CANNES DIRECTOR'S FORTNIGHT ANNOUNCED
The Director's Fortnight Section of the 79th Cannes Film Festival has been announced. That information was released on Tuesday. Taking a quick look at the titles, the only film that jumps out as a possibility for TFF #53 is Kantemir Balagov's Butterfly Jam. Balagov was at Telluride in 2029 with Beanpole. I will say that Reed van Dyk's Atonement sounds interesting and might be worth keeping an eye on.
Butterfly Jam (Kantemir Balagov)***
9 Temples To Heaven (Sompot Chidgasornpongse)
Atonement (Reed Van Dyk)
Clarissa (Arie Esiri & Chuko Esiri)
Death has no master (Jorge Thielen Armand)
The Diary of a Chambermaid (Radu Jude)
Dora (July Jung)
La libertad doble (Lisandro Alonso)
Gabin (Maxence Voiseux)
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning (Clio Barnard)
Low Expectations (Eivind Landsvik)
Once Upon A Time In Harlem (David Greaves)
La Perra (Dominga Sotomayor)
Shana (Lila Pinell)
Thanks for Coming (Merci d’être venu) (Alain Cavalier)
l’Espèce Explosive (Sarah Arnold)
Viva Carmen (Sebastian Laundenbach)
We Are Aliens (Kohei Kadowaki)
Le Vertige (Quentin Dupieux)
NEOIN GRABS HOPE
Reports that distributor NEON, which has a run of six straight films winning Cannes' Palme d'Or, has picked up U.S. distribution for Na Hong-jon's Hope. The film stars Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander. The acquisition makes me think that NEON thinks it could be a player when awards are handed out at the of Cannes. That's enough to make me think it might be a consideration for TFF.
The IMDb's description goes like this:
"A mysterious discovery is made on the outskirts of the remote harbor town. The residents find themselves in a desperate fight for survival against something they have never encountered before."
NEON's Palme run has included: Parasite, Titane, Triangle of Sadness, Anatomy of a Fall, Anora and It Was Just an Accident. All but Titane and Triangle of Sadness subsequently played at Telluride.
TONY MAY BE LATE
I have had Matt Johnson's Tony on the periphery of my lists of "maybe" films for TFF #53 but I might have to re-calculate as World of Reel reports that the film is headed for reshoots beginning as early as next week.
Tony is based on a real episode from the life of legendary chef Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain os being played by "The Holdovers" breakout Dominic Sessa. Plans apparently are for the film to be available for fall festival time even with the additional filming schedule to take place now.
https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2026/4/12/a24s-tony-matt-johnsons-anthony-bourdain-biopic-heads-to-reshoots-this-month
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