15 films to look out for at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival

For one reason or another - whether it’s the launch of awards season with Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon, the revival of Johnny Depp’s career with opening film Jeanne du Barry, the return of an auteur such as Jonathan Glazer with The Zone Of Interest, or the start of an arthouse career for crazily unexpected titles like Animal Kingdom, Screen’s executive editor, reviews and new talent Fionnuala Halligan selects a few of the films to look out for at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival (May 16-27).

Competition

Anatomy Of A Fall (Fr)

Dir. Justine Triet
French writer/director Triet has been a Croisette regular since her fiction debut Age Of Panic featured in 2013’s Acid programme, followed by In Bed With Victoria (Critics’ Week 2016) and Sibyl (Competition 2019). Described as a Hitchcock-ian drama, Anatomy Of A Fall is about a woman on trial following her husband’s mysterious death in the Alps. Sandra Hüller, best known for Toni Erdmann, stars alongside Swann Arlaud and musician/actress Jehnny Beth. Production companies are Les Films Pelléas and Les Films de Pierre, with a France release planned for August via Le Pacte.
Contact: mk2 Films

Banel & Adama (Fr-Senegal-Mali)

Dir. Ramata-Toulaye Sy
The sole debut feature in Competition comes from the French-­Senegalese filmmaker whose previous credits include joint screenwriter on Our Lady Of The Nile (Berlinale 2020) and Sibel (Locarno 2018). Set in a remote village in north Senegal, Banel & Adama follows a young couple who defy their family’s expectations to much disapproval. It is produced by Senegal’s Astou Production, Mali’s DS Productions and France’s La Chauve-Souris, Take Shelter, Canal+ International and Arte France Cinéma. Sy’s 2021 short Astel won the special jury prize at Clermont-­Ferrand.
Contact: Martin Gondre, Best Friend Forever

La Chimera (It-Fr-Switz)

Dir. Alice Rohrwacher
The Italian director returns to Cannes Competition with inter­national co-production La Chimera, starring Josh O’Connor and Isabella Rossellini. The 1980s-set film tells the story of a young English archaeo­logist caught up in the world of tomb robbers and illegal trafficking of ancient finds. Rohrwacher’s regular collaborator Carlo Cresto-­Dina lead produces through his company Tempesta with longtime backers Rai Cinema. Rohrwacher’s The Wonders won the grand prix at Cannes in 2014, while Happy As Lazarro won the best screenplay prize in 2018, and the filmmaker herself served on the Cannes main jury in 2019. Neon has North American rights.
Contact: The Match Factory

Club Zero (Austria-Ger-Fr-UK-Den)

Dir. Jessica Hausner
Austrian filmmaker Hausner’s sixth feature, and second in the English language, is a psychological drama that unravels in an elite boarding school. Mia Wasikowska, Sidse Babett Knudsen and Limbo breakout Amir El-Masry star. Producers are Bruno Wagner, Philippe Bober, Mike Goodridge and Johannes Schubert alongside co-producer Per Damgaard Hansen, with an array of European funders including the Austrian Film Institute, Eurimages and BBC Film. Hausner has played at Cannes with all her previous features, apart from Venice premiere Lourdes. Her last film, 2019’s Little Joe, won the best actress award at Cannes for Emily Beecham.
Contact: Coproduction Office

May December (US)

Dir. Todd Haynes
Haynes’ first feature since documentary The Velvet Underground screened out of Competition two years ago is his fourth to play in Competition, after Wonderstruck in 2017, Carol in 2015 and Velvet Goldmine in 1998. The drama from Killer Films — which got off to a strong start this year with acclaim for Sundance and Berlinale entry Past Lives — stars Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton in the tale of a married couple whose once-notorious tabloid romance is tested when an actress arrives to research their past.
Contact: UTA Independent Film Group; CAA Media Finance (US); Rocket Science (international)

The Zone Of Interest (US-UK-Pol)

Dir. Jonathan Glazer
Glazer makes his Cannes debut with this A24 and Film4-backed Holocaust film — his first feature since Under The Skin premiered at Telluride a decade ago. German actors Sandra Hüller (also in Anatomy Of A Fall) and Christian Friedel (The White Ribbon) star in the drama, which draws on UK writer Martin Amis’s novel of the same name, about the commandant of Auschwitz and his wife who strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp. It is produced by James Wilson and Ewa Puszczynska, with additional funding from Access Entertainment.
Contact: A24

Out of Competition

Jeanne Du Barry (Fr)

Dir. Maïwenn
Director/co-writer Maïwenn’s sixth feature sees her star as the titular mistress of King Louis XV — played by a French-speaking Johnny Depp. The 18th-­century costume drama — which shot in Versailles and throughout France — marks Maïwenn’s return to Cannes as a filmmaker following 2020’s DNA, 2015’s My King (a best actress win for Emmanuelle Bercot) and 2011’s Polisse (jury prize winner). The French cast includes Benjamin Lavernhe, Melvil Poupaud, Noémie Lvovsky, Pascal Greggory, India Hair and Pierre Richard. Why Not Productions lead produces.
Contact: Flavien Eripret, Goodfellas

Killers Of The Flower Moon (US)

Dir. Martin Scorsese
A 1976 Palme d’Or winner for Taxi Driver, Scorsese brings a crime drama set on a Native American reservation, based on David Grann’s 2017 non-fiction book Killers Of The Flower Moon: The Osage Murders And The Birth Of The FBI. On top of the anticipation surrounding the 206-minute film is its place in Apple’s 2023 theatrical distribution strategy, which Screen International understands will see a 45-day exclusive theatrical release in North America via Paramount in October. Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons and Robert De Niro star.
Contact: Apple TV+ (streaming); Paramount Pictures (theatrical)

Cannes Premiere

Along Came Love (Fr)

Dir. Katell Quillévéré
French writer/director Quillévéré made her mark at Directors’ Fortnight in 2010 with debut feature Love Like Poison, consolidating her success with Suzanne (Critics’ Week 2013). Following ensemble drama Heal The Living (Venice 2016) and a venture into TV with 2022 Series Mania prizewinner Reign Supreme, Quillévéré returns with a drama featuring Anaïs Demoustier and Vincent Lacoste, both in Cannes last year with Quentin Dupieux’s Smoking Causes Coughing. Produced by Justin Taurand for Les Films du Bélier and David Thion and Philippe Martin for Les Films Pelléas, Along Came Love (Le Temps D’Aimer) follows a relationship over 20 years, starting in the late 1940s.
Contact: Charades

Un Certain Regard

The Animal Kingdom (Fr)

Dir. Thomas Cailley
Cailley, who made his feature debut with 2014 Directors’ Fortnight entry Love At First Fight, opens Un Certain Regard with his second full-length film. The story is set two years after the first appearance of animal mutations in humans; the ‘creatures’ escape specialised centres when an accident releases them into the wild. Adele Exarchopoulos of Palme d’Or-­winning Blue Is The Warmest Colour stars alongside Romain Duris and Paul Kircher, the breakout star of Christophe Honoré’s Winter Boy. Nord-Ouest Films (Harkis, The Astronaut) produces, and Studiocanal releases in France in October (with the title Le Règne Animal).
Contact: Marta Monjanel, Studiocanal

The Delinquents (Arg-Lux-Braz-Chile)

Dir. Rodrigo Moreno
The latest from Argentinian filmmaker Moreno (A Mysterious World, Berlinale 2011) shot in Buenos Aires and Cordoba, and tells of two bank employees who conspire to steal money and fall for the same woman. The Delinquents is produced by Argentina’s Wanka Cine with co-­production partners Les Films Fauves (Luxembourg), Sancho & Punta (Brazil), Jirafa (Chile), Jaque and Rizoma (both Argentina). The production received support from Argentina’s INCAA, Film Fund Luxembourg, Brazil’s Agencia Nacional do Cinema and Chile’s Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes.
Contact: Lorna Lee Torres, Magnolia Pictures International

How To Have Sex (UK)

Dir. Molly Manning Walker
Manning Walker is no stranger to the Croisette. Her first short as director, Good Thanks, You?, premiered in Critics’ Week 2020, and she later won the Next Step prize for the How To Have Sex script in 2021. She is back with her now-­completed debut feature, which follows a group of teenage girls on a rite-of-passage clubbing holiday, and was shot in Greece with a cast including Mia McKenna-Bruce (Netflix’s Persuasion), Lara Peake (BBC’s Mood) and Samuel Bottomley (Channel 4’s Somewhere Boy). It is produced by Wild Swim Films and co-producer Heretic, with backing by Film4, BFI and mk2 Films; Mubi releases in the UK.
Contact: mk2 Films

The New Boy (Australia)

Dir. Warwick Thornton
Australian Indigenous filmmaker Thornton returns to Cannes with The New Boy after playing Un Certain Regard and winning the Camera d’Or with 2009’s Samson & Delilah. Centring on the Aboriginal community that features in much of his work, including 2017 Venice and Toronto prize­winner Sweet Country, the film is set in 1940s Australia and stars Cate Blanchett (who also serves as a producer) as a nun who takes in a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan boy (newcomer Aswan Reid). Roadshow Films will distribute in Australia and New Zealand.
Contact: UTA Independent Film Group; CAA Media Finance (US); The Veterans (international)

Only The River Flows (China)

Dir. Wei Shujun
The third consecutive film by Wei selected for Cannes — following debut feature Striding Into The Wind (Cannes label 2020) and Ripples Of Life (Directors’ Fortnight 2021) — is adapted from Yu Hua’s short novel Mistake By The River, about a police investigation into a series of murders in a rural riverside town in the 1990s. Zhu Yilong from 2022 box-office hit Lighting Up The Stars and Zeng Meihuizi, best actress winner for Three Husbands at the 2019 Hong Kong Film Awards, lead the cast. Hangzhou Dangdang Film is a major backer, with CEO Tang Xiaohui as delegate producer.
Contact: mk2 Films

Directors’ Fortnight

The Goldman Case (Fr)

Dir. Cédric Kahn
This biographical drama tells the story of French left-wing revolutionary Pierre Goldman, who was convicted of robbery and subsequently murdered. Arieh Worthalter, who appeared in Lukas Dhont’s 2018 Un Certain Regard title Girl and Mathieu Amalric’s 2021 Cannes Premiere selection Hold Me Tight, takes the lead. Director Kahn won Cannes’ Award of the Youth for his 1994 feature Too Much Happiness, and played in Competition with Roberto Succo in 2001. Paris-based production company Moonshaker worked on Netflix’s 2021 documentary Lords Of Scam.
Contact: Charades

Profiles by Nikki Baughan, Ellie Calnan, Dani Clarke, Ben Dalton, Tim Dams, Charles Gant, Elaine Guerini, Jeremy Kay, Rebecca Leffler, Wendy Mitchell, Jean Noh, Jonathan Romney, Michael Rosser, Mona Tabbara, Silvia Wong

• The lowdown on all the Cannes 2023 titles