Screen staff preview each of the titles in Cannes parallel section Critics’ Week, which this year includes Phuong Mai Nguyen’s debut feature In Waves and Felix De Givry’s Goodbye Cruel World starring Anatomy Of A Fall breakout star Milo Machado-Graner.
The festival runs May 12-23.
Alive (Sp)
Dir. Aina Clotet
Alive (Viva) is a tragicomedy about a 40-year-old woman who starts a passionate relationship with two different men in the wake of a life-threatening illness. Catalan actress Clotet makes her feature directing debut and also stars in the film, having previously written and directed for television. Barcelona-based Ikiru Films and Funicular Films produce, and Caramel Films will release in Spain in June.
Contact: Loco Films
Dua (Kos-Switz-Fr)
Dir. Blerta Basholli
A second festival title for Basholli is testament to the growing Kosovan film industry. The director’s 2021 debut Hive became the first film to win each of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition grand jury, audience and directing prizes at Sundance and was Kosovo’s Academy Award entry. She returns with a story set in the country’s capital Pristina in the late 1990s, as war looms and the eponymous 13-year-old girl struggles to find her place in the world. Newcomer Pinea Matoshi leads the cast.
Contact: The Party Film Sales
Flesh And Fuel (Fr-Pol)
Dir. Pierre Le Gall
Alexis Manenti stars in Flesh And Fuel (Du Fioul Dans Les Artères) as a tough French truck driver whose love life is reduced to anonymous encounters in parking lots. When he falls for a Polish truck driver (Julian Swiezewski), the two try to maintain their relationship despite long road trips keeping them apart. Shot between France and Poland, Le Gall’s debut feature is produced by France’s Ex Nihilo and co-produced by Poland’s Lumisenta Films Foundation.
Contact: Pyramide International
A Girl Unknown (China-Fr)
Dir. Zou Jing
This debut feature from China’s Zou won the Cannes Critics’ Week Next Step prize in 2024 for filmmakers moving from shorts to features. Headlined by Resurrection actress Li Gengxi, it follows the tumultuous life of a Chinese woman who lives with three different families, changing her name each time as she navigates her identity over the years. The China-France co-production is produced by Memoria Films, Emei Film Group, Maneki Films and Pure Light Films.
Contact: Pyramide International
Goodbye Cruel World (Fr-Belg)
Dir. Félix de Givry
Anatomy Of A Fall breakout star Milo Machado-Graner plays a 14-year-old who vanishes after sending a farewell letter to each of his classmates, making everyone believe he is dead — until a girl from school spots him wandering the streets. The closing film of Critics’ Week is the directorial feature debut of de Givry, who co-produced and co-wrote Ugo Bienvenu’s Oscar-nominated animation Arco. Producers are Iliade et Films and de Givry and Bienvenu’s Remembers, in co-production with Belgium’s Umedia.
Contact: Playtime
In Waves (Fr-Belg)
Dir. Phuong Mai Nguyen
French animation craftsmanship meets a California surfer vibe as Critics’ Week opens with an animated film for the first time in its history. The Franco Vietnamese director’s debut feature is about a shy teenager who falls in love with a surfer, then has to navigate a sudden illness. The adaptation of AJ Dungo’s graphic novel is produced by France’s Silex with Anonymous Content. The English-language voice cast is led by Will Sharpe and Stephanie Hsu.
Contact: Charades
La Gradiva (Fr-It)
Dir. Marine Atlan
Atlan, whose credits as a cinematographer include 2025’s The Girl In The Snow, for which she was César-nominated, makes her feature directing debut with a film about a group of French high schoolers on a trip to Pompeii, who experience intense emotions and unexpected events during their visit to the ancient city. It is produced by France’s Les Films du Poisson and co-produced by Italy’s Bibi Films.
Contact: mk2 Films
Six Months In A Pink And Blue Building (Mex-Braz-Den)
Dir. Bruno Santamaria Razo
Mexican director Razo’s film centres on an 11-year-old boy in Mexico City in the early 1990s, as he navigates feelings for his best friend as well as the news his father has contracted HIV. Thirty years later, he films and reimagines the memory of what he could not perceive as a child. Six Months won four prizes at Cinelatino Toulouse’s Films in Progress strand earlier this year, and marks Razo’s debut fiction feature after documentaries Things We Dare Not Do (2020) and Margarita (2016). It is the first Mexican feature in Critics’ Week since 2007.
Contact: Luxbox
The Station (Yemen-Jor-Fr-Ger-Neth-Nor-Qat)
Dir. Sara Ishaq
The Station is set around a petrol station that operates under set rules: no men, no weapons, no politics. The film has an impressive pedigree, having participated in Cinefondation’s l’Atelier in 2020 and won the post-production prize from the Final Cut in Venice programme last year. More than 15 international funds have backed Yemeni British director Ishaq’s film, including France’s CNC, Qatar’s Doha Film Institute, Netherlands Film Fund and Jordan Film Fund.
Contact: Paradise City Sales
Stonewall (Fr)
Dir. Julien Gaspar-Oliveri
Gaspar-Oliveri’s debut feature is the story of a brother and sister who face long-buried trauma and secrets when their father is released from prison. Bastien Bouillon stars alongside rising actors Diego Murgia, Romane Fringeli and Héloïse Volle. The film is produced by Easy Tiger’s Marc-Benoît Créancier, who was also behind Vincent Maël Cardona’s Cannes 2025 Midnight screening No One Will Know and Houda Benyamina’s Divines, which won the Camera d’Or in 2016.
Contact: Charades
Tin Castle (Ire-Fr)
Dir. Alexander Murphy
French Irish filmmaker Murphy follows up his debut feature documentary Goodbye Sisters, which premiered at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in 2025. His latest documentary introduces a family of Irish travellers who are under threat of eviction from the trailer they call home. Producers are David Collins and Eamon Hughes of Samson Films and Cosme Bongrain of Goodseed Productions. Screen Ireland is a funder on the project, which also took part in this year’s Visions du Réel work-in-progress showcase. Dulac Distribution will release in France, and Breakout Pictures in Ireland.
Contact: Films Boutique
Profiles by: Elisabet Cabeza, Ben Dalton, Charles Gant, John Hazelton, Rebecca Leffler, Jonathan Romney, Michael Rosser, Matt Schley, Anna Stafford, Mona Tabbara, Silvia Wong
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