2022 Cannes Critics’ Week lineup: New leadership, Jesse Eisenberg’s debut feature, plus films with Paul Mescal and Bae Doo-na

Critics’ Week, one of the sidebars devoted to first and second films running alongside the Cannes Film Festival, will be kicking off with Jesse Eisenberg’s feature debut When You Finish Saving the World. The section, which is comprised of just 11 films, seven of which will compete and four that will play as special screenings, will feature four female-directed movies.

“We already adored Eisenberg as an actor and discovered him as a true auteur with this film that’s both tender and contemporary and exposes a generational gap between a mother and her son,” said Ava Cahen, who replaced Charles Tesson as artistic director of Critics Week last August after serving on the selection committee for several years.

“The independent American cinema landscape has been impacted by the health crisis, challenged by streamers, and while we favor world premieres at Critics’ Week, we felt that it since Sundance was held online, it would be an act of solidarity to shine a spotlight on this beautiful film on opening night,” said Cahen, who admitted to being a lover of American cinema since her young age, having been raised by a father who enjoyed Western films and a mother who had her watched Alien and Shining before the age of 8.

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At 36, Cahen is the youngest artistic director of a major competitive festival section. She joined the committee in 2016, the year that Raw, the feature debut of Palme d’Or winning director Julia Ducournau, was selected.

Among the competition titles are British helmer Charlotte Wells’s Aftersun, a bittersweet comedy-drama starring Paul Mescal (The Lost Daughter) and newcomer Francesca Corio as a father and daughter who spend a summer holiday in a resort where people dance the Macarena and South Korean director Jung July with Da-eum-so-hee (Next Sohee), a feminist crime starring Bae Doo-na, the famed actor who has appeared in films by Hirozaku Kore-eda (including the 2022 main competition title Broker), Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho. 

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As previously announced, Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania (The Man who Sold his Skin) will preside over the jury which includes French-Greek actress and director Ariane Labed, Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson (Woman at War), Belgian cinematographer Benoît Debie, and South Korean journalist and Busan Festival’s topper Huh Moon yung. The strand is set to take place May 18-26.

Here is the complete lineup.

Competition

Aftersun, Charlotte Wells
United Kingdom – United States

Alma Viva (Love According to Dalva), Cristèle Alves Meira
France – Portugal

Dalva, Emmanuelle Nicot
Belgium – France

La Jauría, Andrés Ramírez Pulido
Colombia – France

Summer Scars, Simon Rieth
France

Tasavor (Imagine), Ali Behrad
Iran

The Woodcutter Story, Mikko Myllylahti
Finland – Denmark – Netherlands – Germany

Special Screenings

When You Finish Saving the World, Jesse Eisenberg
United States (Opening Film)

Sons of Ramses, Clément Cogitore
France

Everybody Loves Jeanne, Céline Devaux
France

Da-eum-so-hee (Next Sohee), Jung July
South Korea (Closing Film)