In case you didn’t know the 68th Cannes Film Festival is about to get into full swing, so here’s a quick summary to 2015’s festivities and the films that will be doing the rounds at the festival during its one and a half week stint. With a little over 90 movies included in the Official Selection, there’s a lot to take in, so we’re going to pick out some of the hotly tipped films on the list that you might want to add to your watch list this year, if they make it to a cinema near you.
The two most significant sections of the Official Selection are the Competition picks and the films included in the Un Certain Regard screenings. The first relates to auteur films (movies in which the end result reflects the director’s personal vision) that have a wide appeal, while the latter looks at works that have an original aim and aesthetic, so as you can probably guess, if you didn’t know already, Cannes is where the serious films go to have their say.
It will be kicking off on the 13th May 2015 in the French Rivierra city, with twelve days and nights of non-stop film screenings, sun drenched lunches and glitzy post premier parties. The stars and big name directors will be out in force, but the bad news for UK film is that it will be the first festival since 2008 not to feature British director in the Competition. On a slightly brighter note, British director, Asif Kapadia’s, Amy Winehouse documentary, Amy, will be screened in the Out Of Competition category, while See-Saw Films and Film 4 Productions have got Macbeth (2015) in the main category with Austrian director Justin Kurzel.
What makes the 2015 Festival so special for us is that the Coen Brothers are the joint chiefs of staff of the competition jury, and they’ve headed up the team that decided on this year’s Palme d’Or and Grand Prix awards. They also helped in appointing this year’s Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Jury Prize and Short Film award winners, so it was interesting to see who they decided on when the 68th Festival winners were announced at the award ceremony on the 24th May 2015. The jury also includes Sienna Miller, Guillermo Del Tor and Jake Gillenhaal and you can find out more about who picked up the prizes with our Cannes Film Festival 2015 winners details.
In terms of films that have caught our eye, there’s the new adaptation of Macbeth that we mentioned earlier, which stars Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard as Lord and Lady Macbeth; Todd Haynes’ Carol, starring Cate Blanchett (The Jungle Book) and Roony Mara (Pan), telling the story of forbidden love in the 1950s; Paulo Sorrentino’s Youth, which stars Harvey Keitel (The Grand Budapest Hotel) and Michael Cane (Now You See Me) and focuses on the later years of life; Yorgos Lanthimos’ ensemble cast of Colin Farrell (Total Recall), Rachel Weisz (The Light Between Oceans), John C. Reilly (Guardians Of The Galaxy), Olivia Coleman (Tyrannosaur), Ashley Jensen (Nativity), Léa Seydoux (SPECTRE), and Ben Wishaw (also in SPECTRE) in The Lobster; and Gus Van Sant’s journey of rediscovery, The Sea Of Tress, starring Matthew McConaughey (Intersellar).
Other films to take note of from the Competition selection include Guillaume Nicloux’s Gerard Depardieu lifeline, Valley Of Love; Matteo Garrone’s Tale Of Tales, starring Selma Hayek (Here Come The Boom), Vincent Cassel (Child 44) and John C. Reilly; Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s martial arts stunner, The Assassin; Denis Villeneuve’s Mexican war on drugs, Sicario, starring Emily Blunt (Edge Of Tomorrow), Benicio Del Toro (Guardians Of The Galaxy) and Josh Brolin; and Michel Franco’s Chronic, which gives Tim Roth (Selma) his latest hard hitting outing.
For the full list of films in this year’s Official Selection, visit https://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/inCompetition.html.
