Eleven films from first- and second-time directors will screen in the Critics’ Week section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Critics’ Week artistic director Ava Cahen announced on Monday morning in France.
The films were made with financing or creative input from 16 different countries, with the only American-made selection being “Blue Sun Palace” from Chinese-American writer-director Constance Tsang.
Five of the seven films screening in competition are their directors’ feature debuts: Tsang’s “Blue Sun Palace,” KEFF’s “Locust,” Leonardo Van Dijl’s “Julie Keeps Quiet,” Federico Luis’ “Simon of the Mountains” and Antoine Chevrollier’s “La Pampa” (“Block Pass”).
An additional four films will show out of competition in special screenings. These include the opening-night film, Jonathan Millet’s “Les Fantômes” (“Ghost Trail,”) and the closing-night attraction, Emma Benestan’s “Animale.”
Descriptions of the films can be found at the Critics’ Week website.
The lineup was chosen by Cahen and two committees of programmers, one for features and one for short films.
Critics’ Week will run from May 15 through May 23 as an independent sidebar to the Cannes Film Festival.
Critics’ Week, or Semaine de la Critique, was created in 1962 and is the oldest independent sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival. It focuses on new films from first- and second-time directors. Jacques Audiard, Bernardo Bertolucci, Ken Loach and Guillermo del Toro are among the directors who made their first appearances at Cannes in Critics’ Weeks past.
Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen will head the Critics’ Week jury, which will also include Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire, French producer Sylvie Pialat, Belgian cinematographer Virginie Surdej and Paris-based journalist Ben Croll, a frequent contributor to TheWrap.
The Critics’ Week lineup:
In Competition:
“Baby,” Marcelo Caetano (Brazil-France-Netherlands)
“Blue Sun Palace,” Constance Tsang (USA)
“The Brink of Dreams,” Nada Riyadh & Ayman El Amir (Egypt-France-Denmark-Qatar-Saudi Arabia)
“Julie Keeps Quiet,” Leonardo Van Dijl (Belgium-Sweden)
“Locust,” KEFF (Taiwan-France-USA)
“La Pampa,” Antoine Chevrollier (France)
“Simon of the Mountain,” Federico Luis (Argentina-Chile-Uruguay)
Special Screenings:
Opening film: “Ghost Trail,” Jonathan Millet (France-Germany-Belgium)
“Queens of Drama,” Alexis Langlois (France-Belgium)
“Across the Sea,” Said Hamich Benlarbi (France-Morocco-Belgium-Qatar)
Closing Film: “Animale,” Emma Benestan (France-Belgium)
The 2024 Cannes Film Festival runs May 14-25.
