2018 Cannes Critics’ Week: Paul Dano’s Directorial Debut; Competition Films 57% Female-Directed

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The 57th Cannes Critics’ Week was announced today and Paul Dano’s directorial debut, Wildlife, starring Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal will open the selection, which runs May 9-17. The film debuted at Sundance this January and is based on the novel by Richard Ford. It’s set for US distribution by IFC Films.

The Closing film will be Guy, the second feature by Alex Lutz. Of the seven films in competition, four are directed by women and all come from European countries.

Joachim Trier will preside over the jury and by joined actress and director Chloë Sevigny, BPM (Beats Per Minute) star Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Vienna film festival director Eva Sangiorgi and French culture journalist Augustin Trapenard.

Competition titles

(Descriptions supplied by festival)

Fuga (Fugue) The second feature by Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska, who debuted with The Lure, tells the story of a woman’s impossible return to her family life, infusing this psychological thriller with fantasy.

Kona Fer í Stríð (Woman At War) The second film of Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson tells the story of a female hero who fights a war on her own to protect an endangered planet.

Sauvage, Camille Vidal-Naquet’s first French film, follows the fate of a young man looking for love in the world of male prostitution. Félix Maritaud, whom the public discovered in BPM (Beats Per Minute), stars.

In comedy Diamantino, their first Portuguese feature film, Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt imagine a famous football player everybody lusts after.

In her first film, Chris the Swiss, Swiss director Anja Kofmel offers an original blend of documentary and animation. She investigates the story of her cousin, who was found assassinated in the midst of the war in Yugoslavia.

Indian director Rohena Gera debuts with romantic comedy Sir, which describes the budding relationship between a young, open-minded bourgeois young man and his housekeeper who is seeking emancipation, played by Tillotama Shome. 

Egy Nap (One Day), the first feature film by Hungarian director Zsofia Szilagyi, explores the life of a couple living under the yoke of routine.

Critics Week 2018 full line-up

OPENING FILM

• Wildlife, Paul Dano

CLOSING FILM

• Guy, Alex Lutz

FEATURE FILMS IN COMPETITION

• Chris The Swiss, Anja Kofmel
• Diamantino, Gabriel Abrantes & Daniel Schmidt
• Egy Nap (One Day), Zsófia Szilágyi
• Fuga (Fugue), Agnieszka Smoczyńska
• Kona Fer Í Stríð (Woman At War), Benedikt Erlingsson
• Sauvage, Camille Vidal-Naquet
• Sir, Rohena Gera

FEATURE FILMS SPECIAL SCREENINGS

• Nos Batailles (Our Struggles), Guillaume Senez
• Shéhérazade, Jean-Bernard Marlin

SHORT FILMS SPECIAL SCREENINGS

• La Chute (The Fall), Boris Labbé
• Third Kind, Yorgos Zois
• Ultra Pulpe (Apocalypse After), Bertrand Mandico

SHORT FILMS IN COMPETITION

• Amor, Avenidas Novas, Duarte Coimbra
• Ektoras Malo : I Teleftea Mera Tis Chronias (Hector Malo – The Last Day Of The Year), Jacqueline Lentzou
• Mo-Bum-Shi-Min (Exemplary Citizen), Kim Cheol-Hwi
• Pauline Asservie (Pauline, Enslaved), Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
• La Persistente, Camille Lugan
• Rapaz (Raptor), Felipe Gálvez
• Schächer, Flurin Giger
• Tiikeri (The Tiger), Mikko Myllyahti
• Un Jour De Mariage (A Wedding Day), Elias Belkeddar
• Ya Normalniy, Michael Borodin