16. “Port Authority”
One of a shocking three American films by first-time directors in Un Certain Regard, Danielle Lessovitz‘s feature debut centers on a love story set between Whye (Leyna Bloom) and Paul (Fionn Whitehead) in the world of New York City’s ballroom community. When Paul discovers Whye is transgender, he has to confront his own prejudices. Yes, it sounds quite familiar to a recent plot line in FX‘s “Pose,” but the fact Cannes would include this seemingly ready for Park City film at all makes it something of a must-see. Not to mention the fact one of last year’s celebrated trans films at Cannes, “Girl,” fell apart overseas under a ton of justified criticism over its depiction of trans women. Could the festival be just trying to do the right thing this time around? – GE
https://twitter.com/leynabloom/status/1118836832417005568
17. “The Climb”
The second American film in Un Certain Regard, Michael Angelo Covino‘s directorial debut is an adaptation of his 2018 short film. The feature is only described as a look at a longtime friendship between two “guys” with Covino playing one of them, Mike. Covino has been working steadily in the independent film space over the past decade earning a Spirit Award nomination for producing the well-reviewed “Hunter Gatherer” in 2017. That may not seem like much, but this one is already generating buzz on the acquisitions market. – GE
THE CLIMB
As the world descends upon the Côte d'Azur for @Festival_Cannes we're very excited to see our friends Mike and Kyle's debut movie, The Climb, premiere on Friday.
You can view the original short here: https://t.co/7kWxIuSHeZ#theclimb #festivaldeCannes #uncertainregard pic.twitter.com/3ScNMgwflG
— Café du Cycliste (@cafeducycliste) May 13, 2019
18. “Diego Maradona”
The last time Asif Kapadia was at Cannes he delivered the moving “Amy,” which ended up taking the Oscar for Best Documentary. He returns out of competition with a look at the iconic Argentine footballer culled from over 500 hours of “never-before-seen” footage. HBO Films was so enthralled by his work they acquired the film before the festival and announced it will have a limited theatrical run before airing on the network this fall. Maradona’s life was full of drama (drug addiction, health problems, political controversies, etc.) and Kapadia might be the right filmmaker to chronicle it for the with many who are unaware of the athlete’s life both on and off the field. – GE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNaRrDX8MUc
19. “The Wild Goose Lake”
Diao Yinan follows up his Golden Bear-winning “Black Coal, Thin Ice” with this crime thriller that reunites him with Fan Liao, who won the Best Actor honor at Berlin for the same picture. The only Chinese film in competition this year (there are sadly only two Asian films overall), it appears to be a gorgeously stylized tale of a gangster (Liao) who “sacrifices everything” for his family while on the run. That sound terrifyingly generic, but the imagery released so far makes it a much more compelling prospect. – GE
The Wild Goose Lake, the new feature film of Chinese director and Golden Bear award winner Diao Yinan, has been included in the competition section of the 72nd #Cannes International Film Festival. pic.twitter.com/KHllbGmArq
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) April 18, 2019
20. “Oh Mercy!”
The hot and cold Arnaud Desplechin returns to Cannes for the third time this decade with a crime drama about a police chief investigating the brutal murder of an older woman. This is the sixth film in competition for Desplechin who has crafted celebrated films such as 2008’s “A Christmas Tale” and perhaps one of the worst films of the decade, 2013’s “Jimmy P.” He’s loved in France, however, and the locals will be all over this one. We’re skeptical, but the exclamation mark at the end of the title makes it worthy of attention alone! – GE
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1127978196647866368
21. “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”
There’s only four women filmmakers in competition at Cannes this year, and French director Celine Sciamma is arguably the most well-known of the bunch. She’s known for her breakthrough film “Water Lilies” (2007) which earned her a César Award nomination for Best Debut. She also made a big splash with “Tomboy” (2011) and “Girlhood” which premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and landed on many best of year-end lists (including ours). “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” reunites her with French star Adèle Haenel (“The Unknown Girl,” “BPM (Beats per Minute)“), the lead of “Water Lilies” and her longtime romantic partner, and centers on a painter, in late-1700 France, who is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of a young woman who has just left the convent. The reunited collaboration of Sciamma and Haenel is definitely one to watch. – Rodrigo Perez
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1094969272340754433
Honorable Mention:
Again that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Werner Herzog returns with his first dramatic effort since 2016’s “Salt and Fire” and the project is a “Secret Japanese film” called “Family Romance, LLC.” that was, well, as suggested, shot in secret. It’s about a man is hired to impersonate the missing father of a 12-year-old girl and it’s a “special screening” playing out of competition. Screening in competition and sure to be intriguing will be Romanian auteur Corneliu Porumboiu‘s “The Whistlers,” which is a comedy this time about a Romanian police officer who is a whistleblower for the mafia, who goes to La Gomera Island to learn an ancestral whistling language (lol).
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1126879080777863169
Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho known for the arthouse foreign hit “Neighboring Sounds” is back in competition following ” Aquarius,” with his latest, “Bacurau,” about strange happenings occurring following the death of a small town’s matriarch.
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1127248386283827201
The always controversial and sometimes abrasive Bruno Dumont returns with another film centered around faith with the story of “Joan Of Arc,” but this time it’s relegated in the Un Certain Regard section. Other filmmakers playing out of competition in the Special Screenings category include filmmaker Abel Ferrara who takes a break from his litany of recent documentaries to reteam with Willem Dafoe (“Pasolini“) for “Tommaso,” a work “concerning imagination,” and the story of an American artist living in Rome with his young European wife and their 3-year-old daughter (Ferrara’s real-life daughter). It’s also one of four films the filmmaker will have out in 2019; Gael Garcia Bernal’s latest directorial effort, and first feature-length film since 2007 “Chicuarotes“; renowned Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzman’s “The Cordillera of Dreams” is bound to be something worth seeing and talking about and Pippa Bianco‘s”Share,” which was already a huge hit at Sundance and has been picked up by HBO will likely impress all over again. The Cannes Film Festival runs May 14 through May 25. – RP
Follow along with all our coverage from the 2019 Cannes Film Festival here.
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1127968220340789249
