Among the titles which stand out to me immediately are two beautiful projects, one selected for Critics’ Week and the other in the Fortnight line up, which participated in the recent DFI Qumra industry incubator.
A mix of seasoned auteurs and first time filmmakers in Directors’ Fortnight
This year’s poster for the Quinzaine de Cinéastes (pictured above) comes from indie filmmaker and disruptor extraordinaire Harmony Korine. The American artist and actor has spent the last 30 years blowing our minds and, according to the Quinzaine website “subverting pop culture and its clichés in a career that has ranged across cinema, painting and multimedia works.”
"The characters in the painting are called Twitchys. They are always lurking and playing. They are very happy to be at Cannes ☺️" Korine wrote for the official unveiling of the poster a couple of weeks ago.
With graphic design by Michel Welfringer, these characters will accompany those who will venture a bit off the beaten path to the Palais des Festivals on the Croisette and hit the cinema located in the basement of the Marriott Hotel, where most of their screenings will take place. The poster is a good introduction to a sidebar which this year includes first time filmmakers alongside seasoned maestros, like Lee Sang-il and Sean Byrne.
Among the standouts, a personal favorite is The President’s Cake by Iraqi-born filmmaker Hasan Hadi. I had the pleasure to meet him in Doha and sit down with both Hadi and his lovely American producer Leah Chen Baker, after watching their film as a special treat. Mentoring them in the art of meeting the press was a joy, while I kept my fingers crossed I would see them again soon. Seems the spell worked because I’ll get to watch this gem of a film on the big screen, where it belongs, next month in Cannes. The President’s Cake follows a young girl as she’s asked for an impossible task by her school teacher, one she feels she must complete or face shame and public humiliation. I won’t say more, this film needs to be discovered on its own.
Opening the selection is Enzo, a film by the late Laurent Cantet, who passed away last year and was thereafter directed by Robin Campillo, a coming of age story featuring debut performances by Eloy Pohu and Maksym Slivinskyi alongside seasoned actors Elodie Bouchez and Pierfrancesco Favino.
The selection will close with the only film which is not a world premiere in the line up, Sorry, Baby by Eva Victor, which was co-produced by Barry Jenkins and stars Victor alongside Naomi Ackie and Lucas Hedges. The film world premiered at Sundance earlier this year.
Directors’ Fortnight 2025 line-up
Enzo, Laurent Cantet and Robin Campillo – opening film
Peak Everything, Anne Émond
Brand New Landscape, Yuiga Danzuka
The Party’s Over!, Antony Cordier
Dangerous Animals, Sean Byrne
Wild Foxes, Valéry Carnoy
The Girl In The Snow, Louise Hémon
The Girls We Want, Prïncia Car
Girl On Edge, Jinghao Zhou
Indomptables, Thomas Ngijol
Kokuho, Lee Sang-il
Lucky Lu, Lloyd Lee Choi
Militantropos, Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova and Simon Mozgovyi
Miroirs N° 3, Christian Petzold
La Mort N’existe Pas, Félix Dufour-Laperrière
The President’s Cake, de Hasan Hadi
Que Ma Volonté Soit Faite, Julia Kowalski
Sorry, Baby, Eva Victor – closing film
Critics’ Week gems and auteurs in the making
As in past years, seven films will vie for four top prizes in competition in the Semaine de la Critique, awarded by a jury helmed by Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen alongside UK actor Daniel Kaluuya, Moroccan journalist Jihane Bougrine, French-Canadian director of photography Josée Deshaies and Indonesian producer Yulia Evina Bhara.
Five are first films, an additional four films will screen out of competition and six in total are directed by women.
Here again, I have a favorite, before I even hit the Croisette. It’s Guillermo Galoe’s Sleepless City, or Ciudad Sin Sueño in Spanish. A cinema verity, magical realism take on the marginalized communities that live on the outskirts of Madrid, Galoe’s film is another project I came to know and love thanks to the Doha Film Institute and the recent Qumra meetup. Galoe is an auteur in the making and I can’t wait to watch this visually stunning, emotionally haunting film on the film screen. Stay tuned as the short film selection were added on April 17th and I’ve put the list at the bottom of this section.
Critics’ Week 2025
Competition
A Useful Ghost (Thai-Fr-Sing-Ger)
Dir. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
Kika and Nino
Dir. Alexe Poukine and Pauline Loquès
Sleepless City (Sp-Fr)
Dir. Guillermo Galoe
Nino (Fr)
Dir. Pauline Loquès
Reedland (Neth-Belg)
Dir. Sven Bresser
Imago (Fr-Belg)
Dir. Déni Oumar Pitsaev
Left-Handed Girl (Taiwan-Fr-US-UK)
Dir. Shih-Ching Tsou
Special screenings
Adam’s Sake (Belg-Fr) – Opening Film
Dir. Laura Wandel
Baise-en-Ville (Fr)
Dir. Martin Jauvat
Love Letters (Fr)
Dir. Alice Douard
Dandelion’s Odyssey (Fr-Belg) – Closing Film
Dir. Momoko Seto
Shorts
Alișveriș by Vasile Todinca
An-Gyeong by Yumi Joung
Dieu est timide by Jocelin Charles
Donne Batterie by Carmen Leroi
Erogenesis by Xandra Popescu
கத்து! (Bleat!) by Ananth Subramaniam
КРИТИЧНЕ СТАНОВИЩЕ (Critical Condition) by Mila Zhluktenko
L’Mina by Randa Maroufi
Samba Infinito by Leonardo Martinelli
Wonderwall by Róisín Burns
ACID, where greatness begins and then expands
For those who don’t know yet, ACID is an association of film directors which, since 1992, has been promoting the cinema distribution of independent films and encouraging debates between authors and audiences. The strength of the solidarity chain it has built lies on its founding principle: the support given by filmmakers to other filmmakers, French or international. Every year, ACID supports 20 to 30 feature films, fiction and documentaries.
As an example, Kaouther Ben Hania, whose 2023 film Four Daughters was screened in Competition in Cannes, began her journey there with the Challat of Tunis in 2012. So ACID is a cool sidebar for discovering the auteurs of tomorrow and this year’s line up looks exciting, as ever.
All films are world premieres, except for Sylvain George’s doc, which premiered at Visions du Réel this past week.
LINE UP
L’Aventura by Sophie Letourneur — Opening Film
The Black Snake by Aurélien Vernhes-Lermusiaux
Drifting Laurent by Léo Couture, Mattéo Eustachon and Anton Balekdjian
Drunken Noodles by Lucio Castro
Entroncamento by Pedro Cabeleira
Life After Siham by Namir Abdel Messeeh
A Light that Never Goes Out by Lauri-Matti Parppei
Obscure Night — Ain’t I a Child? by Sylvain George — French premiere
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk by Sepideh Farsi
Images used with permission.