Cannes Critics’ Week to open with Rufus Norris’ Broken

Feature selection also includes Alejandro Fadel’s Los Salvajes, Ilian Metev’s Sofia’s Last Ambulance and Meni Yaesh’s Les Voisins de Dieu

The 51st edition of the Cannes Critics’ Week (17-25 May) will open with British director Rufus Norris’ drama Broken, about a young girl whose innocent vision of the world is shattered when she witnesses a violent assault. The BFI Film Fund/BBC Films-backed Broken stars Tim Roth and Cillian Murphy and features a score by Damon Albarn.

“It’s a striking film for a first feature with an excellent mise en scene,” commented Charles Tesson, who debuts this year as the head of the parallel section devoted to first- and second-time films.

Alongside Broken, the seven features and 10 short and medium-length pictures in competition, the sidebar will also showcase two French features in Special Screenings.

These are Alice Winocour’s Augustine, starring Vincent Lindon as real-life 19th century neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot as he attempts to treat a young girl suffering from hysteria, and actress Sandrine Bonnaire’s second feature J’enrage de Son Absence about a man who is unable to overcome the death of his child in a car accident.

“This year was a particularly rich year for French and Latin American cinema,” noted Tesson.

Overall, Tesson and his selection committee screened 1,200 films, 200 more than last year. Tesson puts down the increase in submissions to Critics’ Week to a rise in its profile following last year’s successful edition which featured films such as Valerie Donzelli’s Declaration Of War.

Among this year’s feature selection are Los Salvajes, directed by Alejandro Fadel, screenwriter on Pablo Trapero’s Carancho; Ilian Metev’s feature-length documentary Sofia’s Last Ambulance, capturing the state of Bulgaria’s cash-strapped emergency services, and Israeli director Meni Yaesh’s Les Voisins de Dieu.

A number of the films already have international sales agents including Broken (Wild Bunch), Au Galop (Pyramide International), Hors Les Murs (Films Boutique), Les Voisins de Dieu (Rezo World Sales) and J’enrage de Son Absence (Mercure International and Films Distribution).

Founded in 1962, Cannes Critics’ Week is the oldest parallel competitive section running concurrent to the Cannes Film Festival. It prides itself on unearthing new cinema talent.

Its discoveries over its 50-year history include Bernardo Bertolucci, Ken Loach, Jacques Audiard and Gaspar Noé, all of whom have work in Official Selection this year.

Critics’ Week unveiled the line-up of its 51st edition on its website on Monday evening:

Opening film

Broken, dir. Rufus Norris (UK)

Features

Aquí y Allá d’Antonio, dir. Ménde Esparza (Spain, US, Mexico)

Au Galop, dir. Louis-Do de Lencquesaing (France)

Hors Les Murs, dir. David Lambert (Belgium, Canada, France)

Peddlers, dir, de Vasan Bala (India)

Los Salvajes, dir. Alejandro Fadel (Argentina)

Sofia’s Last Ambulance, dir. Ilian Metev (Germany, Croatia, Bulgaria)

Les Voisins de Dieu, dir. Meni Yaesh (Israel, France)

Short and Medium Length Films