Ioncinema

Before we dive headfirst into full-on Palme d’Or predictions tomorrow (with a part deux that will drop brunch time on Sunday) – we now look at the items that Thierry Frémaux would have possibly looked at (and secured) for the Out of Competition, Midnight, Special Screenings and Cannes Premiere slots.

The Out of Competition slate usually runs a half-dozen strong, a mix of blockbuster studio tentpoles and quirky indie curiosities – (how many people had Amélie Bonnin’s feature debut Partir un jour on their bingo card?). Midnight screenings—always the wild cards—tend to stick to a fivesome and lean heavily on genre thrills, chills, and adrenaline-soaked mischief.… Read the rest

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Introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob, the Un Certain Regard sidebar typically presents around twenty films championing distinctive styles and unconventional storytelling. In recent years, the section has increasingly shifted toward spotlighting emerging filmmakers—those still early in their careers, from debut features to relatively new voices. The Cannes Premiere section now lands some of the more established auteurs. Last year’s lineup reflected that focus, with nine of the twenty selections marking feature debuts. Urchin, A Poet, My Father’s Shadow, Homebound and queer titles I Only Rest in the Storm and Pillion were part of the highlights nestled in the Salle Debussy.… Read the rest

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World cinema heavyweights Mia Hansen-Love, Justine Triet and Bertrand Bonello are among the filmmakers who received some Eurimages fund via the first project evaluation session of 2026. Backing a total of 32 feature films (including two documentaries and one animated film), the majority of these films will be moving into production in 2026, and landing at major film fests next year. As we already know first quarter productions in Bonello’s Santo Subito and Triet’s Fonda will be targeting a Cannes comp slot next year, and Hansen-Love will finally see If Love Should Die push forward receiving €500,000 in funding. In same vein as perhaps Eduardo Williams’ The Human Surge 3, Cristian Mungiu and Ioana Maria Uricaru skip a beat with Tales Of The Golden Age 3 – it follows their 2009 omnibus Tales Of The Golden Age.… Read the rest

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It’s nearly impossible to predict what the programming crew led by Artistic Director Julien Rejl will cook up for year four, but if the previous editions are any guide, they’ll once again champion films flying low under the radar—or completely off the grid. The section has quietly become a launchpad for striking debut features, a reputation sealed by two Caméra d’Or wins: Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell in 2023 (watch) and The President’s Cake (watch) in 2025.

Last year, the JW Marriott Cannes hosted a lineup that included YES from Nadav Lapid, Kokuho by Lee Sang-il, The Girl in the Snow from Louise Hémon, and an international premiere slot for Sorry, Baby by Eva Victor.… Read the rest

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The parallel selection dedicated to debut and sophomore features films had a chockfull of crème de la crème options last year beginning with solid opener and closing films in Laura Wandel’s L’intérêt d’Adam (review) and Alice Douard’s Love Letters (review) and with a competition section with not too shabby selections such as Shih-Ching Tsou’s Left-Handed Girl, Pauline Loquès’ Nino, Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s A Useful Ghost and Alexe Poukine’s Kika (review) who is featured in this year’s poster.

Regardless of the friendly tensions with ACID, Quinzaine or Un Certain Regard programmers, in her victory lap edition, Critics’ Week topper Ava Cahen has carved out a legit launchpad type space at the Espace Miramar that strategists absolutely consider as the place they want to roll out a world premiere campaign.… Read the rest

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Santiago, Chile born filmmaker Marcela Saïd began in docu cinema before her move into narrative with The Summer of Flying Fish being selected for the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. She would return to the Croisette four years later with Los Perros nabbing a spot in Critics’ Week section. Since then she moved into directing television series gigs such as “Narcos”, “Lupin” and “Blade Runner 2099”. Having worked in themes of class divides, female subjectivity and tension beneath domestic calm, the Franco-Chilean’s third feature a proposed dramatic-thriller moves her into a new terrain. Here is everything we know so far … for Marcela Saïd‘s El Puma.… Read the rest

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Christian Petzold is doing the rounds stateside for the release of Miroirs No. 3 and fans of the German filmmaker will be pleased to know that he might Valentine card his fans by bringing former muse Nina Hoss and current muse Paula Beer together for an ensemble project. We are a long way off from this materializing but its exciting nonetheless. Maybe we circle this for a 2029 drop? Juggling more than one project at the same time, we learn via Letterbox chatted that the filmmaker is considering bringing them together for a project with deets below:

“I’m thinking about making a movie with both of them.… Read the rest

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The Cannes Film Festival’s La Résidence is welcoming Harry Lighton, Emma Branderhorst, Joecar Hanna, Saulé Bliuvaité, Mansi Maheshwari and Oliver McGoldrick to their 51st session. From March 16th to July 31st, this next generation of international filmmakers will reside in Paris where they will benefit from a personalized screenwriting residency program and a collective program of meetings with film professionals. Lighton took the Un Certain Regard section by storm with his fun queer dom rom com Pillion (read review) while Saulé Bliuvaité won the big daddy prize Golden Leopard at Locarno with Toxic (read review).… Read the rest

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Ordeal by Innocence: Loznitsa Mines the Terrors of Naïveté

A good man is hard to find, and if one were to be found, he’s likely wet behind the ears. So begins a retrospective parable in Two Prosecutors, the first narrative feature from perennial documentarian Sergei Loznitsa since 2018’s galvanizing Donbass (read review). His latest is an adaptation of a short story by Russian writer Georgy Demidov, a physicist who later served his own lengthy stint as a political prisoner only a year after this narrative’s setting. In comparison to Loznitsa’s previous narrative films, his latest happens to be his most straightforward, arguably simple.… Read the rest

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Matthias Schoenaerts, Makita Samba and Marton Csokas have been cast in Ellie Foumbi‘s spicy sophomore feature which gathered plenty of steam when Halle Berry joined the project last August. The trades announce that production on Fleur began this week. The list of producers on the project appears to have grown we have: Killer Films’ Christine Vachon, HalleHolly’s Halle Berry and Holly Jeter, Plot Twist Pictures Gabriel Mayers. We imagine that Foumbi might attempt to make a return to the lido (where she premiered Our Father, the Devil as a work in progress) but that is likely too tight.

This tells the story of a New York housewife (Berry) who flees America and her husband of 30 years (Csokas) to reinvent herself in Paris as Fleur, an upscale escort and dominatrix carving out her own power and identity.… Read the rest

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