debut feature in competition follows a prisoner in 1944 Auschwitz who, forced to burn the corpses of his people, tries to save the body of a boy he takes for his own son. Nemes is the son of the Hungarian director Andras Jeles and a longtime protege of Bela Tarr.

“The Tale of Tales” (Matteo Garrone, Italy-France-U.K.). A two-time Cannes Grand Prix winner for “Gomorrah” (2008) and “Reality” (2012), Garrone ventures into the realm of English-language horror/fantasy with this f/x-heavy adaptation of a collection of fairy tales by the 17th-century Italian author Giambattista Basile. Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel and John C. Reilly star. (Sales: HanWay Films)

“Youth” (Paolo Sorrentino, Italy-France-Switzerland-U.K.). Sorrentino’s English-language drama stars Michael Caine as a retired orchestra conductor who receives an invitation to perform for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. It marks the Italian auteur’s sixth film in competition, after “The Consequences of Love” (2004), “The Family Friend” (2006), the jury prize-winning “Il Divo” (2008), “This Must Be the Place” (2011) and “The Great Beauty” (2013). (Sales: Pathe)