Critics’ Week, our favorite Cannes selection, has revealed its films in competition

Since 1962, Critics’ Week has been the meeting place in Cannes for all film enthusiasts eager to discover emerging talents. Parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival, of which the official selection was revealed last Thursday, Critics’ Week puts the spotlight on first or second feature film. This Monday 15 April, its director, the French critic Ava Cahen, revealed the titles of the films in competition, as well as the opening film and the two titles of the special screenings.

Opening cutscene

• The ghostsa psychological thriller by the French director Jonathan Milletwho made his first feature film here.

Special sessions

• The sea in the distancesecond feature film by the Franco-Moroccan realist Benlarbi said. The film follows a Moroccan immigrant in Marseille for over a decade.
• Drama queensfirst feature film by French director Alexis Langlois, adored by cinema enthusiasts queer. The movie is “an irresistible, popular and grunge lesbian musical”, according to Ava Cahen. We can not wait.

The films in competition

• Locust, the first film by Taiwanese director Keff. The film follows Taiwanese youth during the popular uprisings that shook the country in 2019.
• Julie remains silent, the first film by Belgian director Leonardo Van Dijl. We follow a tennis player with a mind of steel in the post-Me-Too era.
• Simon of the Mountain, the first feature film by Argentinian Federico Luis. The film questions our view of disability by thinking outside the box.
• Palace of the Blue Sun, the first film by American director Constance Tsang. We follow the turbulent fate of her mother, a Chinese immigrant. Ava Cahen announces an intimate and realistic film.
• Childa queer melodrama with a strong social impact directed by Brazilian Marcelo Caetano, who directs his second film here.
• The edge of dreams, the second film by Egyptian filmmakers Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir. In this documentary we follow Egyptian rebel artists, determined to make their voices heard.
• The Pampathe first feature film by French director Antoine Chevrollier, it immerses us in the rural French environment and paints a picture of friendship as a shield against intolerance.
• Animal, the second work by French director Emma Benestan, who here creates a film halfway between a western and a slasher. A feminist film, with Oulaya Amamra.

Rodrigo Sorogoyen, president of a jury made up of four cinema professionals

President of the Critics’ Week jury, the Spanish director of May God forgive us (2017), El Reino (2019), Mother (2020) or even Like Bestas said he was looking forward to taking part in the competition which, “showing the first and second works of the directors, it essentially supports the new voices without which there would be no new cinema ».

During the deliberations, Sorogoyen will be supported by the Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhirethe French manufacturer Sylvie Pialatthe Belgian director of photography Virginie Surdej as well as the Canadian film critic, Ben Croll.

When will the Cannes Film Festival and Critics’ Week take place?

Critics’ Week will take place from from May 15th to 23rd. As for the Cannes Film Festival, it will take place from from 14 to 25 May and will open with the new film by Quentin Dupieux, The second act.

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