All the Expected Highlights at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival
This year, the festival will take place from 14 to 27 May under the presidency of American director Greta Gerwig
With the 2024 Cannes Film Festival starting today, we're excited to see what will happen. Here's what we know already; 23 films are in official competition. 18 in the Un Certain Regard category, five out of competition, four in the Midnight Screening, four in the Cannes Premiere category and nine in the Special Screening.
The Opening Film
French director Quentin Dupieux will open the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival this May 14 with his film The Second Act, produced by the visionary Hugo Sélignac. It will bring together the dream team with Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel and the new star of French cinema Raphaël Quenard, who was awarded the male breakthrough prize at the last César ceremony for Junkyard Dog and is filming for the fourth time with Dupieux.
This film will be released in theatres on the same day. The director has long been recognised for his slightly crazy films and dark humour, such as Yannick, Fumer Makes You Cough, Rubber, The Daim, and Incredible But True, to name just a few of them.
Her latest feature film tells the story of Florence, who wants to introduce David, the man she is in love with, to her father, Guillaume. But David is not attracted to Florence and plans to push her into the arms of his friend Willy. The four characters find themselves in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere, and from there, anything goes. This surreal closed-door session lasting an hour and a quarter will delight fans.
The Mistress of Ceremonies
Actress Camille Cottin will present this Cannes edition. She starred in the film Connasse and the series Dix pour cent, and also holds roles in Allies by Robert Zemeckis, House of Gucci by Ridley Scott, Mystery in Venice by Kenneth Branagh and Still Water by Tom McCarthy, in which she rubs shoulders with an All-Hollywood cast including Brad Pitt, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Lady Gaga, Al Pacino, Salma Hayek, Tina Fey, Michelle Yeoh and Matt Damon. Since 2023, she has also been an ambassador for the jewellery house Tiffany & Co. We have no doubt she will shine brightly on the stage of the Palais des Festivals.
The President of the Jury
Since the creation of the Cannes Film Festival in 1946, a few women have had the privilege of being named president. The first was Olivia de Havilland in 1965, followed by Sofia Loren in 1966, Michèle Morgan in 1971, Ingrid Bergman in 1973, Jeanne Moreau in 1975 and Françoise Sagan in 1979. Catherine Deneuve officiated as vice-president of the jury alongside actor-director Clint Eastwood in 1994, Jeanne Moreau was requested again in 1995, Isabelle Adjani in 1997, Liv Ullmann in 2001, Isabelle Huppert in 2009, Jane Campion in 2014, Cate Blanchett in 2018, and finally Greta Gerwig this year. That’s 14 women in 77 years.
Before Barbie, the actress-director began working alongside her husband Noah Baumbach on Greenberg and then Frances Ha for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. We will also see her in front of the cameras of Mike Mills for Jackie and Wes Anderson for Isle of Dogs.
In 2017, she went behind the camera with Lady Bird for which she was nominated for an Oscar. But it was with Barbie, the first film by a solo director to gross more than a billion dollars worldwide, that Greta Gerwig won the Oscar for best-adapted screenplay. We can't wait to see her again accompanied by her jury.
