Screen staff preview all of the titles in the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week titles, which this year includes films from Laura Wandel, Momoko Seto and Shih-Ching Tsou. The festival runs May 13-24.
Adam’s Sake (Belg-Fr)
Dir. Laura Wandel
The opening film of Critics’ Week is Belgian filmmaker Wandel’s second feature following her breakout debut Playground, which played in Un Certain Regard in 2021 and won the Fipresci prize. Set in a hospital paediatric ward, her new film stars Léa Drucker and Anamaria Vartolomei and centres on a distraught mother, her malnourished son and the nurse who looks after them. It is produced by Dragons Films, Les Films du Fleuve and Anatomy Of A Fall producers Les Films de Pierre.
Contact: Nuria Palenzuela, Indie Sales
Baise-En-Ville (Fr)
Dir. Martin Jauvat
Jauvat premiered his debut feature Grand Paris in Cannes’ ACID sidebar in 2022. He wrote, directed and stars in this Critics’ Week special screening as a young man who takes a job cleaning villas to pay for driving lessons. He ends up joining a dating app to charm young women who live nearby, so he does not have to drive in to work. Emmanuelle Bercot, William Lebghil and Sébastien Chassagne co-star in the film produced by Ecce Films, also behind Critics’ Week title Dandelion’s Odyssey.
Contact: Ecce Films
Dandelion’s Odyssey (Fr-Belg)
Dir. Momoko Seto
Critics’ Week closes its 2025 edition with Japanese director Seto’s animated feature, about the journey of four dandelions who survive a nuclear explosion and search for a place to replant in the cosmos among planets and constellations. The dialogue-free film set in a dystopian world is produced by Miyu Productions and Ecce Films.
Contact: Nuria Palenzuela, Indie Sales
Imago (Fr-Belg)
Dir. Déni Oumar Pitsaev
Chechen filmmaker Oumar Pitsaev’s debut documentary Imago is an autobiographical tale set in a Georgian valley bordering his Chechnya birthplace. The film tracks his attempts in exile to build a house that blends futuristic design and local tradition. It is produced by France’s Triptyque Films and Belgium’s Need Productions.
Contact: Rediance
Kika (Belg-Fr)
Dir. Alexe Poukine
Poukine’s debut fiction feature stars Manon Clavel (Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth) as the titular heroine who, pregnant with her second child and dealing with the aftermath of her partner’s sudden death, must stay strong and find a way to make money fast. Belgium’s Wrong Men and France’s Kidam produce. Poukine’s credits include documentary features Dormir, Dormir Dans Les Pierre and 2019’s That Which Does Not Kill.
Contact: Margot Hervée, Totem Films
Left-Handed Girl (Tai-Fr-US-UK)
Dir. Shih-Ching Tsou
Tsou’s solo directing debut is produced, edited and co-written by Sean Baker, the US filmmaker who picked up last year’s Palme d’Or with Anora before following it up at the Academy Awards. The Taipei-set drama follows a single mother and her two daughters who must adapt to a new environment as they open a stand in a bustling night market. The cast includes Janel Tsai, Ma Shi-yuan and Nina Ye. Mike Goodridge from Good Chaos and Sean Baker are producers on the film. Taiwanese American Tsou co-directed Take Out (2004) with Baker, and produced his features Tangerine, The Florida Project and Red Rocket.
Contact: Eleonore Rieden, Le Pacte
Love Letters (Fr)
Dir. Alice Douard
A Critics’ Week special screening, Douard’s debut feature is focused on modern motherhood and set in Paris after France legalised same-sex marriage. It follows a woman whose partner is about to give birth to the couple’s first child and prove she will be a “good mother” in order to officially adopt the baby. Ella Rumpf, Monia Chokri and Noémie Lvovsky star, and the film is based on Douard’s 2024 Cesar-winning short Expecting (L’Attente).
Contact: Pulsar Content
Nino (Fr)
Dir. Pauline Loques
This French debut is about a young man who embarks on a journey through Paris over the course of three days, after a life-changing medical diagnosis compels him to reconnect with the world. It stars Canadian actor Théodore Pellerin (Lurker) alongside William Lebghil, Salomé Dewaels, Jeanne Balibar, Balthazar Billaud and Camille Rutherford.
Contact: The Party Film Sales
Reedland (Neth-Belg)
Dir. Sven Bresser
Bresser’s debut is the first Dutch-language film to play at Cannes since Alex van Warmerdam’s Borgman in 2013. Reedland follows a reed cutter who discovers the dead body of a girl on his land, and seeks to track down her killer. Newcomers Gerrit Knobbe and Loïs Reinders lead the cast. Marleen Slot produces for Viking Film, which has already launched Gabriel Mascaro’s Berlin jury prize winner The Blue Trail and Sophie Hyde’s Sundance title Jimpa this year.
Contact: The Party Film Sales
Sleepless City (Sp-Fr)
Dir. Guillermo Galoe
Galoe was named a Screen International Spain Star of Tomorrow in 2023 (as Guillermo Garcia Lopez). His fiction feature debut stars newcomer Antonio Fernandez Gabarre as Toni, a Roma teenager living on a large illegal settlement on the outskirts of Madrid that is threatened by demolition. Galoe’s Delicate Balance won best documentary at Spain’s Goya awards in 2017. Sleepless City’s producers have Goya heritage too — BTeam won best film in 2021 with Schoolgirls, while Lullaby from Buena Pinta Media and Encanta took best first film in 2022.
Contact: Martin Gondre, Best Friend Forever
A Useful Ghost (Thai-Sing-Fr-Ger)
Dir. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
Thai superstar Davika Hoorne from box-office hit Pee Mak heads this supernatural drama is about a dead woman who returns to her husband by possessing a vacuum cleaner. When his family objects, she offers to be a helpful ghost and get rid of useless spirits. The debut feature is produced by Cattleya Paosrijaroen and Soros Sukhum of 185 Films, alongside Haut Les Mains, Momo Film and Mayana Film. Director Ratchapoom’s 2020 short film Red Aninsri; Or, Tiptoeing On The Still Trembling Berlin Wall won the junior jury award at Locarno.
Contact: Martin Gondre, Best Friend Forever
Profiles by: Nikki Baughan, Ellie Calnan, Ben Dalton, Tim Dams, Jeremy Kay, Rebecca Leffler, Yasmine Medjdoub, Michael Rosser, Matt Schley, Mona Tabbara, Silvia Wong
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