Cannes parallel section Directors’ Fortnight has unveiled the line-up for its 56th edition running from May 15 to 23.
The section, launched in 1969 and overseen by the French Directors Guild, will present 21 feature films and 10 short films.
This selection is the second line-up for Delegate General Julien Rejl, who took up the role last year.
The section will open with with late director Sophie Fillières’ final feature This Life of Mine, starring Agnès Jaoui as a woman whose sense of self starts to unravel as she turns 55.
Filllières died shortly after completing the shoot and her children have dedicated themselves to finishing post-production.
French director Jean-Christophe Meurisse’s dark comedy Plastic Guns will close the selection.
Inspired by a true story, the mistaken identity drama follows the case of Frenchman who is arrested by police in the belief that is man wanted for murdering his wife and three children years earlier.
This year’s line-up features a quartet of films by emerging U.S. directors : Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point, Carson Lund’s Eephus, India Donaldson’s Good One and Ryan J. Sloan’s Gazer.
Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point is the third feature from Taormina, after Happer’s Comet and Ham on Rye. Written by Taormina, Eric Berger and Kevin Anton, it follows four generations of the Balsano family as they gather for what may be the last Christmas in the family home. Read more details here.
The cast stars Michael Cera (Life & Beth), Elsie Fisher (Barry), Maria Dizzia (The Good Nurse), Francesca Scorsese (We Are Who We Are), Ben Shenkman (Billions), Gregg Turkington (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), Sawyer Spielberg (Masters of the Air) and newcomer Matilda Fleming.
Eephus, revolving around the final game of a small-town baseball team, is the feature directorial debut of Lund, who also takes a cinematography credit on Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point.
India Donaldson’s Good One, about a 17 year-old on a weekend backpacking trip in the Catskills contending with the competing egos of her father and his oldest friend, world premiered in Sundance earlier this year.
Established directors in the mix include French filmmaker Patricia Mazuy’s Visiting Hours (La Prisonnière De bordeaux) starring Isabelle Huppert and Hafsia Herzi as women who bond while visiting their husbands in prison.
Directors’ Fortnight 2024 Line-Up
LONGS MÉTRAGES / FEATURE FILMS
This Life Of Mine (Ma Vie Ma Gueule) OPENING FILM
Dir.Sophie Fillières
(France)
In His Own Image (A Son Image)
Dir. Thierry de Peretti
(France)
Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point
Dir. de Tyler Taormina
(U.S)
Desert of Namibia (Namibia no sabaku)
Dir. Yôko Yamanaka
(Japan)
East of Noon (Sharq 12)
Dir. Hala Elkoussy
(Egypt)
Eat The Night
Dir. Caroline Poggi & Jonathan Vinel
(France)
Eephus *
Dir. Carson Lund
(U.S.)
Gazer *
Dir. Ryan J. Sloan
(U.S)
Ghost cat anzu (Bakeneko Anzu-chan / Anzu, chat-fantôme)
Dir. Yôko Kuno & Nobuhiro Yamashita
(Japan)
Good One *
Dir. India Donaldson
(U.S.)
Mongrel (白衣蒼狗) *
Dir. Chiang Wei Liang & You Qiao Yin
(Taiwan)
Visiting Hours (La Prisonnière De bordeaux)
Dir.Patricia Mazuy
(France)
Savanna and the Mountain (A savana e a montanha)
Dir. Paulo Carneiro (Portugal)
Sister Midnight
Dir.Karan Kandhari
(India)
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed (Algo viejo, algo nuevo, algo prestado)
Dir. Hernán Rosselli
(Argentina)
The Falling Sky (A queda do céu)
Dir. Eryk Rocha & Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha
(Brazil)
The Hyperboreans (Los hiperbóreos)
Dir. Cristóbal León & Joaquín Cociña
(Chile)
To A Land Unknown
Dir.Mahdi Fleifel
(Palestine, Denmark)
The Other Way Around
Dir. de Jonás Trueba (Spain)
Universal Language (Une Langue Universelle)
Dir. Matthew Rankin (Canada)
Plastic Guns (Pistolets en Plastique) CLOSING FILM
Dir. Jean-Christophe Meurisse
(France)
Special Screening
American Stories: Food, Family and Philosophy
Dir. Chantal Akerman
(Belgium)
Short Films
Short films
Après Le Soleil (After the Sun)
Dir. Rayane Mcirdi (France, Algérie / Algeria)
Extremely short (Totemo mijikai)
Dir. Maryam Tafakory (Japon / Japan)
Immaculata Kim Lêa Sakkal (Liban / Lebanon)
LES MÉTÉOS D’ANTOINE (Antoine, Élise and Léandre) de Jules Follet (France)
MULBERRY FIELDS (Một lần dang dở) deNguyễn Trung Nghĩa (Vietnam)
OUR OWN SHADOW (Nuestra sombra) de Agustina Sánchez Gavier (Argentine / Argentina)
THE MOVING GARDEN (O jardim em movimento) de Inês Lima (Portugal)
VERY GENTLE WORK (Travail très soigné) de Nate Lavey (États-Unis / USA)
WHEN THE LAND RUNS AWAY (Quando a terra foge / Quand la terre se dérobe) de Frederico Lobo (Portugal)
