The 58th edition of Critics Week has unveiled its program for this years Cannes Film Festival. The section welcomes first or second features and boasts a number of debuts which will be eligible for the Camera dOr in 2019. Oscar-nominated Embrace Of The Serpent filmmaker Ciro Guerra is chairing the jury which will screen seven features in competition and 10 short films.
Three special screenings are also included in the lineup, among them the first feature directing effort of Hafsia Herzi. The Secret Of The Grain stars Tu Mérites Un Amour is described as a passionate love story and an assured debut. Also in special screenings are Franco Lollis Litigante, which will open CW, and Heroes Dont Die, a feature debut from Aude Léa Rapin that stars Adèle Haenel.
The competition titles include Vivarium, the second work by Irish filmmaker Lorcan Finnegan (Without Name). It stars Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg as a young couple whose life is turned upside-down when they find themselves trapped in a supernatural world. The sci-fi thriller is exec produced by XYZ Films which is also handling world sales.
Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason (Winter Brothers) is back with A White, White Day about a man (Everests Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson) contending with his wifes death and suspicions of infidelity. There is one intriguing French title in the bunch, Jérémy Clapins return to Critics Week with feature animation I Lost My Body about a young mans severed hand intent on finding its host. Co-written by Amélies Guillaume Laurant, its produced by Marc du Pontavices Xilam.
Also in Competition, Our Mothers is the first feature by the Guatemalan director César Díaz and revisits a tragic moment in the countrys history. The Unknown Saint, a caustic burlesque film thats the first feature from Moroccan director Alaa Eddine Aljem, is also in the mix. Abou Leila, the first film by the Algerian filmmaker Amin Sidi-Boumédienne, focuses on the search for two men and a runaway terrorist set against the backdrop of the mid-90s civil war. And Costa Rican director Sofía Quirós Ubeda also returns to Critics Week following an earlier appearance with a short film. Her debut feature, Land Of Ashes, centers on a teenager who was brought up in the countryside by her grandparents and discovers what life is as they are about to die.
The sections closing film will be the first part of a trilogy, Dwelling In The Fuchun Mountains, the first feature from young Chinese filmmaker Gu Xiaogang.
In total, the section received 1,605 short films and watched 1,050 features. Among the 11 selected features, there are eight first and three second films.
Along with Guerra on the jury are Amira Casar, Marianne Slot, Djia Mambu and Jonas Carpignano. Prizes to be awarded include the Nespresso Grand Prize, The Leitz Cine Discovery Prize, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award, the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution, the SACD Award and the Canal Plus Award for Short Film.
Heres the full list of titles revealed today:
SPECIAL SCREENINGS, FEATURES
Litigante, dir: Franco Lolli (Opening Film)
*Heroes Dont Die, dir: Aude Léa Rapin
*Tu Mérites Un Amour, diRead More – Source
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