The selections for the 72nd Festival de Cannes were announced in Paris early Wednesday morning and, as expected, it promised a star-studded affair. New films from Pedro Almodovar, Xavier Dolan, Terrence Malick, Bong Joon-ho, Ira Sachs and Ken Loach, will premiere in competition. The out-of-competition selections include Dexter Fletcher’s Elton John biopic “Rocketman” and two episodes of Nicolas Winding-Refn‘s upcoming series “Too Old To Die Young.”
READ MORE: Netflix will once again skip the 2019 Cannes Film Festival
During the press conference, Cannes creative director Thierry Fremaux said “romanticism and politics” are evident in this year’s selections. He noted, “You will see female filmmakers, first movies, painters, female painters, cops, zombies, judges, migrants.” He also added that this year’s festival will include 13 female directors across all categories.
Some of the films that were rumored to be announced that were not included Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood,” Alice Winocour’s “Proxima,” Abdellatif Kechiche’s “Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due,” Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano’s “The Specials” and Anthony Chen’s “Wet Season.” Fremaux says he hopes there will be “good news” that Tarantino will be added eventually, but the 35 mm process is potentially hampering that goal. More films will be announced for the official competition, however, in the weeks to come.
The films revealed this morning included:
IN COMPETITION
“Atlantique,” Mati Diop
“A Hidden Life,” Terrence Malick
“Bacurau,” Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
“The Dead Don’t Die,” Jim Jarmusch
“Frankie,” Ira Sachs
“It Must Be Heaven,” Elia Suleiman
“Les Miserables,” Ladj Ly
“Little Joe,” Jessica Hausner
“Matthias & Maxime,” Xavier Dolan
“Nighthawk,” Kleber Mendonça Filho
“Oh Mercy!,” Arnaud Desplechin
“Pain & Glory,” Pedro Almodovar
“Parasite,” Bong Joon-ho
“Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” Celine Sciamma
“Sorry We Missed You,” Ken Loach
“Sybil,” Justine Triet
“Traitor,” Marco Bellocchio
“The Whistlers,” Corneliu Porumboiu
“The Wild Goose Lake,” Diao Yinan
“Young Ahmed,” Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
UN CERTAIN REGARD
“Adam,” Maryam Touzani
“A Sun That Never Sets,” Olivier Laxe
“A Brother’s Love,” Monia Chokri
“Beanpole,” Kantemir Balagov
“Bull,” Annie Silverstein
“The Climb,” Michael Covino
“Chambre 212,” Christophe Honoré
“Evge,” Nariman Aliev
“Invisible Life,” by Karim Aïnouz
“Joan of Arc,” Bruno Dumont
“Liberte,” by Albert Serra
“Papicha,” Mounia Meddour
“Port Authority,” Danielle Lessovitz
“Summer of Changsha,” Zu Feng
“The Swallows of Kabul,” Zabou Breitman & Eléa Gobé Mévellec
“Zhou Ren Mi Mi,” Midi Z
OUT OF COMPETITION
“The Best Years of a Life,” Claude Lelouch
“Rocketman,” Dexter Fletcher
“Too Old To Die Young,” Nicolas Winding-Refn*
“Diego Maradona,” Asif Kapadia
“La Belle Époque,” Nicolas Bedos
*Two episodes, fourth and fifth, of the upcoming Amazon Prime series.
MIDNIGHT
“The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil” Lee Won-Tae
SPECIAL SCREENING
“Être Vivant et Le Savior,” Alain Cavalier
“Family Romance, LLC,” Werner Herzog
“For Sama,” Waad Al Kateab and Edward Watts
“Que Sea Ley,” Juan Solanas
“Share,” Pippa Bianco
“Tomasso,” Abel Ferrara
The 2019 Cannes Film Festival runs from May 14-25. Look for complete coverage on The Playlist for the duration of the festival.