After taking a year off due to COVID-19, Cannes’ Critics’ Week, the parallel side-bar part of Cannes that focuses on first and second films by emerging filmmakers, is back and has revealed its line-up. The head of the jury for the 60th edition of Semaine de la Critique, as it is known in France, will be led by Romanian auteur Cristian Mungiu, and it’s a very French-heavy line-up. There are 13 world premieres total and seven of them in competition.
The opening night film will be, Constance Meyer’s ” Robuste (Robust),” which stars Gérard Depardieu, Déborah Lukumuena, Lucas Mortier and more. The film centers on an aging film star (Depardieu) given a substitute, assistant, Aïssa (Lukumuena) when his main right man has to go away for a few weeks. The disillusioned actor and the young female security guard forge a special relationship and bond.
Additional highlights include Julie Lecoustre and Emmanuel Marre’s thought-provoking “Zero Fucks Given,” starring Adèle Exarchopoulos (“Blue Is the Warmest Color”) as a struggling young woman working as a flight attendant for a low-cost airline; Leyla Bouzid’s erotic tale of desire “A Tale of Love and Desire,” and closing night film; and Sandrine Kiberlain’s “A Radiant Girl,” about a young Jewish woman who aspires to become an actress in 1942, in Nazi-occupied France.
After presenting her short film “Pauline Enslaved” (Pauline asservie) for the 2018 competition, filmmaker Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet, who took part in the La Semaine de la Critique’s Next Step workshop to write her first feature, has graduated to competition with “Anaïs in Love (Les Amours d’Anaïs).“
Here is the full lineup of the 2021 edition:
Opening Film
“Robuste,” Constance Meyer
Special Screenings
“Anaïs in Love,” Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
“Bruno Reidal, Confessions of a Murderer,” Vincent Le Port
“Petite Nature,” Samuel Theis
“A Radiant Girl,” Sandrine Kiberlain
Closing Film
“A Tale of Love and Desire,” Leyla Bouzid
In Competition
“Amparo,” Simón Mesa Soto
“Feathers,” Elie Grappe
“Libertad,” Clara Roquet
“The Gravedigger’s Wife,” Khadar Ayderus Ahmed
“Olga,” Omar El Zohairy
“Small Body,” Laura Samani
“Zero Fucks Given,” Julie Lecoustre & Emmanuel Marre
Short Films in Competition
“Brutalia, Days of Labour,” Manolis Mavris
“Lili Alone,” Zou Jing
“An Invitation,” Hao Zhao & Yeung Tung
“Inherent,” Nicolai G.H Johansen
“Intercom 15,” Andrei Epure
“If It Ain’t Broke,” Elinor Nechemya
“Noir-soleil,” Marie Larrivé
“Safe,” Ian Barling
“Soldat noir,” Jimmy Laporal-Trésor
“On Solid Ground,” Jela Hasler
Cannes’ Critics’ Week runs from July 7 to July 15. Watch the selection video below.
