The world’s most prestigious film festival, Festival de Cannes or popularly known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is just around the corner and film nerds of the world are already busy picking their favorites of the season.
Scheduled to take place from May 11 to May 22, the festival is going to feature some of the most talked about and most awaited films of the year from around the globe.
Since its inception, India has shared a special bond with the Cannes Film Festival. From Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar and Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali to Anurag Kashyap’s Raman Raghav 2.0, Indian films have often found a place in various categories at Cannes.
With less than a week to go, we’ve compiled a list of some of the most anticipated films scheduled to premiere at Festival de Cannes.
So, sit back and embrace your inner film nerd with this list:
1. The BFG
Starting with what can be the most sought-after film of the year, Steven Spielberg’s The BFG is a retelling of Roald Dahl’s beloved children fantasy story of the same name.
Steven Spielberg reunites with his ET screenwriter Melissa Mathison to tell the story of a little girl’s friendship with a friendly giant and their extravagant but nerving expedition into the world of unknowns.
2. Cafe Society
Director Woody Allen returns to Cannes with yet another romantic drama. Woven around the world of Hollywood strugglers in the 1930s, Cafe Society has a very impressive cast with Jessie Eisenberg, Steve Carell and Blake Lively.
3. The Nice Guys
After bringing us the immensely entertaining Iron Man 3, director Shane Black is back to the director’s chair with The Nice Guys. The film’s selection to be screened at the Cannes made film critics over the world look at it in a more serious light.
Laden with an impressive cast of Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, The Nice Guys is scheduled to be screened under the “Out Of Competition” segment.
4. Money Monster
Jodie Foster’s growth as a director is getting pretty evident with Money Monster bagging an invitation to be screened at the “Out Of Competition” segment at Cannes.
Bringing Julia Roberts and George Clooney under the same roof, Money Monster is about a Wall Street investor who holds a financial TV show hostage after losing all his money in the stock market.
5. The Neon Demon
Nicolas Winding Refn isn’t an easy director to understand and his unpredictability has taken him to the prestigious Cannes stage on multiple occasions. The film promises a surreal experience that explores the underbelly of the fashion world by way of an upcoming model being the subject of obsession and exploitation.
6. Julieta
Legendary Spanish director, Pedro Almodovar, has been breaking norms with excellence movie after movie. This year, he returns to Cannes with Julieta. If you’ve followed Pedro Almodovar’s career, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Cannes Film Festival invited his film to be screened in the competitive category.
Julieta is the story of the conflicts of a mother and a daughter and how the search for a loved one takes the protagonist on an unexpected journey.
7. The Unknown Girl (LA FILLE INCONNUE)
The world’s most prominent director duo, the Dardenne brothers have made a habit out of creating iconic films out of the regularities of life. With The Unkown Girl, they return to the festival a smashing eighth time.
Expected to be the front-runner to win the Palme D’Or at the festival, The Unknown Girl is the story of a female doctor who goes on a journey to identify a woman who died after being refused surgery.
8. The Salesman (Forushande)
After taking the world by storm with A Separation, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi is back in the International spectrum with The Salesman. It’s the story of a couple who begin to taste the fruit of falling apart during their performance of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.
9. I, Daniel Blake
British Auteur Ken Loach returns to the Cannes Film Festival for the first time in 10 years after winning the Palme D’Or in 2006 for his film The Wind That Shakes The Barley.
This realist visionary’s upcoming film focuses on a Carpenter’s altercations with the state welfare after injuring himself.
10. The Last Face
After almost a decade of making Into the Wild, Sean Penn returns to his director’s chair with The Last Face that revolves around the director of an international aid agency in Africa and her chance encounter with a relief doctor in the middle of the local socio-political revolution.
Staying true to his habits, Sean Penn is keeping mum about the details of the plot of the film which makes it all the more suitable for his Cannes outing.
11. Loving
One of Hollywood’s most promising talents, Jeff Nichols’ upcoming film is already raising eyebrows for its sensitive subject. The plot revolves around an interracial couple who was sentenced to prison in Virginia in 1958.
12. It’s Only The End Of The World
This French-Canadian production is based on a play called Juste la fin du monde by Jean-Luc Lagarce. It’s about a terminally ill writer who returns to his home 12 years after announcing of his impending death and how he is greeted with a doubtful and suspicious family dinner. The movie stars Vincent Cassel and Marion Cotillard in lead roles.
13. The Handmaiden (Agassi)
The Korean mastermind director, Park Chan-Wook, is all the rage at the Cannes Film Festival this year with his upcoming film The Handmaiden which is about a young heiress falling in love with a petty thief. This makes for Wook’s adaptation of Sarah Waters’s novel, Fingersmith.
After giving the world iconic movies like Oldboy and Thirst, it would be interesting to see what Park Chan-Wook has to bring to the Cannes this year.
14. Dog Eat Dog
To be screened in the Director’s Fortnight segment of the festival, director Paul Schrader’s upcoming film is as much about acceptance of the human spirit as it is about the rejection of it.
The film follows three prison convicts who are out to deal with the real world in their own way. With their past out to get them, they find refuge in the world of crime and brutalities. Metaphorically and almost appropriately titled Dog Eat Dog, the film stars Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe and Paul Schrader.
15. Psycho Raman
Anurag Kashyap’s relationship with the Director’s Fortnight segment goes back a long way with Gangs of Wasseypur and Ugly all screened in the Director’s Fortnight segment of the festival in the past. His latest film, Psycho Raman or Raman Raghav 2.0, is scheduled to be screened on the 16th of May 2016.
Covering the story of a notorious serial killer in Mumbai in the 1960s, Psycho Raman stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the title role.