2016 Cannes Film Festival: Almódovar, Dolan, Dardennes Set for Cannes Return
As predicted, this year’s Cannes Film Festival is set to be packed with Cannes superstars like the Dardennes, Pedro Almodóvar, Ken Loach, Xavier Dolan and Nicolas Winding Refn – all film makers who have won major prizes at the festival, many the Palme d’Or itself. As previously reported, Woody Allen’s Café Society will open the festival (out of competition). That film, and Olivier Assayas’s official In Competition entry Personal Shopper will gives Cannes audiences a double dose of Kristen Stewart this year. Marion Cotillard also has two films in competition this year – Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World and Nicole Garcia’s Mal de Pierres.
The Cannes Film Festival is always a rich tapestry of auteur film makers from around the world, films to delight the Francophile and American entries full of stars to light up the red carpet or kick off their awards campaign. This year is no different with the aforementioned Allen and Assayas films as well as Sean Penn’s The Last Face, which will give us Charlize Theron (and some possibly awkward moments between the two former paramours), no less than four French films in competition and Jeff Nichols’ Loving making its debut here at the festival on its way to the Oscars. This year features three female directors; Cannes and Oscar-winner Andrea Arnold with American Honey, Berlin Silver Bear winner Maren Ade with Toni Erdmann and Nicole Garcia with Mal de Pierres, her third In Competition entry. North America and Europe are the most represented continents (as is usual) with a single film to show for South America (Brazil’s Aquarius from Kleber Mendoça Filho) and just two for Asia – Brilliante Mendoza with Ma’ Rosa from the Philippines and Park Chan-Wook’s The Handmaiden from South Korea. No films from Africa are set for the festival as of yet. The list for Un Certain Regard, however, more than makes up for that with Japan, Israel, Egypt, Russia and Singapore all represented.
Stay tuned for Jury President George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road) to announce his jury but we do know that Kristen Dunst, Valeria Golino and Mads Mikkelsen are on it. Playing out of competition along with Café Society will be Steven Spielberg’s The BFG, Jodie Foster’s Money Monster, Shane Black’s The Nice Guys and Na Hong-Jin’s Gocksung.
Check out the lists for In Competition, Out of Competition, Un Certain Regard, Midnight Screenings and Special Screenings below. These lists are certain to be changed or tweaked a bit in the coming weeks as Cannes organizer Theirry Fremeaux is always knows to add films sometimes right up to the last minute.
IN COMPETITION
| Opening Film | ||
| Woody ALLEN (USA) | CAFÉ SOCIETY | Out of Comp. |
| *** | ||
| Maren ADE (Germany) | TONI ERDMANN | |
| Pedro ALMODÓVAR (Spain) | JULIETA | |
| Andrea ARNOLD (United-Kingdom) | AMERICAN HONEY | |
| Olivier ASSAYAS (France) | PERSONAL SHOPPER | |
| Jean-Pierre DARDENNE, Luc DARDENNE (Belgium) | LA FILLE INCONNUE | |
| Xavier DOLAN (Canada) | JUSTE LA FIN DU MONDE(IT’S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD) | |
| Bruno DUMONT (France) | MA LOUTE(SLACK BAY) | |
| Nicole GARCIA (France) | MAL DE PIERRES | |
| Alain GUIRAUDIE (France) | RESTER VERTICAL | |
| Jim JARMUSCH (USA) | PATERSON | |
| Kleber MENDONÇA FILHO (Brazil) | AQUARIUS | |
| Ken LOACH (United-Kingdom) | I, DANIEL BLAKE |
|
| Brillante MENDOZA (Philippines) | MA’ ROSA | |
| Cristian MUNGIU (Romania) | BACALAUREAT | |
| Jeff NICHOLS (USA) | LOVING | |
| PARK Chan-Wook (South Korea) | AGASSI (THE HANDMAIDEN) |
|
| Sean PENN (USA) | THE LAST FACE | |
| Cristi PUIU (Romania) | SIERANEVADA | |
| Paul VERHOEVEN (Netherlands) | ELLE | |
| Nicolas WINDING REFN (Denmark) | THE NEON DEMON | |
UN CERTAIN REGARD
| Behnam BEHZADI (Iran) | VAROONEGI (INVERSION) |
|
| BOO Junfeng (Singapore) | APPRENTICE | |
| Delphine COULIN, Muriel COULIN (France) | VOIR DU PAYS (THE STOPOVER) |
|
| Stéphanie DI GIUSTO (France) | LA DANSEUSE (THE DANCER) |
1st film |
| Mohamed DIAB (Egypt) | ESHTEBAK (CLASH) |
|
| Michael DUDOK DE WIT (Netherlands) | LA TORTUE ROUGE (RED TURTLE) |
1st film |
| FUKADA Kôji (Japan) | FUCHI NI TATSU (HARMONIUM) |
|
| Maha HAJ (Israel) | OMOR SHAKHSIYA (PERSONAL AFFAIRS) |
1st film |
| Eran KOLIRIN (Israel) | ME’EVER LAHARIM VEHAGVAOT (BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS AND HILLS) |
|
| KORE-EDA Hirokazu (Japan) | AFTER THE STORM | |
| Juho KUOSMANEN (Finland) | HYMYILEVÄ MIES (THE HAPPIEST DAY IN THE LIFE OF OLLI MÄKI) |
1st film |
| Francisco MÁRQUEZ, Andrea TESTA (Argentina) | LA LARGA NOCHE DE FRANCISCO SANCTIS (FRANCISCO SANCTIS’S LONG NIGHT) |
1st film |
| Bogdan MIRICA (Romania) | CAINI (DOGS) |
1st film |
| Stefano MORDINI (Italy) | PERICLE IL NERO | |
| Michael O’SHEA (USA) | THE TRANSFIGURATION | 1st film |
| Matt ROSS (USA) | CAPTAIN FANTASTIC | |
| Kirill SEREBRENNIKOV (Russia) | UCHENIK (THE STUDENT) |
|
OUT OF COMPETITION
| Shane BLACK (USA) | THE NICE GUYS | |
| Jodie FOSTER (USA) | MONEY MONSTER | |
| NA Hong-Jin (South Korea) | GOKSUNG | |
| Steven SPIELBERG (USA) | DISNEY’S THE BFG | |
MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
| Jim JARMUSCH (USA) | GIMME DANGER | |
| YEON Sang-Ho (South Korea) | BU-SAN-HAENG (TRAIN TO BUSAN) |
|
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
| Thanos ANASTOPOULOS (Greece) Davide DEL DEGAN (Italy) |
L’ULTIMA SPIAGGIA (THE LAST RESORT) |
|
| Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN (Chad) | HISSEIN HABRÉ, UNE TRAGÉDIE TCHADIENNE (HISSEIN HABRÉ, A CHADIAN TRAGEDY) |
|
| Rithy PANH (Cambodia) | EXIL | |
| Albert SERRA (Spain) | LA MORT DE LOUIS XIV (LAST DAYS OF LOUIS XIV) |
|
| Paul VECCHIALI (France) | LE CANCRE |
Check out this morning’s press conference here:
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
- ‘Shōgun,’ ‘Ripley,’ ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Earn Casting Society (CSA) Artios Awards Television Nominations - November 1, 2024
- Trailer Watch: ‘Unstoppable,’ ‘Paddington in Peru,’ ‘Cruel Intentions,’ ‘Squid Game 2’ and More - November 1, 2024
- SFFILM to Screen Mike Leigh’s ‘Hard Truths’ with Marianne Jean-Baptiste in Person - October 31, 2024
‘Shōgun,’ ‘Ripley,’ ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Earn Casting Society (CSA) Artios Awards Television Nominations 
Trailer Watch: ‘Unstoppable,’ ‘Paddington in Peru,’ ‘Cruel Intentions,’ ‘Squid Game 2’ and More 
‘Separated’ Review: Errol Morris Hasn’t Forgotten Trump’s Immigration Policy Cruelty and Neither Should We | Chicago International Film Festival 
‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’ Review: There’s No Place Like Gnome | AFI FEST