‘The Eight Mountains’ Directors Felix van Groeningen, Charlotte Vandermeersch Discuss Cannes Competition Title, Debut Trailer (EXCLUSIVE)

Clayton Davis The 2022 Cannes Film Festival is nearing its conclusion, and soon the jury will be selecting awards for this year’s impressive, albeit quieter, slate of films. After last year’s “Titane” from Julia Ducournau made history as the first female-directed film to fully win the Palme d’Or (Jane Campion’s “The Piano” tied with “Farewell My Concubine” in 1993), at this point in the festival, it doesn’t seem likely that a woman-directed project will walk away with it this year.“Forever Young” by French-Italian director Valeria Bruni Tedeschi seems to be the only film directed by a woman that has so far invoked any passion for bringing it to the finish line.

Marta Balaga Italy’s Valerio Ferrara was named the winner of the 25th edition La Cinef for his warm take on a hapless barber who believes in conspiracy theories in “A Conspiracy Man” (“Il Barbiere Complottista”). Laughing stock of his family, nobody takes him seriously. Until he is arrested by the police.“Personally, I have a special affection for the cinema of this country,” said Canadian actor Monia Chokri, praising the director’s sense of humor.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentAndres Ramirez Pulido’s “La Jauria” won the Grand Prize at Critics’ Week, the Cannes Film Festival’s sidebar dedicated to first and second features. The Colombian film also won the SACD prize.

Pablo Sandoval World premiering at the Cannes ACID showcase, “Polaris” explores the intimate relationship between two sisters, Hayat and Leila. The film, set between the isolated Northern Sea and warm, well-connected France, aims to bring a human perspective to this tale of sisterhood set against dramatic land- and seascapes.“Polaris” marks the doc feature debut of Spain’s director Ainara Vera whose experience includes workings a first AD and co-editor on several of Victor Kossakovsky’s productions, including the Berlinale 2020-selected  “Gunda.”Vera and Hayat met on the shoot of another Kossakovsky movie, “Aquarela,” during which the two fostered a bond, with Hayat serving on Kossakovsky and Vera’s sailors crew.

Gregg Goldstein Belgian director Lukas Dhont is in rare company. His 2018 Un Certain Regard debut, “Girl,” won the Caméra d’Or and three more Cannes prizes, besting the number of first-time feature wins from the likes of Steven Soderbergh and Steve McQueen. And while his rise has come with some controversy, he earned a place in competition with the May 26 Lumière gala premiere of his sophomore effort, “Close.” The story of two 13-year-old boys whose powerful friendship ends when their relationship comes under scrutiny “started from a very personal place,” says the out director, who penned the script with “Girl” co-writer Angelo Tijssens.

Cannes Film Festival is making efforts to diversify beyond the cavalcade of many of the same male auteurs. Instead, there will be a record number of women directors in competition.Now the bad news.

The 2022 Cannes Film Festival opened amid concerns around journalistic independence. Now there are concerns regarding jury independence.

other melancholy tale about two men forming and fostering a life-defining love at a steep elevation.Van Groeningen and Vandermeersch’s “The Eight Mountains” – which premiered in competition at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday – is more than just a Dudes Rock “Brokeback Mountain.” Still, there is something to the comparison. Not for any narrative likeness – as a story about friendship, “The Eight Mountains” explores a bond more fraternal than romantic.

For his most subdued film yet, Belgian director Felix van Groeningen, along with co-directing partner Charlotte Vandermeersch take to the Italian Alps for a decades-spanning story of friendship. Following Groeningen’s solo effort, 2018’s “Beautiful Boy,” “The Eight Mountains” is a quiet return to form with its stunning mountain scenery and strong performances from Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi, but this elegiac personal epic is far too languid for its length.

Woody Allen, Gerard Depardieu and Johnny Depp all walk into a restaurant.That’s not the beginning of a bad joke — the three controversial men are looming over a favorite eatery in the South of France, and have been for years.La Pizza Cresci, a famous spot frequented for decades by Hollywood players who have visited the Cannes Film Festival, has immortalized the trio in a large mural of cinema legends.The portrait is on the restaurant’s second floor, opposite sweeping views of the French Riviera. As guests snack on plates of pasta and creamy burrata, they can’t help but make eye contact with an illustrated Allen (who was accused of rape by his then 7-year-old adoptive daughter, Dylan, in 1992) seen playing the clarinet.

After breaking out internationally in 2012 with his Oscar-nominated drama The Broken Circle Breakdown, and making his Hollywood debut in 2018 with Beautiful Boy, Felix van Groeningen makes his Competition debut in Cannes with The Eight Mountains, perhaps the most understated film of his career so far.

Jessica Kiang Mountains are not formed in an instant. Tectonic plates may buckle like the crumpling hoods of crashing cars, but it’s a collision that takes thousands of millennia to play out, and on a human timescale, seems infinitesimally slow.

William Earl Variety will partner with Campari to bring the Variety Studio to the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. The interview studio will run May 18 – 25 and feature conversations with top directors and stars attending the 75th annual fest.Talent participating in the interview studio includes Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, Michael Banks Repeta, Jaylin Webb and writer/director James Gray from “Armageddon Time” (Focus Features), a coming-of-age story about family and the generational pursuit of the American dream; Julianne Moore and Jesse Eisenberg from his feature directorial debut, “When You Finish Saving the World” (A24), a comedy-drama about a mother (Moore) and her teenage son’s (Finn Wolfhard) complex relationship; Paul Mescal and writer-director Charlotte Wells from “Aftersun” (Pastel), an intimate drama following Sophie (Frankie Corio) as she reflects on a holiday she took with her father (Mescal) 20 years earlier; Alicia Vikander and writer-director Olivier Assayas from “Irma Vep” (HBO), a remake of the French silent film classic “Les Vampires”; and writer-director Park Chan-wook, and actors Tang Wei and Park Hae-il from “Decision to Leave” (Mubi), a thriller following a detective’s investigation of a man’s death in the mountains.

CANNES, France -- Tom Cruise mania descended Wednesday in Cannes where the actor made a whirlwind appearance at the French film festival to screen “Top Gun: Maverick," exalt the big screen and sit for a rare interview.Cruise brought a palpable buzz to the Croisette, where throngs gathered around the Palais des Festivals to get a glimpse of the 59-year-old star. Cruise hadn't been to the festival in three decades.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFive years after winning Cannes’ Camera d’Or prize with her debut feature, “Jeune Femme,” French writer-filmmaker Leonor Serraille graduated to a competition slot with “Mother and Son,” a timely family drama spanning three decades. Serraille is one of the five female directors competing for this year’s Palme d’Or.“Mother and Son” charts the lives of a young African woman, Rose, and two of her four children, Jean and Ernest, who come to France from the Ivory Coast in the 1980s with high ideals.

Lise Pedersen The fourth edition of Animation Day, which is part of the Cannes Film Festival’s Market, will take place on May 22.A one-day event aimed at the global animation filmmaking community, it is a joint initiative launched in 2019 by the Cannes Film Market and the Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival, in partnership with Animation! Ventana Sur, the animation branch of Latin America’s leading film market.This edition will kick off with the Annecy Goes to Cannes pitching sessions, featuring five works-in-progress projects at various stages of development.

The debut of a Scottish director is one of seven films to be selected for Critic's Week at the Cannes Film Festival in a spectacular moment for Scottish cinema.

Manori Ravindran International EditorIn one of the first major deals of the Cannes market, Sony Pictures Classics has swooped on Un Certain Regard title “All The People I’ll Never Be.” The distributor has picked up rights in North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.The film, which is written and directed by Davy Chou (“Diamond Island”), will be re-titled as “Return to Seoul.” It premieres in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday.The pic centers on 25-year-old Freddie, who impulsively returns to South Korea for the first time, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France. The headstrong young woman starts looking for her biological parents in a country she knows so little about, taking her life in new and unexpected directions.

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the North American rights and other territories to “All The People I’ll Never Be,” a film from writer and director Davy Chou that is playing in the Un Certain Regard section on Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival. SPC is also planning on re-titling the movie in English, “Return to Seoul,” which is the translation of its actual title in French. In addition to North America, the distributor also acquired rights to the film in Latin America, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.“All The People I’ll Never Be” is the story of a 25-year-old woman who, on an impulse, returns to South Korea for the first time where she was born before being adopted and raised in France.

Ahead of its world premiere in Un Certain Regard section of Cannes, the Davy Chou directed and written feature All the People I’ll Never Be has been picked up by Sony Pictures Classics.