Related Posts
Source: IndieWire
It may have been a couple years since the Cannes Film Festival has appeared to be anything resembling “normal”, but one can hardly tell considering how much buzz and anticipation has surrounded this year’s festival. Starting Tuesday, May 17th and continuing until Saturday, May 28th, this year’s event will see countless actors, directors, and other big-name members of the international film industry take the red carpet and showcase whatever new work of cinema they have most recently contributed to. It’s a far cry from the virtual gatherings that made up the previous festival, which prevented from holding in-person events due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and while there were still a solid number of exceptional films screened and purchased for worldwide distribution that year, festival organizers are confident that being able to show this year’s selection at actual film-going venues will have a much greater effect on the films featured in this line-up. After all, many would argue that cinema is best experienced on the biggest screen possible; if that’s truly the case, then the films selected for Cannes this year should have a much easier time finding an audience than they would if they were shown only online.
Many distributors are especially eager to look to festivals such as Cannes after the most recent Academy Awards saw an unexpected festival purchase go on to take the prize for Best Picture. That film was “CODA”, which received distribution from Apple TV+ after making its debut at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Just a few years before that, the Cannes Film Festival itself saw the premiere of “Parasite”, directed by South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho, which also went on to become a Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards (the first time a non-English language film had ever achieved such a feat). Apart from awards though, some distributors are curious to find the one indie darling that could become a surprise sleeper hit; many of them are looking at A24’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and its shockingly high box office intake as something to aspire to, with much of that film’s success boosted by strong word of mouth. If studios are able to find something as original and engaging at a festival such as Cannes, then they would theoretically have a chance at achieving similar results.
Fortunately, there’s a lot to choose from at this most recent Cannes Film Festival. While some of these films have already made deals with major studios for worldwide distribution, others are still up for grabs, with many distributors making major bids in order to receive access to these cinematic works and the potential for great critical and commercial success they have. Needless to say, having to pick out which of these films stand out the most and could indeed go on to receive favorable reception from critics and audiences is no easy task, yet there are still some that prove to be just a bit more intriguing than the rest. Here are some of the highlights that, whether the film has been completed or is close to completion, seemed to have the best luck in getting one’s attention:
The Dating Game – filmmaker Chloe Okuno follows up her directorial debut feature “Watcher”, which received rave reviews and distribution from IFC Films and Shudder following its premiere at Sundance, with a film from Ian McDonald’s Black List-making script. Starring Anna Kendrick of “Pitch Perfect” fame, the film, based on real-life events, centers around Rodney Alcala, a serial killer who appeared on the popular game show “The Dating Game” in 1978. Kendrick plays a contestant who ends up winning a date with Alcala, initially unaware that he has committed seven homicides and that she could very well be his eighth. With a suspenseful premise and Okuno’s previous experience with the thriller genre, it’s hard to imagine this film not winning the hearts – or at least getting them beating – of those attending Cannes.
Wicked Little Letters – having received the support of European distributor Studiocanal, there’s already a great deal of potential for this comedy to break out, especially considering its two stars Olivia Coleman and Jessie Buckley, appeared together in last year’s “The Lost Daughter” and were even nominated for Academy Awards for their respective performances. Hopefully this film, which revolves around two neighbors living in the 1920s who team up to solve a most unusual mystery, will be able to bring out similarly strong performances from the two. With Thea Sharrock (who previously helmed “Me Before You”) in the director’s chair and Johnny Sweet penning the script, making the most out of Coleman and Buckley shouldn’t be too difficult. Sharrock herself referred to the film as a “divine comedy with a profoundly moving core”, a promising description if there ever was one.
Saltburn – little is currently known about this in-production film at the time of this writing, but those attached to it are more than enough to generate interest in those looking for the next big indie film. For one thing, there’s its writer/director Emerald Fennell, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for her debut feature “Promising Young Woman”, since making all of the industry curious as to how she would follow up such a feat. Then there’s the cast, with actors Jacob Elordi, Barry Keoghan, and Rosamund Pike serving as the main leads. Not much else has been revealed about the film (other than its being primarily a story about obsession), but the information gathered so far already has festival-goers keeping an eye out for more to come.
“Breathe” – having been directly mentored by acclaimed director Spike Lee, director Stefon Bristol took what he learned and made the most of it with his feature debut, the 2019 film “See You Yesterday”, for which he earned a distribution deal from Netflix and an Indie Spirit Award nomination for Best First Feature. Bristol hopes to repeat this success with his sophomore effort, in which Jennifer Hudson and Quvenzhané Wallis play a mother and daughter who are forced underground after disaster renders the Earth oxygen-less and uninhabitable. With a Black List script from Doug Simon and a supporting cast feature Sam Worthington and Common, it’s hard to imagine this film being a difficult sell for those seeking the perfect mix of high concept and an indie-filmmaking aesthetic.
All of these films and several more will be among those pitched and presented at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. No matter which films end up getting picked up and by which companies, one can rest assured knowing that this year’s event will most likely be one to remember.
