Audiences at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, which will run from May 14th to 25th, will be able to discover many films from Mediterranean countries within the various sections. Here is an overview of the selected films:
In the Un certain regard category, which is for as-yet little-known filmmakers, two Mediterranean films caught the attention of the festival programmers. The first is Papicha, an Algerian film directed by Mounia Meddour and featuring Lyna Khoudri and Nadia Kaci. The second, Adam, is a Moroccan feature by Maryam Touzani, better known for her role in Nabil Ayouch’s Razzia.
In the Directors’ Fortnight, a non-competitive section playing in parallel to the main festival, two Mediterranean films will be given their world premiere: Tlamess, the second feature by Tunisian director Ala Eddine Slim, who won an award at the 2016 Venice Film Festival for The Last of Us, and Je te tiens, Spanish short by Sergio Caballero.
Of the 19 films competing in the Official Selection, 4 are from the Mediterranean region. Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar presents his new film Dolor y gloria, featuring his favorite actors Pénélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas. The director has already received two awards at Cannes: one for Best Director in 1999 for All About My Mother and one for Best Screenplay for Volver in 2006. Two years ago he was president of the jury for the 70th Cannes Festival.
Marco Bellocchio, also a regular at the Cannes Film Festival, is in the running for the Palme d’Or with his film The Traitor, about the Sicilian mafia in the 1980’s. Palestine is represented by director Elia Suleiman, whose film It Must Be Heaven has been selected. Finally, the Romanian director and producer Corneliu Porumboiu will go up the red carpet for the screening of his film The Whistlers.
The awards ceremony will take place on May 25th at the Palais des Festivals.
Sources: https://www.huffpostmaghreb.com, https://www.quinzaine-realisateurs.com, https://www.festival-cannes.com/fr/
