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E. Nina Rothe

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The Diaries, because sometimes life needs more. 

Cannes' sidebars -- Critics' Week, Directors' Fortnight and ACID selections announced

E. Nina Rothe April 15, 2025

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.

In Cinema, Festival Tags Critics week, Cannes Film Festival, festival de Cannes, Quinzaine de Cineastes, Directors' Fortnight, ACID, Cannes, Harmony Korine, The President’s Cake, Hasan Hadi, Leah Chen Baker, Qumra, DFI, Doha Film Institute, Barry Jenkins, Dangerous Animals, Sean Byrne, Kokuho, Lee Sang-il, Eva Victor, Sorry Baby, Daniel Kaluuya, Guillermo Galoe, Sleepless City, Ciudad Sin Sueño, Spain, Iraq, Madrid, Kaouther Ben Hania, Sylvain George, Life After Siham, Namir Abdel Messeeh, Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, Sepideh Farsi
← Welcome to the first episode of The Culture Influential Cannes Line-Up announcement 2025: Wondrous women filmmakers, returning favorites and a Spike Lee joint →
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