Screen staff preview all of the titles in the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week titles, which this year includes films from Saïd Hamich Benlarbi, Constance Tsang and Antoine Chevrollier. The festival runs May 14-25.
Across The Sea (Fr-Mor-Belg-Qat)
Dir. Saïd Hamich Benlarbi
Following several producer credits including last year’s Un Certain Regard jury prize winner Hounds, this is the filmmaker’s first feature as director to premiere on the Croisette — one of four Critics’ Week titles this year showing as a special screening. The romantic drama (aka La Mer Au Loin) tells the story of a drug dealer and an unpredictable police officer in Marseille. Morocco’s Ayoub Gretaa stars alongside France’s Grégoire Colin and Anna Mouglalis. Sophie Penson produces for France’s Barney Production alongside Morocco’s Mont Fleuri Production and Belgium’s Tarantula, with support from Doha Film Institute. The Jokers Film distributes in France.
Contact: Indie Sales
Animale (Fr)
Dir. Emma Benestan
After making her feature debut with 2021 romantic comedy Fragile, the French-Algerian director shifts gears with this revenge horror about a young woman who experiences disturbing changes after she is mauled on a night out. César-winning actress Oulaya Amamra (from 2016’s Divines) leads the cast. Closing Critics’ Week as a special screening, Animale is produced by Julie Billy and Naomi Denamur at French outfit June Films, and Titane producers Cassandre Warnauts and Jean-Yves Roubin of Belgium’s Frakas Productions in co-production with broadcaster France 3 Cinéma. Wild Bunch distributes in France.
Contact: Film Constellation
Baby (Bra-Fr-Neth)
Dir. Marcelo Caetano
Among the seven films playing in competition at Critics’ Week, this second feature from Caetano portrays a tumultuous passion between a young man recently released from prison and a male prostitute, who teaches him new ways to survive on the streets of Sao Paulo. Co-written with Gabriel Domingues, with whom Caetano collaborated on his debut feature Body Electric (International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2017), Baby is produced by Brazil’s Cup Filmes, Plateau Producoes and Caetano’s Desbun Filmes, France’s Still Moving, and the Netherlands’ Circe Films and Kaap Holland Film.
Contact: Quentin Bosschaert, m-appeal
Block Pass (Fr)
Dir. Antoine Chevrollier
This is the anticipated debut feature from Bafta TV Award-nominated Chevrollier, known for hit French series including Oussekine, The Bureau and Baron Noir. Block Pass (La Pampa) reteams the director with Oussekinestar Sayyid El Alami alongside newcomer Amaury Foucher, Les Misérables star Damien Bonnard and Artus (Spoiled Brats, The Madness Express). Set in the world of motocross, Block Pass explores a friendship between two youths, which faces challenges when one boy’s secret is met with intolerance in the community. France’s Agat Films — Ex Nihilo produces.
Contact Indiana Perrier, Pulsar Content
Blue Sun Palace (US)
Dir. Constance Tsang
Wu Ke-Xi, Lee Kang Sheng and Xu Haipeng star in this tale of migrants in the Chinese community of Queens, New York City who bond after a tragedy and search for familial connections. Blue Sun Palace is the debut feature from Tsang, whose short drama Beau was a jury prize winner at the 2021 Directors Guild of America Student Awards. Production took place in autumn 2023 on the feature from Big Buddha Pictures and Field Trip Media, which was financed through private investors.
Contact: Charades (international); WME (North America)
The Brink Of Dreams (Egy-Fr-Den-Qat-Saudi)
Dirs. Nada Riyadh, Ayman El Amir
The Egyptian directors team up again following 2016 feature Happily Ever After, which documented a faltering relationship in the wake of the Arab Spring. The Brink Of Dreams, originally titled Land Of Women, follows a group of girls in southern Egypt for four years as they challenge tradition by forming a street theatre group. The documentary is produced by El Amir’s Felucca Films and co-produced by Denmark’s Magma Films and France’s Dolce Vita Films. Further support came from TorinoFilmLab’s 2024 audience design fund, Venice Final Cut and Red Sea Fund.
Contact: The Party Film Sales
Ghost Trail (Fr)
Dir. Jonathan Millet
Millet’s debut feature — opening Critics’ Week as a special screening — is a thriller inspired by true events about a man pursuing the Syrian regime’s fugitive leaders. The journey leads to France, as he trails his former torturer. The French, English and Arabic-language feature is produced by rising French production house Films Grand Huit and stars Harka’s 2022 Un Certain Regard best actor winner Adam Bessa alongside Tawfeek Barhom of Sweden’s 2023 Oscar entry Cairo Conspiracy. Millet’s short Et Toujours Nous Marcheronswas nominated for a 2018 César award and his feature documentary Ceuta, Douce Prison played at more than 60 festivals.
Contact: Alya Belgaroui, mk2 Films
Julie Keeps Quiet (Belg-Swe)
Dir. Leonardo Van Dijl
This is the Belgian director’s feature debut after his short Stephanie was selected for Cannes’ short films competition in the Covid year of 2020. The drama surrounds a tennis star who refuses to speak out when her coach is suspended while under investigation. Real-life tennis player Tessa Van den Broeck leads the cast alongside Belgian TV star Koen De Bouw. The Dardenne brothers’ Les Films du Fleuve produces in collaboration with Belgium’s De Wereldvrede, Hobab and Film i Väst from Sweden, and French-US outfit Blue Morning Pictures.
Contact: Katarzyna Siniarska, New Europe Film Sales
Locust (Tai-Fr-US)
Dir. KEFF
The first feature film of Taiwanese-American multidisciplinary artist KEFF follows a quiet young man in Taiwan who leads a double life — working in a family restaurant by day and running with local gangsters at night. The cast includes Liu Wei Chen, Rimong Ihwar and Devin Pan. Anita Gou, producer of Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, produces through her Los Angeles-based Kindred Spirit, alongside France’s mk2 Productions. KEFF’s 45-minute NYU thesis film Taipei Suicide Story was chosen for the Cannes Cinéfondation selection in 2020 and won a grand jury prize at Slamdance in 2021.
Contact: Alya Belgaroui, mk2 Films
Queens Of Drama (Fr-Belg)
Dir. Alexis Langlois
This feature debut — playing as a special screening — follows several short films from this rising star of the French new queer cinema, including The Demons Of Dorothy, which won a Silver Leopard of Tomorrow prize at Locarno in 2021. Musical comedy Queens Of Drama follows a turbulent romance between a 2000s pop star (Louiza Aura) and a queer punk idol (Gio Ventura), while the cast also includes Asia Argento, Alma Jodorowsky and singer/songwriter Bilal Hassani. France’s Les Films du Poisson, Greece’s Filaro House and Belgian outfit Wrong Men North produce.
Contact: Charades
Simon Of The Mountain (Arg-Chile-Uru)
Dir. Federico Luis
After his short film The Nap premiered in 2019 Cannes, Buenos Aires-born Luis returns with his first solo feature, about a 21-year-old man who finds renewed purpose after befriending a group of disabled youngsters. Lorenzo Ferro, best known for his breakout role in Luis Ortega’s Cannes 2018 Un Certain Regard entry El Angel, stars, while Luis co-writes with editor Tomas Murphy and actor/filmmaker Agustin Toscano (2018 Directors’ Fortnight entry The Snatch Thief). Argentina’s 20/20 is the lead producer in association with Planta, Mother Superior and Twelve Thirty Media.
Contact: Luxbox
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
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