Sean Penn thriller joins the Cannes throng

Pace hots up as 14 new titles added to official line-up

by Richard Mowe

Catherine Corsini’s Le Retour added to Cannes Competition line-up
Catherine Corsini’s Le Retour added to Cannes Competition line-up Photo: UniFrance

The bumper edition of this year’s 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival is growing topsy-like with the addition of 14 further titles to the Official Selection as promised by artistic director Thierry Frémaux during the recent media launch.

Sean Penn was previously at Cannes with Flag Day in 2021
Sean Penn was previously at Cannes with Flag Day in 2021 Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival

The Competition will see premieres of Jean-Stépahne Sauvaire’s US thriller Black Flies with Sean Penn, Tye Sheridan, Katherine Waterston, Michael Pitt and Mike Tyson and Catherine Corsini’s Le Retour which brings the total number of Competition with female directors to seven. The Corsini film previously had been withdrawn over allegations of “inappropriate incidents” during the filming but the festival authorities investigated and have now deemed it suitable for inclusion.

Cannes Premier section has three new titles: Amat Escalante’s Lost In The Night, Valerie Donzelli’s Just The Two Of Us, co-written with Happening director Audrey Diwan; and Lisandro Alonso’s Eureka.

The Out of Competition strand will have the inclusion of Frederic Tellier’s L’Abbé Pierre, about a Second World War resistance fighter. Two new productions join Un Certain Regard: Wei Shujun’s Only The River Flows and closing choice Alex Lutz’s Une Nuit.

Midnight Strand has bows for Robert Rodriguez’s thriller Hypnotic starring Ben Affleck and Kim Tae-gon’s Project Silence.

Further bolstering the Special Screenings line-up are: Mona Achache’s Little Girl Blue, Sahra Mani’s Bread And Roses and Anna Novion’s Le Theoreme de Marguerite.

The festival starts on 15 May.

Share this with others on...
News

A taste of power Andrew Neel on ordinary life under totalitarianism and How To Feed A Dictator

Rock star spirit Shane Belcourt on Louis Cameron and Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising

Heir presumptive Rob Rice on the power of comedy, political disappointments and Ponderosa

Keeping the rhythm Hugo Ruíz on storytelling techniques, kinky cinema and Dante

From personal to universal Karla Murthy on The Gas Station Attendant and her relationship with her dad

Family reunion Tasha Hubbard on exploring the aftermath of the Sixties Scoop in Meadowlarks

More news and features

We're bringing you news, reviews and more from Sheffield DocFest, ImagineNative and Tribeca.



We're looking forward to Docs Ireland and the Fantasia International Film Festival.



We've recently brought you coverage of Cannes, Queer East, the San Francisco Independent Film Festival, Visions du Réel, Fantaspoa, Overlook, BFI Flare and SXSW, the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival and the NY Rendezvous with French Cinema.



Read our full for more.


Visit our festivals section.

Interact

Don't forget that you can follow us on YouTube for trailers of festival films and more. You can also find us on Mastodon and Bluesky.


It's a busy time for festivals and here's the latest:


The Evia Project Event returns for a 5th year with focus on the forest


DocFest Winners announced


Tribeca Awards announced


Karlovy Vary 60th anniversary edition to feature Jesse Eisenberg and Maggie Gyllenhaal as guests


Fantasia Second wave of titles announced