Among the six directors in competition at Cannes are two French women, Catherine Breillat and Justine Triet.
Six directors will be in the running for the Palme d’Or at the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival which is to be held from May 16 to 27 on the Croisette, a record in the history of the Festival, according to the list unveiled Thursday by the delegate General of the Thierry Frémaux Festival. Among these women, two French women, directors Catherine Breillat and Justine Triet.
Ten years after his last film Abuse of weaknessbased on her eponymous autobiographical novel, the director ofAn old mistress will return to the Croisette with the story of a mother whose life changes after an affair with her stepson.
Only two palmed directors
Accustomed to Cannes, Justine Triet is back in competition after Sibyl in 2019. Her 4th feature film, Anatomy of a Fall, tells the story of a woman accused of the murder of her husband, starring the German Sandra Hüller who conquered the Croisette in 2016 with Toni Erdmann.
Also note the presence of a young Senegalese filmmaker Ramata-Toulaye Sy and the Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania. The film that will open the festival, Jeanne du Barry (out of competition), is also directed by a filmmaker: the Frenchwoman Maïwenn.
In the history of the festival, only two directors have won the supreme distinction: the Frenchwoman Julia Ducournau in 2021 for Titanium and New Zealander Jane Campion in 1993 for The Piano Lesson.
• “Club Zero” de Jessica Hausner
The pitch: At an elite school, a new teacher whose influence over five of her students will take a dangerous turn…
Le casting: Mia Wasikowska, Sibse Babett Knuden, Elsa Zylberstein…
Sortie: not communicated.
• “Anatomy of a fall” de Justine Triet
The pitch: Sandra, Samuel and their 11-year-old visually impaired son, Daniel, have been living far from everything in the mountains for a year. One day, Samuel is found dead at the foot of their house. A suspicious death investigation has been opened. Sandra is soon charged despite the doubt: suicide or homicide? A year later, Daniel attends his mother’s trial, a true dissection of the couple.
Le casting: Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud…
Sortie: not communicated.
• “The Chimera” Alice Rohrwacher
The pitch: The story is set in the 80s, Arthur, returns to a small town on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. He is a hunter of Etruscan vestiges, an illegal activity which he practices with a band of merry brigands. Arthur has a gift: he feels emptiness. The void left in him by the memory of his lost love, Beniamina.
Le casting: Josh O’Connor, Isabella Rossellini…
Sortie: not communicated.
• “Last summer” by Catherine Breillat
The pitch: A renowned lawyer jeopardizes her career and threatens to break up her family by having an affair with her 17-year-old stepson. A remake of the Danish film The queendirected by May el-Toukhy in 2019.
Le casting: Léa Drucker, Samuel Kircher, Olivier Rabourdin…
Sortie: September 20.
• “Panel et Adama” of Ramata-Toulaye Mother
The pitch: Banel and Adama love each other. They live in a remote village in northern Senegal. Of the world, they only know that, outside, nothing exists. But the absolute love that unites them will come up against the conventions of the community. Because where they live, there is no place for passions, and even less for chaos.
Sortie: not communicated.
• “Olfa’s Daughters” de Kaouther Ben Hania
The pitch: Olfa, a Tunisian mother in her forties, a cleaning lady from a poor background, saw her two teenage daughters become radicalized, run away, join the terrorist organization Daesh in Libya and be imprisoned there following an American attack. Become overnight the scapegoat of his community, Olfa will do everything to extradite his daughters, so that they are judged in Tunisia.
Sortie: not communicated.
