As some of you might recall, back in 2020 the Cannes Film Festival was at first postponed to happen later on in the year before being cancelled outright all based on the Coronavirus Pandemic and how it affected every single aspect of our lives. Now, as the world slowly gets back into some sense of normalcy, the 2021 event has announced the films being showcased. Let’s take a look.

Competition

Opening Film:
Annette, Leos Carax (France)
The Story of My Wife, Ildikó Enyedi (Hungary)
Benedetta, Paul Verhoeven (Netherlands)
Bergman Island, Mia-Hansen-Love (France)
Drive My Car, Rysuke Hamaguchi (Japan)
Ha’Berech (Ahed’s Knee), Nadav Lapid (Israel)
Casablanca Beats, Nabil Ayouch (Morocco)
Compartment No. 6, Juho Kuosmanen (Finland)
The Worst Person in the World, Joachim Trier (Norway)
La Fracture, Catherine Corsini (France)
The Restless, Joachim Lafosse (Belgium)
Paris 13th District, Jacques Audiard (France)
Lingui, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Chad)
Memoria, Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand)
Nitram, Justin Kurzel (Australia)
France, Bruno Dumont (France)
Petrov’s Flu, Kirill Serebrennikov (Russia)
Red Rocket, Sean Baker (USA)
Flag Day, Sean Penn (USA)
The French Dispatch, Wes Anderson (USA)
Titane, Julia Ducournau (France)
Tre Piani, Nanni Moretti (Italy)
Tour S’Est Bien Passe, François Ozon (France)
A Heros, Asghar Farhadi (Iran)

Un Certain Regard:
Moneyboys, C.B Yi (Austria)
Blue Bayou, Justin Chon (USA)
Freda, Gessica Geneus (Haiti)
Delo (House Arrest), Alexey German Jr. (Russia)
Bonne Mere, Hafsia Herzi (France)
Noche de Fuego, Tatiana Huezo (Mexico)
Lamb, Valdimar Johansson (Iceland)
Commitment Hasan, Hasan Semih Kaplanoglu (Turkey)
After Yang, Kogonada (USA)
Let There Be Morning, Eran Kolirin (Israel)
Unclenching the Fists, Kira Kovalenko (Russia)
Women Do Cry, Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova (Bulgaria)
Rehana Maryam Noor, Abdullah Mohammad Saad (Bangladesh)
Great Freedom, Sebastian Meise (Austria)
La Civil, Teodora Ana Mihai (Romania / Belgium)
Gaey’s Wa’r, Na Jiazuo (China)
The Innocents, Eskil Vogt (Norway)
Un Monde, Laura Wandel (Belgium)

Out of Competition:
De Son Vivant, Emmanuelle Bercot (France)
Emergency Declaration, Han Jae-Rim (Korea)
The Velvet Underground, Todd Haynes (USA)
Bac Nord, Cédric Jimenez (France)
Aline, The Voice of Love, Valérie Lemercier (France)
Stillwater, Tom McCarthy (USA)

Midnight Screenings:
Bloody Oranges, Jean-Christophe Meurisse (France)

Cannes Premiere:
Hold Me Tight, Mathieu Amalric (France)
Cow, Andrea Arnold (UK)
Love Songs for Tough Guys, Samuel Benchetrit (France)
Deception, Arnaud Desplechin (France)
Jane Par Charlotte, Charlotte Gainsbourg (France)
In Front of Your Face, Hong Sang-Soo (Korea)
Mothering Sunday, Eva Husson (France)
Evolution, Kornél Mundruczo (Hungary)
Val, Ting Poo, Leo Scott (USA)
JFK Revisited: Through The Looking Glass, Oliver Stone (USA)

Special Screenings:
Mariner of the Mountains, Karim Ainouz (Brazil)
Black Notebooks, Shlomi Elkabetz (Israel)
Babi Yar. Context, Sergei Loznitsa (Ukraine)
H6, Yé Yé (France)
The Year of the Everlasting Storm, Jafar Panahi (Iran), Anthony Chen (Singapore), Malik Vitthal (USA), Laura Poitras (USA), Dominga Sotomayor (Chile), David Lowery (USA), and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand)

*** end of rundown ***

Piercing Ken Thoughts: While I consider myself to be a bit of a cinephile, I am not too up on films from around the world. Sadly, the subtitles just don’t do it for me and over the last few years I’ve relegated myself to following the more adventurous and bombastic films that take me away from the normal course of the day. That being said I know tons of people who follow outside of the states cinema on the screen and even the streaming services. I’ve one friend who I need to make sure isn’t missing their Korean dramas when I suggest some chat catch up time and thank the heavens for folks like that who expand the enjoyment of world entertainment. For now I will stick to Netflix and Disney+ but as I close this listing up I wonder what the readership thinks about the announcement. Topical notions can be left below in the comments section and maybe you know of a foreign release that deserved to be among the listings but wasn’t. Be sure to type that in and I will see you next time. Keep safe out there, we aren’t out of the wood yet after all.

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