Ioncinema

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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In what seems to be an exploration of duality, Katarina Zhu steps both in front of and behind the camera to craft a portrait of connections and examines the wafer-thin boundary between online identity and real-life presence. Multi-hyphenated artist, actor, filmmaker and producer Tristan Scott-Behrends has been part of the American indie echo system for some time now Bunnylovr follows in the footsteps of last year’s Tendaberry – promoting new female filmmakers. The film would claim a quartet of prizes at the U.S in Progress and not that much time after – it was selected for U.S. Dramatic competition at Sundance next month.… Read the rest

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A cinema that is lyrical, autobiographical, and deeply attentive to the emotional textures of family and youth, with the landscape allowing for her players to explore moments of transition, Dominga Sotomayor’s cinema is one that drifts and observes intimacy and sensorial storytelling. The Chilean filmmaker first debuted in 2012 with Thursday Till Sunday preeming at Rotterdam (it won the Tiger Award), her sophomore feature Mar was selected for the 2015 Berlinale. 2018’s Too Late to Die Young landed her the Leopard for Best Direction at the Locarno Film Festival, while her first feature in Cannes was a short in the anthology film The Year of the Everlasting Storm (2021).… Read the rest

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We have long admired the cinema of Brazilian filmmaker Gabriel Mascaro. His films amplify the social frictions embedded within systems that quietly erode personal freedom, crafting works that feel both observational and subtly political. Working with themes of freedom and institutional control, aging with dignity in a society that often renders the elderly invisible, and the idea that self-determination and community — even unexpected solidarity — can coexist, in The Blue Trail (O Último Azul), Denise Weinberg plays Tereza, inhabiting a sliver of dystopia as a woman who first confronts, and then begins to navigate her way out of, the rules imposed upon her by society — revealing self-determination in its purest form.… Read the rest

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They say no news is good news, but in this case a little news goes a long way: Chicoutimi-based filmmaker Sébastien Pilote appears to be gearing up for his next project, once again with his muse Gabriel Arcand. In a friendly chat promoting the recent 30th anniversary edition of festival REGARD, Pilote mentioned he is outlining a new film project that feels like the old guard at life’s apogee.

A film that sounds tonally closer to his first pair of films, this is about a theatre critic who loses his job, regresses and has a chip on his shoulder. Pilote’s feature debut Le Vendeur was selected for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, and his sophomore feature in 2013’s Le Démantèlement was a Cannes Critic’s Week selection.… Read the rest

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