Cannes Sets Up Strong, Starry & Slimmed-Down 75th Edition

Johnny Depp’s new movie Jeanne Du Barry will be launched for pre-sales at this month’s Cannes market, marking a first narrative feature for the actor in more than three years.

Zack Sharf Italian director, actor and producer Valeria Golino will serve as the president of the jury for this year’s Un Certain Regard sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival. Golino follows in the footsteps of last year’s jury president Andrea Arnold.

After what was rumored to be a long search, Thierry Fremaux has found his president for the 2022 Cannes Film Festival Jury. Legendary French actor Vincent Lindon, who starred in last year’s Palme d’Or winner, “Titane,” will take the mantle following Spike Lee‘s reign last year.

The 2022 edition of the Cannes Film Festival will include a record number of films directed or co-directed by female filmmakers, one year after Julia Ducouranu’s “Titane” took home the festival’s top award.

Cannes has announced its jury for the 75th annual festival next month, naming French actor Vincent Lindon as president of this year’s competition jury that will hand out the Palme D’Or, as well as naming stars Rebecca Hall and Noomi Rapace to the jury. Of the eight members on this year’s Cannes main competition jury, Lindon, Hall and Rapace will also be joined by “A Hero” director Asghar Farhadi, “Midnight Special” director Jeff Nichols, Indian actress Deepika Padukone, Italian actress and director Jasmine Trinca, “Les Miserables” actor and director Ladj Ly and “The Worst Person in the World” director Joachim Trier.

Wilson Chapman editorChristina Aguilera, Ricky Martin and Charli XCX will perform at this year’s amfAR benefit at the Cannes Film Festival. Robert De Niro will also be honored at the 28th annual event.amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, hosts the fashion show at Cannes Film Festival every year.

Cannes has added a raft of movies to its lineup ahead of the festival next month.

Claudia Eller Co-Editor-in-ChiefIt’s beyond distressing how women directors continue to get short shrift at Cannes.How could it be that this year only three movies helmed by females will be contenders in the main competition of the world’s most prestigious film festival?It’s horribly disappointing, but far from shocking, given that last year only four out of 21 competition titles were directed by females and considering Cannes’ poor track record when it comes to recognizing women filmmakers competing throughout its 75-year history. After all, just two movies by women directors, Jane Campion’s “The Piano” and Julia Ducournau’s “Titane,” have ever won the coveted Palme d’Or.Of course, I’m thrilled for director Kelly Reichardt (“Showing Up”), Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (“Forever Young”) and Claire Denis (“Stars at Noon”), but nonetheless their movies represent a meager portion of the 18 titles in competition at Cannes.

Cannes Directors’ Fortnight has unveiled its line-up for 2022. Scroll down to see the full list.

EXCLUSIVE: Concord Originals has partnered with Outfest Fusion to launch a one-of-a-kind short film financing and IP licensing initiative, in support of up-and-coming LGBTQIA+ filmmakers of color.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentA few hours after unveiling Cannes Film Festival’s 2022 Official Selection on the Champs Elysees, artistic director Thierry Fremaux sat down with Variety to discuss the festival’s drive to not give in to calls for a cultural boycott of Russian films and filmmakers, efforts to have more female directors in competition, discussions to bring back streamers in a near future and what those rumors about David Lynch in the lineup were about. The all-star competition lineup of this upcoming 75th edition boasts no less than four Palme d’Or winning directors, including Japanese master Kore-eda Hirokazu (Japan) and Swedish helmer Ruben Ostlund (“Triangle of Sadness”), as well new films by David Cronenberg (“Crimes of the Future”), Kelly Reichardt (”Showing Up”), James Gray (“Armageddon Time”) and dissident Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov (“Tchaïkovski’s Wife”).

a competition lineup with only three films directed by women. While additional films could still be added to the slate for next month’s festival, the Cannes lineup falls short of the already dismal record of the last two editions of the festival.

Michel Hazanavicius‘ horror-comedy, “Z (Comme Z)” (known as “Final Cut” in the U.S. thus far), was supposed to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, but when things when virtual, sale agents Wild Bunch International pulled the film from the festival.

Ukraine as a backdrop, the Cannes Film Festival plans a special honor for Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun” comeback and to host some 35,000 people as the movie industry looks to reclaim its pre-pandemic allure.On Thursday, organizers of this year's festival unveiled the 18 films that will compete for the coveted Palme d’Or prize at the May 17-28 event. They include “The Natural History of Destruction” by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, “All that Breathes” by Indian director Shaunak Sen, and Ethan Cohen’s “Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind.”Organizers will announce the jury at a later date.After a pandemic-related production delay, “Top Gun: Maverick,” in which Cruise reprises his 1986 role as a U.S.

Not only is the Cannes Film Festival returning to its traditional May timeframe for its 75th edition, but the easing of the pandemic means non-European attendees will no longer have to be tested for COVID every other day. Oh, and big world premieres are on tap too, of course.

As very recently mentioned, spring is in the air, cinephiles seem to be drunk with anticipation about the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, and perhaps with good reason. A new David Lynch film has been rumored and all but confirmed this week after Variety said two sources confirmed the rumor with them and another journalist had teased it on Twitter (and then was reportedly scolded for doing so).

After three straight-to-streaming original animated films were dumped on Disney+, Pixar is finally making its return to theaters with “Lightyear,” a sci-fi adventure film focused on the character Buzz Lightyear that the action figure from “Toy Story” is based on. There had been rumblings the new movie could be heading to this year’s Cannes Film Festival, but that isn’t going to happen.