“The Good Russian”, Loznytsia and the film about Gaza

The poster of Leos Carax’s new film

On Thursday, April 11, the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival announced the program of the 77th film review. It will be held in France in about a month – May 15-25. There are no directors from Ukraine in the program, but there is Serhiy Loznytsia, expelled from the Ukrainian Film Academy, and Russian director Kyrylo Serebrennikov.

Pprogram announced Cannes Film Festival Director Thierry Frémaux and Festival President Iris Knobloch at a press conference in a Paris cinema UGC Normandy.

As Frémaux noted, it was not easy to form this year’s program. Despite the fact that last year was successful for the global film industry.

The first film he announced was a documentary “The Beauty of Gaza”, it will be shown in the program of special screenings. This is a film about transgender Palestinians from Gaza who emigrate to Tel Aviv.

“This film was made before the war and it has a special resonance today and continues to explore this painful territory on our planet“, said Frémaux.

The organizers also announced the film that will open this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It became a surrealist comedy by Quentin Dupier “The Second Act” (Le Deuxième Acte) starring actress Léa Seydoux.

In the main competition, such expected premieres from famous directors will compete “Megalopolis” (Megalopolis) Francis Ford Coppola, “Kinds Of Kindness” Yorgos Lanthimos, “The Shrouds” David Cronenberg, “Parthenopes” (Parthenope) Paolo Sorrentino, etc.

Among others, we see a Russian director here Kirill Serebrennikov – his film will be shown in Cannes “Limonov, ballad about Edichka” about a Russian writer, a Ukrainophobe and seaminist Eduard Limonov.

There is not a single film by a director from Ukraine in the announced program. But there is a director Sergey Loznytsia, who was expelled from the Ukrainian Film Academy in March 2022 due to the fact that his films were included in the program of the Russian film festival “From Lviv to the Urals”. His new work – a tape – will be shown in the program of Special Screenings “Intrusion” (The Invasion).

If last year the festival set a record for the number of female directors whose films were selected for the official competition program, this year only four women are represented in the main competition. This is the director from England Andrea Arnold with the film “Bird”, two French women with feature-length debuts – “Substance” by Coralie Farge and “Wild Diamond” by Agathe Riedinger – and Indian director Payal Kapadia with the film “All that we imagine as light”.

The main competition

• “Student” (The Apprentice)director Ali Abbasi
• “Motel Destino” (Motel Destino)director Karim Ainuz
• “Bird” (Bird)director Andrea Arnold
• “Emilia Perez” (Emilia Perez), director Jacques Audiard
• “Anora” (Anora), directed by Sean Baker
• “Megalopolis” (Megalopolis), director Francis Ford Coppola
• “Shroud” (The Shrouds), director David Cronenberg
• “The Substance”, directed by Coralie Farzha
• “Grand Tour” (Grand Tour), director Miguel Gomez
• “My Marcello” (Marcello Mio), director Christophe Honoré
• “Covered by the Tide” (Feng Liu Yi Dai), director Jia Zhangke
• “All We Imagine As Light” (All We Imagine As Light), director Payal Kapadia
• “Types of Kindness” (Kinds Of Kindness), director Yorgos Lanthimos
• “Broken hearts” (L’amour Ouf), director Gilles Lellouche
• “Wild Diamond” (Diamant Brut) directed by Agath Riedinger
• “Oh Canada” (Oh Canada), directed by Paul Schroeder
• “Limonov, ballad about Edichka”, directed by Kyrylo Serebrennikov
• “Parthenope” (Parthenope), directed by Paolo Sorrentino
• “The Girl with a Needle” (Pigen Med Nålen), director Magnus von Horn

Out of competition

• “She’s Got No Name” (She’s Got No Name), director Peter Chan
• “Horizon: An American Saga” (Horizon, An American Saga), directed by Kevin Costner
• Rumors, directed by Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, Guy Maddin
• Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, directed by George Miller

The full list of programs for this year’s festival in Cannes can be found on the event’s website.

77th Cannes Film Festival will be held from May 15 to 25, 2024.

The jury of the festival in 2024 will be headed by an American actress, screenwriter and director Greta Gerwig. Her last year’s Barbie became the first film directed by a woman to gross more than $1 billion at the box office.

The honorary Palme d’Or at the closing ceremony of the 77th Cannes Film Festival will be awarded to the director, screenwriter and producer, the author of the cult film sagas “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones”. George Lucas.