The 78th version of the Cannes Film Festival is shaping as much as be a 12 months of acquainted names, excessive expectations, and a notably sturdy Hollywood turnout. In a press convention held in Paris, competition director Thierry Frémaux, alongside president Iris Knobloch, unveiled a contest lineup that features new movies from Wes Anderson, Ari Aster, Kelly Reichardt, Richard Linklater, and Julia Ducournau — all of whom return to the Croisette with earlier Cannes recognition to their names.
Wes Anderson returns to competitors with The Phoenician Scheme, a mystery-comedy with a sprawling solid that features Benicio del Toro, Tom Hanks, Michael Cera, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Scarlett Johansson. Anderson final competed in 2021 with The French Dispatch. Horror auteur Ari Aster, identified for Hereditary and Beau Is Afraid, brings Eddington, described as a psychological ensemble piece starring Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal, and Austin Butler. It marks Aster’s first look in the principle competitors and his most formidable mission to this point with A24.
ALSO READ:What do the Cannes 2024 wins imply for the Oscars 2025?
Kelly Reichardt, a frequent fixture on the American indie circuit, returns with The Mastermind, a Vietnam War-era movie led by Josh O’Connor. O’Connor additionally seems in Oliver Hermanus’ The History of Sound, a queer romance set throughout World War I, co-starring Paul Mescal. Hermanus, whose Living premiered at Sundance in 2022, makes his Cannes competitors debut.
Julia Ducournau’s third function Alpha is anticipated to be one of many extra carefully watched entries this 12 months. Ducournau, who received the Palme d’Or in 2021 for Titane, stays one of many few girls to have obtained the highest honor in the competition’s historical past. Richard Linklater, in the meantime, presents a brand new narrative function whose title and topic stay beneath wraps.
In the out-of-competition slate, Tom Cruise will return to Cannes with Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. Though not in the working for the Palme d’Or, Cruise’s presence on the Croisette follows his 2022 look for Top Gun: Maverick and is prone to generate important press consideration. Jodie Foster additionally seems out of competitors in Vie Privée, a French-language thriller directed by Rebecca Zlotowski.
Juliette Binoche has been named jury president for this 12 months’s competitors. Robert De Niro will obtain the competition’s honorary Palme d’Or, in recognition of his long-standing contributions to worldwide cinema.
The prime prize final 12 months went to Sean Baker’s Anora, which went on to obtain a number of Oscar wins together with Best Picture. Baker’s win prolonged a streak for distributor Neon, whose earlier Palme d’Or titles — together with Anatomy of a Fall, Triangle of Sadness, and Parasite — all discovered vital, business and Oscar success past the Croisette.
Last 12 months’s competitors additionally featured Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, which made historical past as the primary Indian movie in three many years to compete for the Palme d’Or, alongside Mohammed Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig, each of which had been awarded the Grand Prix and Special Jury Prize, respectively.
Here’s the complete lineup of titles premiering on the Cannes Film Festival 2025
Opening Night
Leave One Day (dir. Amélie Bonnin)
Out of Competition
Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning (dir. Christopher McQuarrie)
Colours of Sky (dir. Cedric Klapisch)
Vie Privée (dir. Rebecca Zlotowski)
The Richest Woman in the World (dir. Thierry Klifa)
In Competition
Sentimental Value (dir. Joachim Trier)
Sound of Falling (dir. Mascha Schilinski)
Romeria (dir. Carla Simón)
The Mastermind (dir. Kelly Reichardt)
The Eagles of the Republic (dir. Tarik Saleh)
Dossier 137 (dir. Dominik Moll)
The Secret Agent (dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho)
Fuori (dir. Mario Martone)
Nouvelle Vague (dir. Richard Linklater)
Two Prosecutors (dir. Sergei Loznitsa)
La Petite Dernière (dir. Hafsia Herzi)
A Simple Accident (dir. Jafar Panahi)
The History of Sound (dir. Oliver Hermanus)
Renoir (dir. Chie Hayakawa)
Alpha (dir. Julia Ducournau)
Sirat (dir. Oliver Laxe)
Young Mothers (dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne)
Eddington (dir. Ari Aster)
The Phoenician Scheme (dir. Wes Anderson)
Un Certain Regard
The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo (dir. Diego Céspedes)
My Father’s Shadow (dir. Akinola Davies Jr)
Urchin (dir. Harris Dickinson)
Meteors (dir. Hubert Charuel)
A Pale View of Hills (dir. Kei Ishikawa)
Eleanor the Great (dir. Scarlett Johansson)
Pillion (dir. Harry Lighton)
L’inconnue de la Grande Arche (dir. Stephane Demoustier)
Aisha Can’t Fly Away (dir. Morad Mostafa)
Once Upon a Time in Gaza (dir. Arab Nasser, Tarzan Nasser)
The Plague (dir. Charlie Polinger)
Heads or Tails? (dir. Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis)
Homebound (dir. Neeraj Ghaywan)
The Last One for the Road (dir. Francesco Sossai)
Karavan (dir. Zuzana Kirchnerová)
Promised Sky (dir. Erige Sehiri)
Special Screenings
Stories of Surrender (dir. Bono)
Tell Her That I Love Her (dir. Romane Bohringer)
A Magnificent Life (dir. Sylvain Chomet)
Cannes Premiere
Amrum (dir. Fatih Akin)
Splitsville (dir. Michael Angelo Covino)
Connemara (dir. Alex Lutz)
The Disappearance of Josef Mengele (dir. Kirill Serebrennikov)
Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5 (dir. Raoul Peck)
The Wave (dir. Sebastián Lelio)
Midnight
Songs of the Neon Night (dir. Juno Mak)
Exit 8 (dir. Genki Kawamura)
Dalloway (dir. Yann Gozlan)
Published – April 10, 2025 04:40 pm IST
