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Gondry back in Cannes fray after eight years

Directors’ Fortnight unveils diverse line-up for 55th edition

by Richard Mowe

Pierre Niney fooling around on the first day of filming for Michel Gondry’s The Book of Solutions Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Directors' Fortnight

New films from Korean director Hong Sangsoo with In Our Day and the return of Michel Gondry, after a gap of eight years, with The Book of Solutions are among the highlights at Directors’ Fortnight, the edgier and indy section that runs in tandem to the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival.

The edition marks the first under the leadership of Julien Rejl as artistic director of what is now called the Quinzaine des Cinéastes (rather than Réalisateurs - making it more “gender inclusive”).

Premiere for Deserts, by Moroccan director Faouzi Bensaidi as part of Directors' Fortnight Photo: UniFrance

The selection displays a mix of emerging directors as well as established names. Hong Sangsoo will present In Our Day on closing night. This year's edition starts with a French thriller The Goldman Case, directed by Cédric Kahn, recounting the true story of Pierre Goldman, a French left-wing revolutionary who was convicted of several robberies and was mysteriously murdered. Goldman’s life spans childhood in the 1940s, to his relationship with Fidel Castro and the Black Panthers.

Gondry, the Oscar-winning writer-director of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, will present The Book of Solutions, described as an off-beat existential comedy starring Pierre Niney and Blanche Gardin.

English language titles include: The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed, the feature debut of actor-turned-director Joanna Arnow. Two more Stateside offerings feature in the array — The Sweet East marks the solo feature debut of Sean Price Williams, the acclaimed cinematographer of Good Time; and Riddle Of Fire, the feature debut of Weston Razooli.

Michel Gondry will be back on the Croisette for the first time in eight years Photo: UniFrance

Other noteworthy entries range from Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry by non-binary Georgian director Elene Naveriani; the psychological horror film In Flames by Canadian-Pakistani director Zarrar Kahn; Deserts, by Moroccan director Faouzi Bensaidi to Agra, by Indian director Kanu Behl.

A special screening will be hosted for Abraham’s Valley, a film by late Portuguese master Manoel de Oliveira.

The 55th edition also will pay tribute to Malian film-maker Souleymane Cissé who will receive the Carrosse d’Or award. The Quinzaine des Cinéastes will take place in Cannes from 17 to 26 May. Meanwhile French filmgoers can see part of the selection between June 7 and 18 in about 30 arthouse cinemas throughout France.

In other Cannes news France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (ACID) has unveiled the nine features it will showcase in its parallel Cannes section, running May 17-26. ACID focuses on films without French distributors and first features.

Six titles are world premieres including Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach’s animated family film Chicken For Linda!, which stars Laetitia Dosch and Clotilde Hesme in a story about a mother who feels guilty for punishing her daughter and tries to make it up to her by making her favourite chicken dish.

Directors’ Fortnight line-up