Screen staff preview each of the titles in the Cannes Film Festival parallel strand Directors’ Fortnight, which this year includes films from Robin Campillo, Nadav Lapid, Thomas Ngijol and Christian Petzold. The festival runs May 13-24.
Brand New Landscape (Japan)
Dir. Yuiga Danzuka
The debut feature of Danzuka is set in Tokyo’s Shibuya district and centres on the relationship between a father and son following the death of the mother. The film stars Kodai Kurosaki (She Taught Me Serendipity) in his first leading role alongside veteran actor Kenichi Endo of Cannes 2023 title Kubi. Danzuka attended the Film School of Tokyo and his graduation short After The Night On The Bridge was lauded at Japanese festivals. Born in 1998, he is the youngest Japanese director ever selected for Directors’ Fortnight.
Contact: Luxbox
Dangerous Animals (Australia)
Dir. Sean Byrne
A surfer is abducted by a shark-obsessed serial killer in Australian genre filmmaker Byrne’s Croisette debut, after his first two features The Loved Ones (2009) and The Devil’s Candy (2015) premiered at Toronto. The thriller shot in Australia’s Gold Coast and was supported by Screen Queensland, with a cast including Hassie Harrison and Jai Courtney. Brouhaha Entertainment produces — recently in Cannes with Karim Aïnouz’s Motel Destino (2024) and Firebrand (2023) — alongside LD Entertainment, Oddfellows Entertainment and Range Media Partners.
Contact: Mister Smith Entertainment
Death Does Not Exist (Can-Fr)
Dir. Félix Dufour-Laperriere
An animation set in a forest and valley after a failed attack by armed activists, Death Does Not Exist participated in Annecy’s work-in-progress section last year and is the filmmaker’s follow-up to Annecy 2021 award-winner Archipelago, which also played in Rotterdam, and 2018 Venice Days premiere Ville Neuve. Dufour-Laperriere’s Montreal-based Embuscade Films and French animation house Miyu Production produced.
Contact: Martin Gondre, Best Friend Forever
Enzo (Fr-Belg-It)
Dirs. Laurent Cantet, Robin Campillo
Friends and collaborators Cantet and Campillo share one final credit in this film meant to be directed by Cantet, winner of the Palme d’Or in 2008 for The Class, before he died last year. Campillo took the reins and reteams with his 120 BPM (Beats Per Minute) producer Marie-Ange Luciani, who produces via Les Films de Pierre. Set and filmed in La Ciotat in the south of France, it is about a 16-year-old boy who defies his bourgeois family’s expectations by starting a masonry apprenticeship where he meets a charismatic Ukrainian. Newcomers Eloy Pohu and Maksym Slivinskyi star opposite Élodie Bouchez and Pierfrancesco Favino.
Contact: mk2 Films
The Girl In The Snow (Fr)
Dir. Louise Hémon
The film marks the directing debut of French video artist and stage director Hémon. Set in 1899 in a remote Alpine hamlet, it is about a teacher hired to instruct the village children whose mysterious arrival coincides with an avalanche as men begin to disappear. Galatéa Bellugi, Matthieu Lucci and Samuel Kircher star and it is produced by Take Shelter, which also produced 2023’s Competition title Banel & Adama.
Contact: Kinology
Girl On Edge (China)
Dir. Zhou Jinghao
Starring Zhang Zifeng, Ma Yili and newcomer Ding Xiangyuan, this drama follows a struggling figure skater who befriends a worker with a gift for skating, only to find ambition spiralling into obsession when her coach mother starts to train the newcomer. Leste Chen is the lead producer of this feature directing debut backed by Beijing Enlight Pictures. Director Zhou studied computer science at Harvard University and worked in Silicon Valley before leaving the tech world to pursue filmmaking. His short film credits include Lausanne and Get Out.
Contact: Guliguo Pictures
The Girls We Want (Fr)
Dir. Prïncia Car
Car’s debut feature is set in Marseille during the summer holidays and centres on a group of longtime friends who work at a summer camp for children. When one returns after years away, it shakes up the group’s dynamic as they explore their values, desires and sexuality. Car reteams with her troupe of young Marseille-based actors, who have appeared in her previous short films, including the 2019 Clermont-Ferrand selection Barcelona.
Contact: SND — Groupe M6
Her Will Be Done (Fr-Pol)
Dir. Julia Kowalski
Kowalski’s second feature after Raging Rose played in 2015’s Cannes ACID sidebar, this horror film depicts a woman dreaming to escape her tough life on the family farm, who is shaken by the arrival of a woman who experiences trance-like episodes. Maria Wrobel, Roxane Mesquida and Raphaël Thiéry star, with Grande Ourse Films and Venin Films producing.
Contact: WTFilms
Kokuho (Japan)
Dir. Lee Sang-il
Korean Japanese director Lee adapts Shuichi Yoshida’s novel about a gifted kabuki performer descended from a family of gangsters, set against postwar Japan’s economic boom. Ryo Yoshizawa stars with Oscar nominee Ken Watanabe, who headlined Lee’s 2013 remake of Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. Lee previously directed Yoshida novel Villain, which won five awards from the Japan Academy following its release in 2010. Toho is set to release Kokuho locally on June 6.
Contact: Pyramide International (worldwide except Asia); Akane Ikeda, Aniplex (Asia)
Lucky Lu (US)
Dir. Lloyd Lee Choi
For his feature directing debut, Canadian Korean writer/director Choi expands on his 2022 Cannes short film selection Same Old with the story of a delivery driver in New York whose bike is stolen as he prepares to welcome his family to the US. Taiwanese actor Chang Chen stars, and Destin Daniel Cretton’s Hisako Films is a producer alongside Nina Yang Bongiovi of Significant Productions and Cedar Road. The film was supported by Gold House’s Creative Equity Fund, which invested in 2024’s Dìdi.
Contact: WME Independent
Militantropos (Ukr-Austria-Fr)
Dirs. Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgovyi
This Ukrainian documentary examines everyday lives transformed by Russia’s invasion. ‘Militantropos’ refers to the Latin word for soldier (‘milit’) and the Greek word for human (‘antropos’), meaning a persona adopted by people when entering a state of war. The film is produced by Eugene Rachkovsky for Ukrainian film collective Tabor, which was behind 2022 Un Certain Regard title Butterfly Vision, in co-production with Ralph Wieser for Austria’s Mischief Films and Nabil Bellahsene for France’s Les Valseurs.
Contact: Square Eyes
Miroirs No. 3 (Ger)
Dir. Christian Petzold
Miroirs No. 3 is Petzold’s first film to play at Cannes, after his previous six features premiered in Competition at the Berlinale. The drama reunites Petzold with Paula Beer, who starred in the director’s Transit, Undine and Afire, and centres on a music student who loses her boyfriend in a car accident. When she tries to rebuild her life with another family, she realises something is wrong with them as well. Metrograph has North American rights.
Contact: The Match Factory
The Party’s Over! (Fr-Belg)
Dir. Antony Cordier
This French comedy about a clash of social classes stars Laure Calamy, Laurent Lafitte, Ramzy Bedia and Élodie Bouchez. It is about a 25-year-old whose plans to spend a quiet summer with his girlfriend and her family in the south of France are shaken up when conflict breaks out between the family and their villa’s caretakers. Cheyenne Federation produces.
Contact: France tv distribution
Peak Everything (Can)
Dir. Anne Émond
This romantic comedy from Canadian filmmaker Émond (Nuit #1) centres on a dog-kennel owner who falls in love with a customer service representative over the phone. Patrick Hivon and Piper Perabo star in the latest from Metafilms, the Montreal-based production company behind last year’s Directors’ Fortnight audience award winner Universal Language and 2022 Directors’ Fortnight entry Falcon Lake. Immina Films will distribute Peak Everything in Canada.
Contact: Indie Sales
The President’s Cake (Iraq-US-Qat)
Dir. Hasan Hadi
When nine-year-old Lamia is selected for the intimidating role of baking Saddam Hussein’s birthday cake, she confides in her grandmother and the pair begin an unorthodox journey to the city. So unfolds the debut of Iraq-born, New York-based director Hadi, who graduated from Tisch School of the Arts, directed 2021 short Swimsuit, and is a Sundance Institute 2022 screenwriting and directing fellow. He reunites with US producer Leah Chen Baker, whose credits include Sundance 2022 feature Palm Trees And Power Lines. The project received a production grant from Qatar’s Doha Film Institute in 2023, and participated in its Qumra lab this April.
Contact: Films Boutique
Sorry, Baby (US-Fr-Sp)
Dir. Eva Victor
A24 snapped up US rights to Sorry, Baby after Victor’s debut feature premiered in Sundance. The multi-hyphenate wrote, directed and stars as a young English literature professor who is dealing with the aftermath of rape. Victor mixes up the chronology to tell her story and imbues it with a surprisingly light touch. Naomi Ackie, Louis Cancelmi and Lucas Hedges are also in the cast, while Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak produce the film, which has been selected to close this year’s Directors’ Fortnight.
Contact: Charades
Untamable (Fr)
Dir. Thomas Ngijol
Popular French actor and filmmaker Ngijol arrives with his fourth feature as director, set and shot entirely in Cameroon. He also stars in the crime thriller as a police chief investigating the murder of another cop, who is verging on a breakdown as he struggles to maintain order on the streets and at home. It is loosely adapted from Mosco Levi Boucault’s documentary Un Crime À Abidjan and produced by the Emilia Pérez team of Why Not Productions and Chronic.
Contact: Flavien Eripret, Goodfellas
Wild Foxes (Fr-Belg)
Dir. Valéry Carnoy
Belgian director Carnoy’s debut feature is set at a sports-focused boarding school where a young boxer recovering from a near fatal accident finds his future dreams and relationship with his teammates under threat. It stars Samuel Kircher, who appeared in Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer. Belgium’s Helicotronc and France’s Les Films du Poisson produce. Carnoy’s short films My Planet and Titan have played dozens of festivals and picked up numerous awards.
Contact: The Party Film Sales
Yes (Fr-Isr-Cyp-Ger)
Dir. Nadav Lapid
Israeli director Lapid’s latest feature is set in Israel in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 attacks, and centres on a married jazz musician and dancer who attempt to use their art to heal the nation. Lapid previously played in Cannes Competition in 2021 with Ahed’s Knee, which won the jury prize, and also took Berlin’s Golden Bear for Synonyms in 2019. Yes is produced by France’s Les Films du Bal and Mediawan-owned Chi-Fou-Mi Productions, in co-production with Bustan Films (Israel), AMP Filmworks (Cyprus), Komplizen Film (Germany) and Arte France Cinema (France).
Contact: Alice Lesort, Les Films du Losange
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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