German filmmaker Christian Petzold has finally been invited to Cannes – it took the Directors’ Fortnight programmers to roll out their red carpet. Starring his muse Paula Beer (a fourth collab), Miroirs No. 3 centers on the aspiring pianist, Laura, whose life is upended when she is in a car crash with her boyfriend who is killed. Laura subsequently wanders into the house and life of a family of strangers, who offer to take care of her, but their motivations turn out to not be as simple as they first appear. This is a Metrograph Pictures feature. But Petzold is not the only big auteur to break into the Quinzaine line-up. After claiming the Grand Prix award while in competition for BPM (Beats per Minute) in 2017 and then subsequently being shut out from Cannes with Red Island, Robin Campillo triumphantly returns to the Croisette with the opening film of the Directors’ Fortnight section. The 57th edition will ribbon cut with what we imagine is a deeply personal film for the filmmaker, as his latest Enzo was intended to be directed by Laurent Cantet before he passed away. Starring Elodie Bouchez and Pierfrancesco Favino, this drama revolves around the film’s titular 16-year-old protagonist who is working as an apprentice mason in La Ciotat. Anatomy of a Fall‘s Marie-Ange Luciani produced the film. The only non-world premiere of the eighteen selections belongs to the closing film in Sundance breakout Sorry, Baby by Eva Victor. Featuring Victor in the lead and Naomi Ackie as her BFF, the A24 dramedy was produced by Pastel’s Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak. Lasy year’s Good One by India Donaldson was a Sundance-Quinzaine route premiere as well.
Another laugher of sorts, Anne Émond makes her first trip to Cannes with her sixth feature film titled Peak Everything – her English language debut stars Patrick Hivon (from Monia Chokri’s Babysitter) and Piper Perabo. A second Quebecois film (animated) comes from Félix Dufour-Laperrière – his La mort n’existe pas is a 2D drama that apparently packs a punch. Among some return filmmaker to the section we find Élodie Bouchez, Laure Calamy, Laurent Lafitte and Noée Abita for Antony Cordier‘s Classe moyenne – only his fourth feature in to decades of filmmaking. His 2005 debut premiered in the section.
A sophomore feature by Julia Kowalski (after Raging Rose was a 2015 ACID section selection), Que ma volonté soit faite features Maria Wróbel, Roxane Mesquida, Jean-Baptiste Durand and Raphaël Thiéry. Here is the line-up:
“Enzo,” Robin Campillo (opening film)
“The Foxes Round,” Valery Cornoy
“Death Does Not Exist,” Feliz Dufour-Laperriere
“L’Engloutie,” Louise Hemon
“Kokouho,” Lee Sang-il
“Lucky Lu,” Lloyd Lee Choi
“Militantropos,” Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova & Simon Mozgovyi
“Girl on Edge,” Jinghao Zhou
“Middle Class,” Anthony Cordier
“Mirrors No. 3,” Christian Petzold
“The Girls We Want,” Princia Car
“Dangerous Animals,” Sean Byrne
“Peak Everything,” Anne Émond
“The President’s Cake,” Hasan Hadi
“Indomptables,” Thomas Ngijol
“Brand New Landscape,” Yuiga Danzuka
“Que Ma Volonte Soit Faite,” Julia Kowalski
“Sorry, Baby,” Eva Victor (closing film)
“10K,” Gala Hernandez Lopez
“Loynes,” Dorian Jespers
“Nervous Energy,” Eve Liu
“Bread Will Walk,” Alex Boya
“Blue Heart,” Samuel Suffren
“Death of the Fish,” Eva Lusbaronian
“The Body,” Louris van de Geer
“Before the Sea Forgets,” Ngoc Duy Le
“Karmash,” Aleem Bukhan
“When the Geese Flew,” Arthur Gay
