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French critics make their Cannes pick

Sevigny, Casta and Kiberlain in shorts trio.

by Richard Mowe

Justine Triet’s In Bed With Victoria featuring Virginie Efira Photo: Indie Sales

Seven features are in competition for the Nespresso Grand Prize in the Cannes Critics’ Week announced earlier today (18 April) while 10 shorts are in competition for the new Leica Cine Discovery prize.

Justine Triet's In Bed With Victoria will open the sidebar that focuses on young directors in a selection chosen by the professional body of French film critics. It is described as “a light-hearted, frank and modern comedy about a young single mother (played by Virginie Efira from Family To Rent) trying to find the balance between her career and her love life.”

The closing programme will comprise shorts by actresses - Chloe Sevigny (Kitty); Sandrine Kiberlain (Smile) and Laetitia Casta (En moi).

Other contenders in the 55th edition are Turkish director Mehmet Can Mertoglu's Album, about prejudice; Spanish director Olivier Laxe's second film, Mimosas, and the female coming-of-age and cannibalism story Raw, by Julia Docournau, in which a 16-year-old (Garance Marillier) makes a radical break from her family’s vegetarian ways after sampling flesh during her first day at veterinary school.

In a strongly French accented programme, Jean-Christophe Meurisse will present Apnée, a surreal and black comedy looking at contemporary French society.

The first Lebanese film in competition will be Vatche Boulghourjian's Tramotane, a story about a blind singer in post-war Lebanon. Other strong contenders are Singaporean director K Rajagopal's first feature, Yellow Bird, about the tensions between the Indian and Chinese populations, and documentary director Davy Chou's first fiction feature, Diamond Island, about disaffected Cambodian youths.

Garance Marillier in Raw by Julia Ducournau Photo: UniFrance

Israeli director Asaph Polonsky's story of a family in mourning, One Week and A Day, completes the array.

As has already been announced French director Valerie Donzelli will serve as president of the Critics’ Week jury. She has history with the event - her Marguerite & Julien competed in the official selection last year, and her Declaration Of War opened the Critics' Week line-up in 2011.

Cannes Critics’ Week runs from 12 to 20 May.

2016 CANNES CRITICS’ WEEK LINEUP

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

OPENER: In Bed With Victoria (Justine Triet, France). Second film.

Happy Times Will Come Soon (Alessandro Comodin, Italy). First film.

Apnée (Jean-Christophe Meurisse, France). First film.

COMPETITION

Album (Mehmet Can Mertoglu, Turkey). First film.

Diamond Island (Davy Chou, Cambodia-France). Second film.

Raw (Julia Ducournau, France). First film

Mimosas (Oliver Laxe, Spain). Second film.

One Week and a Day (Asaph Polonsky, Israel). First film.