Movies from Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Ari Aster, Julia Ducournau, Kelly Reichardt and more will compete for the prestigious Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
The 2025 edition is shaping up to be a glamorous one with a large Hollywood presence — and of course, lots of stars. Earlier this week, it was officially announced that Tom Cruise will be back on the Croisette with “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” which is debuting out of competition. Also bowing out of competition is Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest” with star Denzel Washington present, a film that wasn’t included in the original announcement but was confirmed to Variety after Lee took to Instagram to break the news himself.
Other big names likely to be in attendance include Jodie Foster, who stars in Rebecca Zlotowski’s out-of-competition crime comedy “Vie Privée”; Josh O’Connor, who is leading two films in competition with Kelly Reichardt’s heist movie “The Mastermind” and Oliver Hermanus’ gay romance “The History of Sound” alongside Paul Mescal; Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal and Austin Butler, who feature in Aster’s A24 competition film “Eddington”; and the star-studded cast of Anderson’s “The Phoenician Scheme,” which includes Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Benedict Cumberbatch and Scarlett Johansson.
Johansson will also be at Cannes to premiere her directorial debut, “Eleanor the Great,” in the Un Certain Regard section. The drama stars June Squibb as a 90-year-old woman from Florida who moves to New York City after the death of her best friend and strikes up an unlikely friendship with a 19-year-old. In addition, “Babygirl” star Harris Dickinson will be debuting his first movie in the director’s chair, “Urchin,” in Un Certain Regard. The film stars Frank Dillane as Mike, a homeless man in London who struggles to reintegrate into society. Other first-time helmers in the sidebar include Harry Lighton, whose kinky romance “Pillion” stars Alexander Skarsgaard and Harry Melling, while Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù leads Akinola Davies Jr.’s first feature “My Father’s Shadow.”
Bono is also expected to attend Cannes for the first time with a film. The documentary “Bono: Stories of Surrender,” based on his autobiographical one-man stage show and from “Blonde” director Andrew Dominik, is being a given a special screening. The U2 frontman may not have to travel too far to attend, however, owning a home just along the French Riviera in the town of Eze.
While Hollywood’s A-list may be present across much of the festival, Cannes has opted for a typically local affair for its opening night film. Keeping in line with a five-year run of French curtain raisers, the 2025 edition will launch with comedy-drama “Leave One Day” (“Partir un Jour”), the feature directorial debut of Amélie Bonnin. Starring Juliette Armanet and Bastien Bouillon, the film is inspired by Bonnin’s 2023 César-winning short film.
Artistic director and general delegate Thierry Fremaux, who co-hosted the lineup press conference in Paris alongside president Iris Knobloch, revealed that the festival received a record number of 2,909 submissions. Overall, 68% of films playing at the festival were helmed by men, with 32% directed by women. Six female directors — including Ducournau (“Alpha”), Hayakawa Chie (“Renoir”), Hafsia Herzi (“La Petite Dernière”), Mascha Schilinski (“Sound of Falling”) and Carla Simón (“Romería”) — will compete for the Palme d’Or. The figure is the same as last year, and just one less than the record of seven set in 2023.
Fremaux, who recently delivered the documentary feature “Lumiere, l’aventure continue” which pays tribute to the Lumiere brothers, known as the founders of cinema, said the breadth and quality of movies submitted to Cannes is a proof that “cinema is alive, it’s not dead and continues to arouse the wildest desires everywhere,” even “130 years after its creation and only five years after the COVID pandemic.”
He said the films which Cannes selected this year “depict the world in which we live. It is a world full of violence and tension, but also full of love and humanity, of tolerance for others and of personal ethics.”
Rather than common themes with the films of the official selection, Fremaux noted there’s “the feeling of revolt, the spirit of contradiction and the belief in universal values.”
A few movies are always added after the presser across different sections, including in competition, and it seems that could be more so the case this year. Films that were expected in the lineup but not announced Thursday morning include Terrence Malick’s “The Way of the Wind” and Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut “The Chronology of Water.”
Introducing the press conference, Knobloch spoke about the festival’s role amid the current political turmoil which she said has remained the same since its inception. “For almost 80 years, the Cannes Film Festival has been in dialogue with the world, embodying a France that is bold, curious and open,” she said. “At a time when the temptation to turn in on oneself has never been so great, this message of openness and hope is fundamental. We are more aware than ever of the role played by the Cannes Film Festival through its cultural and media impact. This openness to others, to difference, to the new, is the very essence of its identity, of its DNA.”
As previously announced, Juliette Binoche will preside over the jury, while Robert De Niro will receive this year’s honorary Palme d’Or. The festival will take place from May 13 to 24.
See all the titles playing at Cannes Film Festival below.
OPENING FILM
“Leave One Day” (“Partir un Jour”), Amélie Bonnin
COMPETITION
“The Phoenician Scheme,” Wes Anderson
“Eddington,” Ari Aster
“Young Mothers” (“Jeunes Mères”), Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne
“Alpha,” Julia Ducournau
“Renoir,” Hayakawa Chie
“The History of Sound,” Oliver Hermanus
“La Petite Dernière,” Hafsia Herzi
“Sirat,” Oliver Laxe
“New Wave” (“Nouvelle Vague”), Richard Linklater
“Two Prosecutors,” Sergei Loznitsa
“Fuori,” Mario Martone
“The Secret Agent” (“O Secreto Agente”), Kleber Mendonça Filho
“Dossier 137,” Dominik Moll
“It Was Just an Accident” (“Un Simple Accident”), Jafar Panahi
“The Mastermind,” Kelly Reichardt
“Aigles of the Republic,” Tarik Saleh
“Sound of Falling,” Mascha Schilinski
“Romería,” Carla Simón
“Sentimental Value,” Joachim Trier
UN CERTAIN REGARD
“The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo” (“La Misteriosa Mirada del Flamenco”), Diego Céspedes
“Météors,” Hubert Charuel
“My Father’s Shadow,” Akinola Davies Jr.
“L’Inconnu de la Grande Arche,” Stéphane Demoustier
“Urchin,” Harris Dickinson
“Homebound,” Neeraj Ghaywan
“A Pale View of Hills” (“Toi Yamanamino Hikari”), Ishikawa Kei
“Eleanor the Great,” Scarlett Johansson
“Karavan,” Zuzana Kirchnerová
“Pillion,” Harry Lighton
“Aisha Can’t Fly Away,” Morad Mostafa
“Once Upon a Time in Gaza,” Arab Nasser and Tarzan Nasser
“The Plague,” Charlie Polinger
“Promised Sky,” Erige Sehiri
“The Last One for the Road” (“Le Città di Pianura”), Francesco Sossai
“Heads or Tails”? (“Testa o Croce?”), Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis
OUT OF COMPETITION
“Colours of Time,” Cédric Klapisch
“The Richest Woman in the World” (“La Femme la Plus Riche du Monde”), Thierry Klifa
“Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” Christopher McQuarrie
“Vie Privée,” Rebecca Zlotowski
“Highest 2 Lowest,” Spike Lee
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
“Bono: Stories of Surrender,” Andrew Dominik
“Tell Her That I Love Her,” Romane Bohringer
“A Magnificent Life,” Sylvain Chomet
MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
“The Residence” (“Dalloway”), Yann Gozlan
“Exit 8,” Kawamura Genki
“Sons of the Neon Night” (“Feng Lin Huo Shan”), Mak Juno
CANNES PREMIERE
“Amrum,” Fatih Akin
“Splitsville,” Michael Angelo Covino
“The Wave” (“La Ola”), Sebastián Lelio
“Connemara,” Alex Lutz
“Orwell: 2+2=5,” Raoul Peck
“The Disappearance of Josef Mengele” (“Das Verschwinden des Josef Mengele”), Kirill Serebrennikov
From Variety US