22 films from some of the world’s most famous directors are competing for the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, which opens on Tuesday.The Palme d’Or will be awarded this year by a jury consisting of Hollywood star Demi Moore and Korean director Park Chan-wook.Only five of the 22 films competing for the prestigious Palme d’Or top prize have been directed by women, compared to seven out of 22 last year.Feminist group 50/50 has accused the organizers of “whitewashing feminism” by using Geena Davis and icons of female empowerment. Susan Sarandon Playing “Thelma and Louise” in the 1991 film for publicity purposes.“There’s no way we’re choosing Geena Davis or Susan Sarandon or Ridley Scott’s film for the poster to supposedly give ourselves a feminist image,” Cannes official Thierry Fremaux told reporters on Monday.The 50/50 collective, which promotes equality in the film industry, signed a charter with the Cannes Film Festival in 2018.“If we are in doubt between two films… and if that doubt is between a film by a male director and a film by a female director, we will choose the film by the female director,” he added.This year, 34 percent of all directors of feature films selected for the official Cannes program are female directors, organizers said.
Pedro Almodovar’s ‘Bitter Christmas’
The legendary Spanish director – who has never won the Palme d’Or – will be hoping for seventh time lucky with this story of a director who uses the lives of those close to him to write his stories.
Asghar Farhadi’s ‘Parallel Stories’
The exiled Iranian Oscar-winning filmmaker has assembled a star-studded French cast including Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert and Pierre Niney to tell “various stories that intermingle in a corner of Paris.”
‘Paper Tiger’ by James Gray
American director James Gray was a latecomer with his crime drama about two brothers navigating the Russian mafia, starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson of “The Yards” and “Little Odessa.”
‘A Woman’s Life’ by Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
French actress Lea Drucker plays a stressed-out surgeon in a hospital who comes to see her work and meets a novelist who turns her life upside down — one of four French films on the schedule this year.
Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrosi’s ‘The Black Ball’
Starring Glenn Close and Penelope Cruz, a sweeping Spanish historical film exploring gay life inspired by Federico Garcia Lorca’s latest work, it brings back a moment from the country’s civil war where the poet and playwright died.
Lukas Dhont’s ‘Coward’
The highly-rated young Belgian director of “Girl” and “Close” is back with a drama set in the trenches of World War I, with images “inspired by the color photographs of the time.”
‘All of a sudden By Ryusuke Hamaguchi
After the global success of “Drive My Car,” the Japanese filmmaker returns with a film shot in France, starring Virginie Efira as the head of a nursing home who befriends a dying Japanese playwright.
‘The Unknown’ by Arthur Harari
“Anatomy of a Fall” adapts the graphic novel written by the screenwriter of the 2023 Palme d’Or winner about a man who wakes up in the body of a mysterious stranger with his brother.
Jeanne Herri’s ‘Guarantee’
Cannes favorite Adele Exarchopoulos stars as a gifted but tough actress in this French tale of a woman who loses her hand.
‘Sheep in the Box’ by Hirokazu Kore-eda
A couple welcomes a humanoid robot into their home in the latest film from the Japanese master, who won the 2018 Palme d’Or for Shoplifters.
Na Hong-jin’s ‘Hope’
Starring real-life couple Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, the South Korean auteur stars in this psychological thriller about people who start searching for a beast and end up hunting themselves.
‘Lazy Notes By Koji Fukada
In his latest film “Love on Trial,” after confronting the pop industry’s exploitation of young Japanese women, Fukada heads to the Japanese countryside for a film about the encounter between two lonely souls.
‘Gentle Monster’ by Marie Kreutzer
The Austrian director brings together French actresses Lea Seydoux and Catherine Deneuve – who star in the two competing films – in a story about a couple in which one partner suddenly reveals a monstrous side.
Emmanuel Marre’s ‘A Man of his Time’
The Belgian director looks at the officials who ruled occupied Vichy France in this wartime drama alongside Swann Arlaud of “Anatomy of a Fall” fame.
‘the fjord By Cristian Mungiu
The Romanian, who won the Palme d’Or for 2007’s “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” joins Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve, of “Sentimental Value” and “Worst Person in the World” fame, for this story of conflict between two families in a remote Norwegian town.
‘The Birthday Party’ by Lea Mysius
The emerging French director’s third feature stars Italian Monica Bellucci alongside French star Bastien Bouillon and Hafsia Herzi.
‘Moulin’ by Laszlo Nemes
The Hungarian director of the famous “Son of Saul” returns to Cannes with a biopic about the life of French Resistance hero Jean Moulin.
‘homeland ‘By Pawel Pawlikowski
The Polish filmmaker, who won the Oscar for best foreign language film in 2015 for “Ida”, is back with another black-and-white film, this time about writer Thomas Mann’s return to Germany in 1949.
‘The Man I Love’ by Ira Sachs
Rami Malek, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” plays an artist in 1980s New York at the beginning of the AIDS pandemic.
‘Beloved’ by Rodrigo Sorogoyen
There’s a lot of buzz surrounding the Spanish director’s drama starring Javier Bardem, about a director who rekindles a difficult relationship with his actress daughter during a film shoot.
Andrey Zvyagintsev’s ‘The Minotaur’
The exiled Russian filmmaker follows up his stunning visuals “Leviathan” and “Loveless” with a film about middle-class Russians struggling with military conscription during the war in Ukraine.
Valeska Grisebach’s ‘Dream Adventure’
The German director of the film “Western” makes his debut in the main competition with the story of a woman living in the border region between Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey who agrees to a deal to help a friend.
