Cannes 2019 Lineup Includes 'Rocketman,' Films From Terrence Malick, Bong Joon-Ho, And 13 Female Directors
The Cannes 2019 lineup has been announced for the prestigious film festival's 72nd annual outing. The official selection so far includes films by Terrence Malick (A Hidden Life), Pedro Almodovar (Pain & Glory), and Bong Joon ho (Parasite), as well as Dexter Fletcher's high-profile Elton John biopic Rocketman, which is set to make its debut with John himself making an appearance on the Croisette.
But most notably, 12 of the 47 films announced Thursday are directed by women (one co-directed by two women), with four of those films up for competition for the Palme D'Or. While this is an exciting uptick from last year's male-dominated selection, it is still a weak number considering the festival's decision to put Agnes Varda on its official poster in honor of the legendary French New Wave filmmaker's passing.
Jim Jarmusch's star-studded zombie flick The Dead Don't Die was confirmed to be the opening night movie of the festival, but the most buzzy world premiere at Cannes this year will be Rocketman, which is set for the May 16 slot, according to Deadline.
But noticeably missing from the Cannes 2019 lineup was Quentin Tarantino's highly anticipated Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, though there may still be time as more titles are added at later dates. Festival chief Thierry Frémaux said it's not quite ready, but that he hopes to add it. Frémaux said that what he's seen of the Tarantino movie is "magnificent." Neither are Netflix titles like Steven Soderbergh's The Laundromat or Martin Scorsese's The Irishman, anywhere to be seen, though considering the ongoing feud between Cannes and Netflix, it's unlikely either will be up for Competition.
However, the pain of those films' absence is softened a bit by the presence of four female-directed films in Competition for the Palme D'Or, more than any in recent years. They include Jessica Hausner's Little Joe, Justine Triet's Sibyl, Mati Diop's Atlantique, and Céline Sciamma's Portrait Of A Lady On Fire.
Below is the full lineup at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, which runs from May 14-25, 2019.
OPENERThe Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch)COMPETITIONAtlantique (Mati Diop)Bacurau (Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles)Frankie (Ira Sachs)A Hidden Life (Terrence Malick)It Must Be Heaven (Elia Suleiman)Les Misérables (Ladj Ly)Little Joe (Jessica Hausner)Matthias and Maxime (Xavier Dolan)Oh Mercy! (Arnaud Desplechin)Pain and Glory (Pedro Almodóvar)Parasite (Bong Joon Ho)Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma)Sibyl (Justine Triet)Sorry We Missed You (Ken Loach)The Traitor (Marco Bellocchio)The Whistlers (Corneliu Porumboiu)The Wild Goose Lake (Diao Yinan)The Young Ahmed (Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne)UN CERTAIN REGARDAdam (Maryam Touzani)Beanpole (Kantemir Balagov)A Brother's Love (Monia Chokri)Bull (Annie Silverstein)The Climb (Michael Covino)Evge (Nariman Aliev)Freedom (Albert Serra)Invisible Life (Karim Aïnouz)Joan of Arc (Bruno Dumont)Chambre 212 (Christophe Honoré)Papicha (Mounia Meddour)Port Authority (Danielle Lessovitz)Summer of Changsha (Zu Feng)The Swallows of Kabul (Zabou Breitman & Eléa Gobé Mévellec)A Sun That Never Sets (Olivier Laxe)Zhuo Ren Mi Mi (Midi Z)OUT OF COMPETITIONThe Best Years of a Life (Claude Lelouch)Diego Maradona (Asif Kapadia)La Belle Époque (Nicolas Bedos)Rocketman (Dexter Fletcher)Too Old to Die Young – North of Hollywood, West of Hell (Nicolas Winding Refn), picturedMIDNIGHT SCREENINGSThe Gangster, the Cop, the Devil (Lee Won-Tae)SPECIAL SCREENINGSFamily Romance, LLC. (Werner Herzog)For Sama (Waad Al Kateab, Edward Watts)Que Sea Ley (Juan Solanas)Share (Pippa Bianco)To Be Alive and Know It (Alain Cavalier)Tommaso (Abel Ferrara)