The 78th Cannes Film Festival promises a potent mix of established filmmakers and highly anticipated projects, festival director Thierry Frémaux announced today in a press conference with president Iris Knobloch. The unveiled competition lineup features new works from acclaimed directors who have previously earned accolades at Cannes, including Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Ari Aster, Kelly Reichardt, and Julia Ducournau.
Anderson last vied for the Palme d'Or with the film The French Dispatch in 2021. This time, he will compete with The Phoenician Scheme, a black comedy boasting a star-studded cast including Tom Hanks, Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera, Scarlett Johansson, Riz Ahmed, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Bryan Cranston. Ari Aster of Hereditary fame makes his debut in the main competition at Cannes with a Western thriller named Eddington, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal, and Emma Stone.
Julia Ducournau’s Alpha is another highly-anticipated film competing for the festival's top honor, the Palme d’Or. Ducournau is among the few female filmmakers to receive the said award (for Titane in 2021). On the other hand, Richard Linklater will present a narrative feature, the plot and title of which are still undisclosed.
Independent filmmaker Kelly Reichardt comes back to Cannes with The Mastermind, the Josh O’Connor headliner set in Vietnam War. O’Connor also stars in The History of Sound, filmmaker Oliver Hermanus' queer romance set during World War I, also featuring Paul Mescal. Hermanus is set to make his debut at the Cannes competition section.
The out-of-competition selections will include Jodie Foster's French thriller Vie Privée, with director Rebecca Zlotowski, and Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, starring Tom Cruise. The last Cruise starrer to feature at Cannes is Top Gun: Maverick, and his return to the festival also marks the eight MI film's world premiere.
The festival has named Juliette Binoche as the jury president for this year’s competition. As reported earlier, Robert De Niro is set to be conferred with the festival’s honorary Palme d’Or.