Screen profiles all the films in the Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection and parallel sections.

Cannes lowdown

Source: Cannes Film Festival

[Clockwise from top left]: ‘Limonov: The Ballad’, ‘Queens Of Drama’, ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’, ‘The Girl With The Needle’, ‘The Story Of Souleyemane’, ‘Norah’

Cannes Film Festival has always given the impression of being mightily comfortable in its own space — and certainly not seeking or needing much validation from Holly­wood’s awards economy. After all, as the world’s most famous and prestigious annual celebration of auteur cinema, it already has a powerful brand that commands respect.

Scroll down for profiles

Still, after the top two prize­winners from last year’s festival — Palme d’Or recipient Anatomy Of A Fall and grand prix winner The Zone Of Interest — went on to earn best picture Oscar nominations, Cannes Film Festival delegate general Thierry Frémaux could not resist revelling in the moment. “Here we are in March, and the top winners at last year’s Cannes are still in the conversation, and here at the Oscars,” declared a buoyant Frémaux, attending one of the many revels over Oscars weekend. The festival had already announced that its 2024 Competition jury would be led by Greta Gerwig — a best adapted screenplay nominee, of course, at the 2024 Oscars with Barbie.

Whether Cannes can improve on last year’s haul of three best picture Oscar nominees (Martin Scorsese’s Out of Competition entry Killers Of The Flower Moon completed the trio) remains to be seen, but it’s fair to say the 2024 festival — while not shedding its auteur prestige — will command Hollywood attention. Especially since it was films not in the English language at Cannes that stayed the distance in the major awards races: if films like Anatomy Of A Fall and The Zone Of Interest can win Oscars in categories such as original screenplay and sound, then any of this year’s Competition entries, from any country of origin, could come into play this awards season.

Not everyone will welcome Cannes cosying up to Oscar, and many cineastes will devour the line-up with no interest in which films go on to snag the affirmation of Ampas and Bafta voters. As usual there’s plenty to be excited about, including new films from Jia Zhangke, Paolo Sorrentino, Kirill Serebrennikov, Andrea Arnold and Francis Ford Coppola competing for the Palme d’Or, and the likes of Sergei Loznitsa, Rithy Panh and 2018 outstanding debut Bafta winner Rungano Nyoni elsewhere in the line-up.

Distributors and festival programmers will comb the selections and sidebars for gems from filmmakers both established and unfamiliar — seeking to outflank their competitors by swooping on the next wave of buzz titles — while producers, financiers and sales agents will be talent-scouting for the future. Whatever your agenda at this year’s festival, we hope our capsule previews over the next 15 pages provide a handy roadmap to all the films on offer.

Click on the links to each section for the profiles.

Competition

Out of Competition

Cannes Premiere

Un Certain Regard

Midnight Screenings

Special Screenings

Cannes Classics Documentaries

Directors’ Fortnight

Critics’ Week

Profiles by: Ellie Calnan, Claudia Cox, Tim Dams, Charles Gant, Elaine Guerini, Jeremy Kay, Rebecca Leffler, Lee Marshall, Wendy Mitchell, Jonathan Romney, Michael Rosser, Mona Tabbara, Silvia Wong.

Topics