Ioncinema

In the if-true-then-definitely-newsworthy category, as we put all our focus on the upcoming Cannes Film Festival we’re also taking inventory of the films that may line-up next year’s edition and it would appear that two Chinese filmmakers are heading that way. We’ve been tipped via this X account that we have a pair of Sixth Generation auteurs gearing up — one is Night Train (2007), Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014 – read review) and The Wild Goose Lake (2019) filmmaker Diao Yinan who is working on a new crime thriller with Jackson Yee onboard — he was in Bi Gan’s Resurrection).… Read the rest

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Artistic Director Julien Rejl is poised to draw major crowds this year, as the selection committee makes a compelling case that the Théâtre Croisette at the JW Marriott will be one of the festival’s key showcases. With a lineup featuring new works from renowned auteurs such as Kantemir Balagov, Radu Jude, July Jung, Lisandro Alonso, Clio Barnard, Dominga Sotomayor and Quentin Dupieux, the section shapes up as what is undoubtedly the strongest Directors’ Fortnight slate in years. This is not hyperbole folks!

Following in their mandate of discovery (6 debut feature films are present), among the names to watch out for we have the likes of Sompot Chidgasornpongse, Jorge Thielen Armand, Eivind Landsvik, Sarah Arnold, Lila Pinell, Maxence Voiseux, and Kohei Kadowaki.… Read the rest

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The radiant Ava Cahen topper of La Semaine de la Critique since 2022 gives us eleven reasons to want to explore the section that the end of the Croisette. Naturally this year the break down offers plenty Caméra d’Or contenders, and surprisingly all four out of competition features are all firs time efforts while two film in competition (which features five films by female filmmakers) offers two sophomore features — one of them is the docu item by Alexander Murphy (formerly titled Road Less Traveled) the neatly titled Tin Castle is about a family with 10 children who are living at the side of a road in a tiny little caravan without any wheels.… Read the rest

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French cinematographer Marine Atlan know primarily 2018’s Caroline Poggi/Jonathan Vinel’s Jessica Forever and then 2022’s Carmen Jaquier’s Foudre has also become a sort of mainstay on the Croisette populating the Critics’ Week and Directors’ Fortnight section. After Simon Rieth’ Nos cérémonies (2022), The Rapture (2023), Queens of Drama (2024) and The Girl in the Snow (2025), she finally moved behind the camera. Establishing herself as one of the exciting visual eyes in European cinema, her tactile approach to light and movement favors emotional immediacy. She has two shorts under her belt (her 2019 Daniel was awarded a Special Mention in the 2019 Berlinale’s Generation Kplus section) and then moved into writing her debut feature.… Read the rest

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There was no mention this morning for a film title we imagined would not play in competition but would none the less surface somewhere along the Croisette. It looks like Bucking Fastard was indeed in the cards. As expected, there is a little bit of chaos when launching a festival edition and this morning was no different. According to (confirmed by World of Reel) documentation available on the press site, Werner Herzog‘s latest was indeed a Cannes selection – This morning there was a lot of juggling for media, Cannes’ press team and Thierry Frémaux placed this in the Cannes Premiere box.… Read the rest

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With a touch of queer, the opening film slot for the Un Certain Regard section goes to American indie slasher film by the filmmaker who populated Sundance with We’re All Going to the World’s Fair and I Saw the TV Glow. Jane Schoenbrun lands a huge international showcase for Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (a Mubi release). Cannes topper Thierry Frémaux identified fifteen titles in all with about four to five remaining titles to be named in the coming weeks. Also from the U.S, populating the section we find Rotting in the Sun actor Jordan Firstman showcasing his directorial debut with Club Kid – which takes us back to NYC and follows a washed-up underground party promoter whose life takes an unexpected turn when he’s forced to look after a son that he never knew he had.… Read the rest

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A competition section of (currently) twenty-one features with, according to Thierry Frémaux, one more potential last minute Palme d’Or contender addition to be announced (or not) in the week(s) ahead, we find a group of films that are both heavy on regular auteurs but also welcomes several first time competition filmmakers. Only two Palme d’Or winning filmmakers are returning in Cristian Mungiu and Hirokazu Kore-eda — they are part of Neon’s four horses in the race (they’ll be looking to add to that number) with Sheep in the Box and Fjord plus the twosome of All of a Sudden, The Unknown.… Read the rest

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If 2026 was meant to deliver the fruits of Argentine filmmaker Lisandro Alonso‘s recent creative output, it seems 2027 will also add another chapter to his filmography. We have La Libertad Doble (The Match Factory are handling sales) ready to launch at a major fest, and we know learn that rumors of a new project possibly tied to Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry film is indeed in the works. Wagner Moura was spotted (view here) on set in the Brazilian state of Tocantins. The film title is O Aroma da Pitanga and is produced by the Bananeira Filmes folks – they produced Anita Rocha da Silveira’s 2021 film Medusa.… Read the rest

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Located in France’s north westernmost region of Brittany, Le Groupe Ouest have selected eight projects (ten participants) with notable Belgian filmmakers Laura Wandel and Valéry Carnoy among the selected folks. Heading to one of the world’s top screenwriting labs, Wandel who gave us Cannes preemed 2021’s Playground (2021) and 2025’s Adam’s Sake heads to the lab with Le soleil tombe sans un bruit. Carnoy who was also on the Croisette last year with Wild Foxes is quickly moving into his sophomore feature with Amour chèvre. Meanwhile, Maria Montessori helmer Léa Todorov will work on the blueprint for Rien ne ressemble à maintenant.… Read the rest

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Set up in 2023, Marché du Film’s initiative connects private investors with alluring high-end film projects and today they’ve unveiled the eight lucky filmmakers (a drop from previous years that highlighted ten projects) who’ll get to pitch their upcoming projects. Naturally we find some recent Cannes alumni talent in this group of eight.

We find The Settlers / Chilean filmmaker Felipe Gálvez bringing Impunity – a spy thriller set in the late 1990s around the arrest of dictator Augusto Pinochet. Romanian filmmaker Emanuel Pârvu (his Three Kilometres to the End of the World was a surprise competition entry in 2024 (read review) – he shores up with his fourth feature project.… Read the rest

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