Ioncinema

Break My Soul: Lapid Explores Compromised Artistry During Wartime

Essentially, YES, the latest film from Israeli auteur Nadav Lapid, is a portrait of an artist as a compromised man. Its innocuous title is essentially a rebuke of a contemporary reality relating to submission as the only real truth of the world. Collectively and individually, we no longer have the luxury of saying ‘no.’ Resistance is futile, we must comply. Destined for instant controversy and an eventual time capsule documenting Israel’s normalizing of barbarism, Lapid’s latest is an admonition of almost shocking import, an increasingly rare example of modern art speaking truth to power.… Read the rest

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Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Jude Skewers the Status Quo

Ownership is an unsaid key word in Kontinental ’25, the latest perambulating spasm from Romanian director Radu Jude, which navigates an intersection of self-accountability, property, language, and culture as precarious notions in a nation bulldozing itself into capitalism’s future. A more omnipresent notion is guilt, mainly regarding its main protagonist, an empathetic bailiff who finds her world turned upside down when a homeless man she was in the process of evicting commits suicide. What follows is an endless parade of guilt performance as a way to reach absolution, perhaps more so in a public realm than the personal.… Read the rest

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Turn to Stone: Ducournau Hits a Wall with Disease Allegory

“Death is the cure for all illness,” wrote English writer Thomas Browne, which is a sentiment one can apply to Alpha, the third film from budding body horror extraordinaire Julia Ducournau—for the end credits at last release one from its tightly wound, nonsensical battering. Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winning Titane (read review) was destined to be a hard act to follow, and the anxiety to provide a similar sense of howling wonder is apparent in almost every aspect of a fragmented allegory about diseases, both social and physical. An ambiguously troubled teen gets a tattoo while drunk at a party, an event which sends both herself and her painstakingly empathetic mother into an immediate psychotic break.… Read the rest

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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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