The official 2017 selection of the Cannes Film Festival, which runs May 17 through 28, was announced today, April 13. Keeping in vein with many cultural events following the United States election, this year’s edition of the French festival is highly politicized. Of the forty-nine films included, many focus on current issues. An Inconvenient Sequel will be shown as a special screening, it is Al Gore’s documentary follow-up to his climate change film, An Inconvenient Truth. Joining in the special screenings will be Sea Sorrow, Vanessa Redgrave’s directorial debut. The documentary gives context to the current migrant crisis by covering a mix of past and present events in the struggle for human rights. It features Ralph Fiennes, Emma Thompson, Juliet Stephenson and Lord Alf Dubs, who escaped the Holocaust and has been an advocate for refugee rights ever since.
Also in the Cannes selection will be a drama about the Aids crisis, a documentary about North Korea and You Were Never Really Here which stars Joaquin Phoenix as a veteran who tries to intervene into a sex trafficking ring. The Lynne Ramsay directed film is a significant inclusion into Cannes for several reasons. As an Amazon Studios production it joins several other television-streaming platforms in their Cannes debut. Ramsay is also one of twelve female directors represented at the festival.
Sofia Coppola joins Ramsay in this group of directors and goes up against her in the competition category. The Marie Antoinette director marks her return to Cannes with new film The Beguiled which is a remake of a Clint Eastwood drama set during the Civil War. It stars Colin Farrell as a wounded shoulder taken in by three Southern society women played by Elle Fanning, Kirsten Dunst, Emma Howard and Nicole Kidman. Kidman is this year’s reigning queen of Cannes – she is featured in four different movies opening at the 2017 events. Kristen Stewart who has acted in many movies featured at recent Cannes festivals will make her directorial debut with the short film, Come Swim.
This year, Cannes director Thierry Frémaux has changed his stance on television. Previously the festival had a “no serialized drama” rule but two shows will screen at this year’s events. From director, Jane Campion (the only woman ever to win a Palme d’Or), will be New Zealand mystery series, Top Of The Lake. David Lynch will screen the revival of his classic show, Twin Peaks.
In unexpected news, Adam Sandler will be present at Cannes, marking his first time at the festival since he starred in Punch Drunk Love in 2002. This year he acts in Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories which also stars heavyweights Ben Stiller, Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman. Meyerowitz is the first Netflix film to compete at Cannes.
See the full list of the official 2017 Cannes selection below.
OPENING NIGHT FILM
Ismael’s Ghosts, dir: Arnaud Desplechin (Out of Competition)
70th ANNIVERSARY EVENTS
Top of the Lake: China Girl, dirs: Jane Campion & Ariel Kleiman
24 Frames, dir: Abbas Kiarostami
Twin Peaks, dir: David Lynch
Come Swim, dir: Kristen Stewart
VIRTUAL REALITY FILM
Carne Y Arena (Virtually Present, Physically Invisible), dir: Alejandro G Inarritu
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
An Inconvenient Sequel, dirs: Ronni Cohen & Jon Shenk
12 Jours, dir: Raymond Depardon
They, dir: Anahita Ghazinizadeh
Keul-Le-Eo-Ui-Ka-Me-La (Clair’s Camera), dir: Hong Sangsoo
Promised Land, dir: Eugene Jarecki
Napalm, dir: Claude Lanzmann
Demons In Paradise, dir: Jude Ratman
Sea Sorrow, dir: Vanessa Redgrave
MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
AK-Nyeo (The Villainess), dir: Jung Byung-gil
Bulhandang (The Merciless), dir: Byun Sung-hyun
Prayer Before Dawn, dir: Jean-Stephane Sauvaire
OUT OF COMPETITION
Mugen Non Junin, (Blade Of The Immortal), dir: Takashi Miike
How To Talk To Girls At Parties, dir: John Cameron Mitchell
Visages, Villages, dir: Agnes Varda & JR
UN CERTAIN REGARD
Barbara, dir: Mathieu Amalric (Opening Film)
La Novia Del Desierto (The Desert Bride), dirs: Cecilia Atan & Valeria Pivato
Tesnota (Closeness), dir: Kantemir Balagov
Aala Kaf Ifrit (Beauty And The Dogs), dir: Kaouther Ben Hania
L’Atélier, dir: Laurent Cantet
Fortunata (Lucky), dir: Sergio Castellitto
Las Hijas De Abril (April’s Daughter), dir: Michel Franco
Sanpo Suru Shinryakusha (Before We Vanish), dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Lerd (Dregs), dir: Mohammad Rasoulof
En Attendant Les Hirondelles (The Nature of Time), dir: Karim Moussaoui
Apres La Guerre (After The War), dir: Annarita Zambrano
Wind River, dir: Taylor Sheridan
Jeune Femme, dir: Leonor Serraille
Western, dir: Valeska Grisebach
Posoki (Directions), dir: Stephan Komandarev
Out, dir: Gyorgy Kristof
COMPETITION
Loveless, dir: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Good Time, dirs: Benny and Josh Safdie
You Were Never Really Here, dir: Lynne Ramsay
L’Amant Double, dir: Francois Ozon
Jupiter’s Moon, dir: Kornel Mundruczo
The Killing Of A Sacred Deer, dir: Yorgos Lanthimos
The Day After, dir: Hang Sangsoo
Redoubtable, dir: Michel Hazanavicius
Wonderstruck, dir: Todd Haynes
Happy End, dir: Michael Haneke
Rodin, dir: Jacques Doillon
The Beguiled, dir: Sofia Coppola
In the Fade, dir: Fatih Akin
The Meyerowitz Stories, dir: Noah Baumbach
Okja, dir: Bong Joon-ho
120 Battements Par Minute, dir: Robin Campillo
Hikari (Radiance), dir: Naomi Kawase
A Gentle Creature, dir: Sergei Loznitsa
