Oscar Season 2025-2026: Countdown to Cannes, Official Lineup Reveal Predictions

On this episode of ACADEMY ANONYMOUS:

We take a deep dive into which titles we foresee in tomorrow's major Cannes announcement!!

Episode Transcript

Joseph (00:14):
Hello, friends, and welcome to a very special
episode of Academy Anonymous.
I am your host, joseph, and I'mflying solo today.
Jules could not be here, but hewill be here for the next
episode and I'm here with aspecial bulletin because I'm
covering what is going to be thelead-up to the announcement,

(00:34):
the official announcement by theCannes Film Festival of the
competition lineup.
This is the Countdown to Cannes.
We started this a few weeks ago, a few episodes ago, and so
this will be be part two of ourconversation, just to give you a
heads up of what you cananticipate for tomorrow.
Of course, remember that thefestival runs from May 13 to May

(00:55):
24.
So a lot of big titles here onthe sort of international
spectrum of filmmaking, butwe're also going to see some, I
think, advanced screenings ofsome pretty important
blockbuster titles, and I thinkthat is probably the place to
start.
So let's start by talking aboutsome of these special
screenings that we'll be seeingor that we're likely to be

(01:15):
seeing.
On the official kind ofannouncement, I do think that
they'll include this in theannouncement and they're not
part of the official competitionlineup, but I think we're going
to be seeing a revelation ofsome titles that are going to
come from the states that aregoing to play out of competition
, and there's already beenrumblings about one, and that
should certainly be MissionImpossible, the Final Reckoning.

(01:37):
We know that's going to be abig summer movie from Paramount,
and the best place for it tobow would be at the Cannes Film
Festival.
Of course, you know Tom Cruise,no stranger to Cannes.
Everyone knows about the stuntthat he did for the Olympics the
most recent Olympics so I'msure that France is going to

(01:59):
embrace him with open arms.
So look out for Tom on thecassette, remember, the official
release date for that film isMay 23rd, as of today, and so
that lines up pretty well withthis festival Not Tom's first
time there.
At the same time, keep in mindthat it's interesting to see
Mission Impossible premieringthere.
Some of the bigger blockbustersfrom the studios have not fared

(02:22):
well after premiering there.
I think tom is going to have youknow, uh, he's going to break
that pattern.
I do think final reckoning isgoing to do well, um, he has a
lot of the same collaboratorscoming back from the original
dead reckoning part one, whichis now dead reckoning um,
including the editor who wasnominated for an oscar for

(02:44):
maverick and the sound designersgot a couple of them there
nominations for top gun,maverick and belfast, and of
course they broke throughfinally with mission impossible.
Dead reckoning and even some ofthe visual effects artists are
coming from dead reckoning partone, which again finally broke
through at the oscars for thisfranchise, and so I, if this is

(03:05):
a big summer movie, this isanother title that'll probably
end up being a big contender forthe Oscars in terms of things
like sound and visual effects.
You know how good the film is,how well received it is at con
by critics, internationally,domestically, how much money it
makes.
All of those things are signsthat could potentially push the

(03:26):
movie further up the ladder interms of what kind of embrace it
would get from the academy.
We'll see what happens.
I was a big fan of deadreckoning part one and I would
never have thought that deadreckoning would have been the
film to break through formission impossible.
But now that it has brokenthrough, you know, I think it it
opens up the possibility forthis final chapter in the

(03:48):
franchise, and maybe the finalchapter for Tom in the franchise
, to sort of show up in othercategories and let alone repeat
in those same categories.
So watch out for, in my opinion,is something like F1, with
Tom's former collaborator,joseph Kaczynski.

(04:10):
He's the director of Top GunMaverick and this has a big sort
of splashy summer bow, also onJune 27th.
That's coming from WarnerBrothers handling the theatrical
, and Apple TV is going tostream it later, but it's a
collaboration from both of them.
It seems to me like this wouldbe the place to sort of have

(04:31):
that film premiere as a specialscreening, a lot of anticipation
for this film.
Again, I think it's a veryglobal film.
Some interesting keycollaborators here for F1,
including Claudia Miranda, whowas the DP of Top Gun Maverick,
who got snubbed for that film.
Hans Zimmer's doing the score.
He's a reputable favorite atthe Academy.
You have Steven Marion doingthe editing, very, very well

(04:54):
regarded within the Academy, andyou have a lot of good sound
designers Gary Rizzo, forexample, who won for Top Gun
Maverick.
Gwendolyn Yates is also there.
So, uh, this is a film that, ifit does premiere at Cannes, you
should totally you knowanticipate it.
You know being a contender incategories uh, below the line,
at least, you know, incategories like editing and

(05:16):
sound.
Um, maybe even, uh, the thework of the DP Claudia Miranda,
who got snubbed last time.
So look out for that.
I think I'm not sure what thereception is going to be for
this movie.
I know the anticipation is veryhigh.
I know Brad is in this.
They've released footage.
They've released a trailer.
If you want to look at it.

(05:36):
I wasn't too impressed with it.
I'm not sure this is, you know,reed sort of maybe coattailing
on the Top Gun Maverick formulawithout the legacy of Top Gun
Maverick.
So we'll see what happens.
But I think we can see that.
I think one film that peoplehave sort of spotlighted as a

(05:58):
contender in competition I thinkit's actually a better
contender for a specialscreening.
It's actually a bettercontender for a special
screening and a lot of peoplehave been quoting Spike Lee's
most recent film, highest toLowest, as a movie that we'll
see in competition.
I don't disqualify that, butfor some reason I'm feeling that
it is going to land in aspecial screening out of

(06:22):
competition.
Of course, this film from SpikeLee sort of a reinterpretation,
as he said, of Kira Kurosawa'sHigh to Low and I think Spike
Lee was in competition last forBlack Klansman, which did very
well eventually got on for BestPicture and got Spike Lee, his

(06:43):
first Oscar, and the Five Bloods, I believe was meant to play
out of competition, but COVIDhappened that year.
Um, of course, you know DenzelWashington is in this um, but I
think Halle Berry, who was atone point involved, may no
longer be involved.
I'm not seeing too much of heron the IMDB page.
The other key actors that Iwould keep an eye out in terms

(07:07):
of roles and performances thatare going to call out to critics
I would keep an eye out forJeffrey Wright and A$AP Rocky,
who I think are going to havegood parts in this film, aside
from Denzel, of course.
And you're going to have a lotof Spike Lee's previous
collaborators here, includingthe cinematographer of choice

(07:28):
lately, which is MatthewLevitique, who shot Chirac
Inside man for Spike Lee.
You have the editor from BlackKlansman coming back he was
nominated for that and even somesound designers from Black
Klansman and the Five Bloodscoming for this film.
So this is a collaborationbetween A24 and Apple TV.

(07:50):
Interesting that Apple TV hasboth these titles, but I do
think that it would beappropriate to see at least one
of these Highest to Lowest or F1there repping Apple TV.
I don't think that there's toomany titles from A24.
And so this would make it agood place for A24 to somewhat
be in the festival.
I doubt that A24 is going totake the festival off.

(08:12):
I think their brand is justgrowing domestically,
internationally, and so theywant to be part of this festival
, not just on the acquisitionside but on the side of
displaying.
You know some of the work thatthey've been doing lately.
So I do think Hi ISA Lois isgoing to play the festival out
of competition, which sort ofbrings us to the next couple of

(08:33):
titles, jumping off the A24train.
Right, because there are a fewtitles, some of which some
people are flirting with, otherswhich others have dismissed.
Let's talk about 824's othertitle which could really land
here, which is eddington, right,and that's from ari aster.
Uh, and that's 824, um, pedropascal's in that.

(08:54):
Emma stone, joaquin phoenix,austin butler uh, it'll be very
interesting to see this movie.
Um, because it'll be the firsttime that ari aster is
collaborating with thecinematographer Darius Kanji.
Darius Kanji, I think theIranian cinematographer very
open to working with newfilmmakers, filmmakers he hasn't

(09:15):
collaborated with before, comeup with some exceptional work.
Think about Uncut Gems.
That was the first time hecollaborated with the Safdie
brothers.
Think about Uncut Gems.

(09:39):
That was the first time hecollaborated with the Safdie
brothers.
He's also shot the Immigrantand Armageddon Time for James
white, which is a new move forAri Aster.
We'll see if that's the case.
Another interesting thing hereis you have the some of the
makeup team behind Willis Afraidcoming back and we know that
that sort of placed on the longlist for makeup.

(10:02):
Even some of those individualswere involved with the
Apprentice, which was also longlisted.
So I think we may have anotherAri Aster piece that has a good
deal of makeup in it.
Prosthetics work and maybe evenmakeup effects work.
So that would be interesting tosee.
I mean, ari Aster has not beenembraced by the Academy yet.
Although we know just from lastyear and the embrace of Sean

(10:28):
Baker and Robert Eggers thatit's only a matter of time
before Ari Aster gets embracedby the Academy.
I question whether he'll haveto make something a little bit
more neutral, a little less AriAster, to finally be embraced.
You know, I wonder if he isnisn't more and I've had this
discussion with jules if heisn't more.
David fincher, who had to besort of was, was only embraced

(10:54):
with all those nominations afterthe curious case of benjamin
budden, which is a verydifferent film for david fincher
, as opposed to his work onfilms like Seven, for example,
than the Coen brothers.
Right, because the Coenbrothers, when they're embraced
by the Academy for Fargo, that'svery much, you know, a tried
and true Coen brothers sort offilm.

(11:17):
I do wonder if Ari Aster isgoing to have to release a film
that, you know, maybe theAcademy would label less
indulgent or easier to sort ofaccess than his other work,
which is, which is fantastic.
Um, so we'll see what happenswith that, but I I think, um,
this would be the biggest titlethat A24 could potentially get

(11:38):
into competition.
Um, you know, a24 isinteresting because I think,
looking at their history, uh,they acquired the film Close in
the 2022 competition and theyshowed, or they presented
showing up that same year.
So they presented, uh, theirown production showed up and

(11:58):
they acquired Close in 2022.
And in 2023, they presentedtheir production of the zone of
interest, which did really well,and in 2024, I believe, they
ended up acquiring parthenopebefore it actually premiered at
the con film festival, rightafter it was announced, um, as,
as partaking in competition, ofcourse, parthenope being the

(12:21):
italian title which, at the endthey couldn't really get into
any Oscar category, but they didbuy that.
So the question is is A24 goingto be presenting a film that
they've already produced and areready to sort of show the world
?
We know Ari Aster and A24 liketheir summer date.
We haven't really seen a lot ofAri Aster come out in the fall.

(12:41):
A lot of Ari Aster come out inthe fall, and so if the idea is
that Eddington is going to get asummer release, which is sort
of the formula that A24 and AriAster have liked, much like
Christopher Nolan and hiscollaborators if that is the
case, this would be the place todebut the film.
At the same time, a24, if theyfeel that Ari Aster's film maybe

(13:04):
would not play as well here,they may decide to just, you
know, forego a festival anddebut it by itself.
There's a chance of that.
If that's the case, if a 24doesn't put up another title,
for example highest to lowest, Iwould look for them to be
buyers.
As soon as the competition isannounced, they'll start
screening and then start pickingup the titles that they think

(13:27):
are most interesting or thetitles that they think fit their
brand and their label best thatthey'll be able to campaign the
rest of the year.
But I do think we'll end upseeing Eddington here, and part
of that is because, in myopinion, there's going to be a
little bit of an issue as theyear goes on, which is that Emma
Stone is in two really bigmovies.
One of them is Eddington, whichwe've just discussed, and the

(13:48):
other one is Begonia from YorgosLanthimos, which a lot of
outlets, including Variety, havepretty much dismissed for this
festival.
Lanthimos is coming off hisCannes premiere for Kinds of
Kindness, where it didrelatively well and it had a
summer release.
Now Begonia from lanthimos isfrom focus features and it's

(14:08):
dated for november 7, and so ofcourse that sort of makes more
sense with the fall festivals.
Maybe a venice bow?
I think the argument hereagainst a venice bow for Begonia
is that I'm not sure thatthere's.
I think that there's onlyceiling left for Yorgos

(14:30):
Lanthimos at Venice.
Um, after premiering PoorThings and the Favorite there,
I'm not sure that there's goingto be much more room for
Lanthimos to win significantprizes at the festival.
So I don't know if maybe theOrgos and Focus Features would

(14:55):
rather place him in Cannesbecause he hasn't won a very
significant prize there yet.
So I would look for that.
At the same time, you know, oneof the standout roles for this
film is probably going to beJesse Plemons and he just won
for Alanthimos film, so but EmmaStone hasn't won and she's in

(15:20):
this film as well and I thinkshe has a very meaty part and I
think people are going to bevery taken by that performance.
And I don't see what Idefinitely don't see is both
Emma Stone films coming out atthe same time.
To me I almost feel like that'sa bad strategy and they're
aware of that.
It's better to give each titlea moment and space.

(15:42):
So something in summer andsomething in fall um, even
something fall and winter, Ithink is a little too close.
But I think the the idea shouldbe to have both emma stone
titles sort of possess oneseason of the sort of entirety
of the oscar season.
So eddington in summer andbugonia in the fall um.
That if they forego theEddington premiere at Cannes, I

(16:06):
would not be surprised to seeEmma Stone at the Cosette.
And especially if maybe theydon't want to take Yorgo's film
to Venice because they don'tthink that he has very much of a
chance of winning that reallybig prize once again.
Interesting thing about thisfilm also is that it's a remake
of the South Korean title Savethe Green Planet, which I think

(16:29):
there has been some info onlinethat I've been able to find that
sort of indicates that itpremiered in Cannes and maybe a
sidebar.
I can't get confirmation onthat, but if that were true then
that might be an indicationthat this is a place where
Yorgos would want to take it.
And then another interestingthing about this title is that
it is also being brought to youby cj entertainment, and that's

(16:54):
the south korean outlet and wehave already heard or seen their
the headlines about how theywant to expand and have a larger
global reach, and I think thisis one of those titles that's
going to be emblematic of that.
That's sort of going toposition them for that position,
sort of what they hope thecompany can accomplish over the
next few years, possibly decade.

(17:15):
So keep an eye out for that andalso that the writer is the
writer from the menu.
Some critics liked it, somecritics did not like it.
Yoko's is coming off Kinds ofKindness, which again had a
little bit of a polarizingreaction.
So I'm not sure if Begonia isgoing to go the way of Poor
Things or the way of Kinds ofKindness, but I am pretty sure

(17:35):
that Emma Stone is not going tobe premiering both films at the
same time.
It just doesn't sound like asmart strategy to me.
All right, well, that brings usto.
Let's talk about those titlesthat I think have a chance of
showing up on this list.
Um, and I think the best placeto start is with lynn ramsey's
latest die.
My love variety claimed a fewweeks back that they thought

(18:00):
this was a maybe, that this wasnot a sure thing.
Of course, this film isstarring jennifer Lawrence,
who's also producing, but itincludes Robert Pattinson,
lakeith Stanfield, nick Nolte,ceci Spacek all previous
nominees.
It looks like it's going to bea lot of good roles for each of
those actors.
Interesting also to note thatMartin Scorsese is listed as a

(18:20):
producer on this and that BlackLabel Media media, who was
involved in sicario, la la landand 71, they're behind this
product as well.
Um, as I said, jenniferlawrence's production company,
excellent cadaver, will be here.
Distribution is actually up forgrabs on this title.
Um, which is A Jennifer Lawrencefilm, is going to be marketed

(18:47):
to a wide audience, but thisfilm reads a lot to me, like
Mother, in the sense that itcould turn off a lot of people.
The screenwriter, endo Walsh,most recently wrote Small Things

(19:09):
Like these, which was afantastic film, one of my
favorite films from last year,also involved in Hunger in 2008
from Steve McQueen.
Another key collaborator herefor Lynne Ramsey will be Seamus
McGarvey, who's a wonderful,wonderful cinematographer who
doesn't get spoken about enough,who's made such exquisite films
with joe wright but also workedon lynn ramsey's beautiful,

(19:29):
beautifully lensed we need totalk about kevin so that's
something to sort of look outfor.
There have been rumblingsonline that this film is sort of
in the horror genre and I doknow it's adapted um from the
work of an argentine writer, um,but from what I've read about
the material, I think it's goingto be interesting in terms of

(19:51):
the Oscar race.
If this does get included inCannes, what sort of exception
it has?
If it's positive or negative orpolarizing, then Ramsey has a
long history with Cannes, soshe's a really good bet for a
selection here in competition,beside the fact of, you know,
wanting Jennifer Lawrence onthat carpet and again, jennifer
Lawrence hasn't really had achance to walk, I believe, the

(20:14):
Khan carpet in competition.
But what's interesting aboutDie my Love is if you start to
familiarize yourself with thematerial, it really sounds like,
and it's going to have achallenge coming up against the
Sundown's breakout title.
If I had Legs I'd Kick you.

(20:34):
There's a lot of crossover, inmy opinion, between the two
projects, so if both projectsare well-received, I think that
one of them is going to usurpthe other, overshadow the other.
I'm not sure which one.
I think die my love might be alittle bit more glitzy with its

(20:55):
cast crew scorsese's there as aproducer, jennifer lawrence,
lynn, ramsey, um.
So that's something to look outfor, because I would say that
this title without distribution,you know, has 824 written all
over it.
But considering that a24 haswhat essentially, on paper at
least to me, sounds like asister title, I don't know that

(21:16):
they have the room to campaignthem both.
So that really means that thisfilm would have to go to someone
like neon um should a24 pass.
If neon does campaign it,they're going to have the
challenge that A24 iscampaigning a very similar title
, or what appears to be or maybe a very similar title, and

(21:37):
they may end up canceling eachother out.
We'll see what happens, butthat's something to look out for
as the season progresses howmany critics or individuals or
audience members are going totalk about the crossover between
those two films and if it'll bea detriment to both pictures,
not just one.
Another important filmmaker totalk about and I'm glad we're

(21:59):
talking about sort of femalefilmmakers here, because Khan
has made an effort as of late toinclude more of them but we
have to talk about KellyReichardt, the master
independent filmmaker from theStates, and she has the
Mastermind, which is produced bya movie starring Josh O'Connor,
John Magaro, gabby Hoffman,bill Camp, hope Davis, alana
Haim Sounds like an excellentfilm.

(22:20):
It is a period film.
As far as we know, it's a 70ssort of heist film and has sort
of a context of the Vietnam.
War.
And I think there are somereferences to the women's
liberation movement of the time.
It sounds very fascinating.
You know Kelly Reichardt, avery patient, probing filmmaker,
very subdued filmmaker, one ofour absolute favorites, and

(22:42):
again, I'm going to go with thatidea that Josh O'Connor is
going to have such an immenseyear.
He already has a title atSundance which I think has yet
to be bought, but it will bebought at some point, and he has
another title coming out later,I think, or possibly at Cannes,
I suppose, with Paul Meskel.
And my point being there isthat I, like Emma Stone, josh

(23:08):
O'Connor should probably belooking to premiere one film in
the summer and one film in thefall.
I don't know when theMastermind is slated to come out
.
We know.
Again, movie is behind this,but it doesn't make a lot of
sense to have Josh O'Connor walkthe same carpet twice for two
different movies.
So I think that the Mastermindis an excellent play for Khan

(23:32):
and Khan has really embracedKelly Reichardt.
They last showed her filmshowing up there and it did
really well.
So I would expect this to beone of the American titles in
competition, one of the femalefilmmakers invited and this
would be the Josh O'Connorsummer debut, even though the
Mastermind may actually end uphitting, uh, in the fall, in the
winter, and you know we sawshowing up, you know end up

(23:55):
getting placed for the followingyear?
I doubt they do that because Ithink Josh O'Connor is planning
on a really big year, um, sothis film sounds fascinating,
sounds wonderful, um, and so Ithink we'll be seeing that in
competition.
Another female filmmaker to talkabout is Rebecca Zlatowski.
Right, because we know that thecon lineup is going to make

(24:16):
room for both female filmmakers,but they're also going to make
room for French filmmakers, andso she has Private Life, or V
Privé, and that's already beenacquired by Sony Picture
Classics and that's going tostar Jodie Foster.
And what is I, from myunderstanding, a performance
done fully in French.
Jodie Foster, very fluent inthat, if you've ever seen her,

(24:38):
her work with Jean-Pierre Jeunetand that film in 2004, I
believe, a very long engagement,uh, very fluid in French.
She plays a sort, I believe,but there's a little bit of, I
think, an aspect of a mysteryhere to this film.
Virginia Efira is in this filmwho's worked with Rebecca before

(24:58):
Mathieu Maric.
Of course, the co-writer onthis was a co-writer on
Happening.
It's interesting because RebeccaZlotowski, if she were to be
selected in competition, thiswould be her first time
competing there.
She has been at the festivalfor different films, including

(25:18):
Dear Prudence in 2010.
She was in Critics Week andGrand Central in 2013.
She was invited to Answer noRegard An Easy Girl, which is a
wonderful film.
Uh, in 2019 was on thedirector's fortnight and um her
title, other people's children,actually went to venice.
So she's never been invited inthe actual competition lineup of

(25:40):
con and it'd be great to seeher there.
She's a wonderful filmmaker.
Uh, her work with uh virginie afew years ago was wonderful.
Other People's Children, Ibelieve, gets great performances
out of her cast.
But it's also reallyencouraging to sort of see this
filmmaker sort of climb theranks at Cannes and finally get

(26:03):
that invitation into competition, should the film do really well
.
I think Jodie Foster issomething to really look at here
.
She hasn't been nominated forBest Actress in a long time.
Rebecca gets great performancesfrom her actors, especially her
leads, and you'll see that inall her work, and she writes
fantastic roles for women, verydimensional roles for women, and

(26:25):
so I think Jodie Foster couldbenefit from that, although her
recent nomination for NIAID maybe a little bit of a hurdle.
Someone I think that we'lldefinitely see that I'm very
excited about is the new filmfrom Cleaver Mandunko-Fuho
Secret Agent, or the SecretAgent.
I think Variety is somewhat hoton this Title II premiering

(26:46):
there.
Cleaver, of course, has beenreally embraced by khan um.
This film looks veryinteresting and I think khan is
also aware that.
You know, the brazilian titleI'm still here was a runaway
success at venice and they wantto have, they sort of want a

(27:06):
piece of that brazilian action,that brazil Brazilian cinema
action that's really popular atthe moment, right now, and has
had a lot of crossover successat the US, if you look at I'm
Still here and globally.
And so I think that they'redefinitely going to be inviting
Kleber's new film, which starsWagner Mora, which is great to
see.
He had a standout part in lastyear's Civil War.

(27:27):
I think he's gonna have a greatpart here.
I think the film, as far as Iknow, has to do with again the
1970s is a really popular topicright now 1970s, brazil, right,
because of everything that'sgoing on in the world and
certainly the United States, andso I think we're in the final
years of Brazilian dictatorshipin the 70s and Wagner Mora,

(27:47):
who's also producing um, is sortof, I think, trying to evade
certain forces that are comingafter him, and it sort of goes
to this reclusive area in brazilto sort of hide out um and of
course, you know, in in verycleaver sort of way.
I'm sure genre is going to playout here in very interesting

(28:07):
ways.
You know, spy genre, maybe someother genres.
No distribution on this.
Yet I hear also that there'sgoing to be, beyond genre
influences, some context ofBrazil's Carnival right, which
is cinematic in and of itself.
Yudu Kair is back on this and Idon't know if he has a
significant role or a cameo, buthe did work with Kleber on
Baccarat, which is anotherwonderful film, and I don't know
if he has a significant role ora cameo, but he did work with

(28:30):
Kleber on Baccarat, which isanother wonderful film.
This is one of those titles thatI think, as soon as competition
is mentioned, someone's goingto sweep up these distribution
rights for the US and I think,again off the heels of I'm Still
here, whoever picks this up, Ithink, is going to try to push
this, you know, beyond theforeign film category into best

(28:52):
director, best actor for Wagnerum, best writing and best
picture.
I think that we're in a momentwhere Brazilian cinema is having
a resurgence and that'swonderful to see, and I and I
can't wait to see this film.
I think Gliber is a genius Um,and I think this is a great
opportunity for Wagner Mora tohave a nice leading role in a
film.
So I think someone's going topick this up really quick, so

(29:17):
we'll see what happens there.
Let's talk about KirillSerebrennikov, because, like Lin
Ramsey, kirill has been afavorite of Khan lately and he
has a new film, disappearance ofJoseph Mengele.
If anyone's familiar with thehistoric figure, you know, sort
of the Nazi evading capture andso Variety, I think sort of

(29:38):
hinted that this title couldshow up.
Serebrennikov is on a bit of aroll with Khan, although the
results of his premieres havebeen sort of hot and cold, and
so maybe Khan wants to possiblytake a little bit of a break.
I'm not sure, but the topicsounds incredibly timely with
the search for Mengele.
Obviously, this is adapted froma novel by Olivier Suez, and I

(30:01):
thought it was interesting tosee that August Diel got the
lead role as Joseph Mengele, andI think a lot of you are going
to recognize August Diel whenthe film comes out, from his
role in Inglourious Bastardswith Quentin Tarantino, which
also went to Cannes, and hisrole in A Hidden Life.
Right, the German actor is veryrecognizable.

(30:23):
He was the lead on A HiddenLife, which also went to Cannes,
and so I think watch out forAgust Diel to maybe, if invited
to competition, maybe get thatbest actor prize or have a run
for that best actor prize and ifthe film sort of lives up to
you know, the expectation of afilm that's going to tackle that

(30:44):
topic of Joseph Mengele, watchout for him to cross over
possibly.
Um, another title that I think alot of people are hot on the
idea that we're going to see atthe con film festival is the
latest from the darden brothers.
Um, although I think there hasbeen some, maybe suspicion that
the film isn't ready yet.
Uh, the film in english, Ibelieve, is called Young Mothers

(31:06):
, in French La Maison Maternelle, which is the Young Mother's
Home.
The translation, I don't knowthat.
We have any sort ofconfirmation.
In terms of distribution, weknow that the Dardenne brothers
have been sort of jumping aroundwith their recent distribution
partners.
They've had, for example,sundance Selects for two days,
one night.
They've worked with Kino Lorber, they've worked with Sideshow,

(31:28):
I think, most recently on theirmost recent premiere at Cannes.
So I'm not sure who theirdistribution partners are yet,
which you know could maybe saythat this isn't going to be the
title from the Dardenne brothersto sort of cross over, but the
Dardenne brothers are suchamazing filmmakers.

(31:50):
The Dardar brothers to sort ofcross over, but the Dardar
brothers are such amazingfilmmakers.
And I believe this film has todo with, um, a lot of expectant
mothers that have gathered underthe shelter because they have
nowhere else to go, and so it'sgoing to be sort of this, I
think examination of motherhoodand the perseverance of
motherhood.
Um, it can be, I think,fascinating.
I'm going to have a, uh, reallyinteresting cast here.
Um, I'm going to have a reallyinteresting cast here.
So I will look out for thistitle in competition.

(32:12):
And then I think another sortof con favorite that we'll be
seeing is, I think we'll see thenew film from Park Chan-wook,
south Korean Master.
I believe the name of the filmis no Other Choice.
Variety had this listed as amaybe, but I'm feeling really
good about it.
This is an adaptation of DonaldWestlake's novel the Axe.

(32:34):
Donald Westlake, if you're notfamiliar, was actually nominated
for an Oscar for writing theGrifters back in 1990.
It had John Cusack and NatBenning, angelica Hewson
wonderful film produced by, orexecutive produced, I should say
, by, martin Scorsese, directedby Stephen Frears'm here for a
bunch of categories uh, verymuch in sort of that noir space
that donald westlake is veryfamous for.

(32:56):
Um, and people will recognizehim or his name from the work of
point blank and the hot rockfilms from the 70s which are
seminal um, and he wrote thenovels for those films that were
eventually adapted.
He also had the actor right.
He wrote the source materialfor the actor which Neon

(33:19):
acquired years ago beforeproduction.
I think they sort of threw itaway this year.
I'm not sure how many peoplehad an opportunity to see it
with Andre Holland.
It's a wonderful film.
So it's kind of interestingthat Donald Westlake is, you
know, back in the ether herewith this adaptation of the acts
, considering that he was sortof the source material or the
inspiration for the actor.

(33:40):
It's also interesting to notethat Costa Gavras sort of made
an adaptation of the acts backin 05, but it didn't get any US
distribution.
But if you have a little bit ofan idea of what the film or
what the source material isabout.
It's really interesting.
I think it's possibly could havea lot of crossover appeal with

(34:01):
American audiences.
Again, no distributor on thisyet, but I think that someone's
going to pick this up reallyquick, especially if it does
well.
Cj Entertainment, again, likeBegonia, is on here.
So watch for that to be a themethis year, as they try to, you
know, push forward thoseexpansion efforts.
Watch for this film to possiblycross over.

(34:23):
I'm not sure if it'll reach theheights of Parasite, but
there's a certain topicality, Isuppose, to its subject that I
think a lot of people are goingto find interesting and
subversive and possibly fun orpossibly worth checking out.
And right now Park Chan-wook iscoming off the Sympathizer,

(34:44):
which wasn't the runaway successthat everyone had hoped for but
was nonetheless well-received.
One of the co-writers on this,don McKellar, is actually a very
interesting writer, possiblymost known for the Red Violin.
Last Night was a wonderful filmfrom the 90s, Blindness in 08.
And he has some writing creditson the Sympathizer.

(35:06):
So this is not, you know, theirfirst time collaborating Don
McKellar and Park Jung-wook.
This could be interesting.
Park Jung-wook, of course, waslast in competition, I believe,
for Decision to Leave, which waswonderful, and Handmaiden was
there the time before that.
And the lead actor in the filmand I think the lead part is a
meaty one is the actor LeeByung-hun, who is in I Saw the

(35:31):
Devil, the Good, the Bad and theWeird Joint Security Area.
But he's also made someAmerican films including
Terminator, genisys, magnificentSeven, gi Joe, retaliation.
So he's very much, I think, across-cultural star and I think
this could be a moment for himto sort of shine on the global
scale.
And again, with the nature ofthe role, I think he's in the

(35:51):
thick of the best actor racehere at Cannes, along with names
like Vagramora Agustiel.
So Lee Byung-hun, I think, ispossibly another contender here
for best actor.
And again, if the film reallytakes off and becomes a
crossover success and is pushedbeyond foreign language film or
international film intocategories like adapted
screenplay, into categories likepicture, I would not be

(36:14):
surprised to see a push for thatactor into best actor.
I think the role, I think thepart is very meaty and I think
the project is very meaty.
And I think the deeper we getinto the financial problems of
the United States this year, umthe more timely.
This piece is going to get um,and not just in the united

(36:36):
states, but really globally, andso I would watch out for no
other choice to be to make a bigsplash at con and, to, you know
, steal the spotlight from a lotof other movies.
Um, I think I.
I would also want to mentionthat christian pitt sold, the
german filmmaker, who'swonderful.
If you've seen his film phoenixor transit.
He has a title called mirage,number three.

(36:57):
Um, starring paula beer, who isuh often working with him and
has really wonderful roles withhim, does really great work with
him.
Uh, undine was a role wasanother film that she did with
him.
Great work with him.
Undine was a role was anotherfilm that she did with him,
alongside a film like Transit,for example, and A Fire.
That film from Christian has yetto premiere and I think it's
been in production for a while.

(37:18):
A Fire I think 2023 was when itbowed, but it was really done
by 2022.
So I think Christian has hadenough time to work on this film
and I think he may be done.
It's because Christian Petzold,you know, really tends to
premiere in Berlin he's a Germanfilmmaker, after all but this
did not show up at Berlin thisyear, which makes me think that

(37:40):
maybe there is a chance thatthis will be the first time he
premieres at Cannes.
His, his titles have gone toother festivals, including
Toronto, for example, forexample, but I don't know.
I think that maybe this wouldbe an opportunity for him to
premiere at Cannes incompetition.
It's interesting to note thatthis is one of the few titles
that already has US distribution, and that's Metrograph, which

(38:03):
is the outlet that's reallytrying to sort of compete with
both Neon and A24, which isgreat because that's what the
sort of, I think, theatricalspace needs more of more of
these small indie boutique I saysmall in quotation marks
boutique labels that are goingto release these sort of art
house films and internationalfilms that have a great
opportunity of having a wideroutreach to audiences.

(38:26):
So watch out for ChristianPensold's newest film.
Um, let's talk about karima news.
Um, who is going to try to getrose bush pruning into
competition, I think.
Uh, karima has had a lot oftitles, I think.
Play at the con film festivallately, I think, most recently
motel dostino, karim, abrazilian filmmaker, motostino,

(38:48):
a Brazilian film.
This film, I believe, is inEnglish.
It's not a Brazilian film.
Kareem has had a lot of successgetting selected recently, but
he hasn't had a lot of success,unfortunately, crossing over and
and sort of capitalizing onthat success with the actual
release of his films.
For example, motel Dest, youknow, didn't really go very far

(39:09):
after that premiere.
So I don't know if Khan isgoing to want to possibly take a
break from having his titles incompetition.
It's also interesting that it's, you know, an English language
title and I think they have alot of choices there.
So, kareem, you know he won'treally be able to represent
Brazil here as well as, forexample, the secret agent from

(39:30):
Kleber, as he has had otheryears, and there may be too many
English language speakingtitles, like Kelly Ryker, for
example, or Die my Love, to sortof allow him to get into
competition for this.
Interesting because the castincludes Al Fanning, who's going
to have a wonderful year andmay already be a con, riley
Cowell, callum Turner, pamelaAnderson is in this as well.

(39:51):
Interesting because the castincludes Al Fanning, who's going
to have a wonderful year andmay already be a con.
Riley Cowell, callum Turner,pamela Anderson is in this as
well, and I think one of theadvantages it may have getting
into competition is that I thinkit is a remake of the 1965
satire by Marco Bellocchio Fistin the Pocket, I believe, is the
title, and also that I thinkthat one of the co-writers on

(40:13):
the film is actually acollaborator of Yorgos Lanthimos
, and so this is somewhat, Ithink, satirizing.
You know, maybe we'll call itfamiliar relationships or
relationships in general incontemporary and modern world,
even though I think it's goingto take place in the 50s, I
believe.
And again, I think that thishas moved from its original

(40:37):
setting to an American setting.
Again, this is just what I'veread online.
So watch out for Rose BushPruning to maybe get in there.
Another title that may be ableto get in there the director
hasn't been in competition for awhile is Sergei Loznitsa.
He's presenting a film calledTwo Prosecutors.
I think it has a good chance ofgetting into competition

(41:01):
because Saeed bin Saeed, whomakes a lot of titles that go to
Cannes, he's a producer on thisand I think that might be one
of the ways that this film couldend up getting selected in
competition.
Um, as far as I know, it'sgoing to take place over
stalin's uh great terror in 1937.

(41:21):
That might be a a topical sortof uh issue or a topical subject
for the festival to include.
I think los nizza was lastthere for donbass um, which was
very much sort of speaking aboutthe conflict in ukraine, and so

(41:42):
I I would not be surprised tosee los nizza in competition
this time, um, because Donbass,I believe, was put into the
uncertain regard sidebar.
So we'll see what happens there.
Um, I think, ildiko and Yeti,the Hungarian filmmaker who a
lot of people may recognize fromOn Body and Soul, which was

(42:03):
nominated for international film.
She has a film called SilentFriend, um, which is really
interesting because it reallycenters around, sort of, from my
understanding, a tree acrossdifferent moments in time and
Leah Sato's in this.
We know that Khan loves Leah.
Tony Leung's in this.
I believe this is shot inGermany.

(42:23):
I think she did go to Khan forher previous title Story of my
Wife.
I'm not sure it did well.
I think she did go to Cannesfor her previous title Story of
my Wife.
I'm not sure it did well, butthis has been a title that sort
of has been popping up for awhile now and has yet to
actually bow.
I wonder if this may be theopportunity for it to sort of
premiere Another title that I'veheard could end up getting a

(42:49):
slot in competition is calledCalle Malaga, which is from a
filmmaker from Tangier, mariamTouzani, and some people may
recognize her from her work inthe Blue Captain in 2022, which
was a critical favorite.
In 2019, she made a film calledAdam, which was really well
regarded as well.
It's kind of an interestingfilm because this filmmaker from
Tangier is actually.
The film is going to be inSpanish and it's going to have

(43:10):
collaborators from Spain.
I believe Even the editor fromPainting Glory and Parallel
Mothers, from Pedrala Dovar, isgoing to be the editor on this
film, kai Malaga, and it's goingto star Carmen Moura, and
people may recognize CarmenMoura certainly from her
brilliant years on screen inSpanish film, but if you're not

(43:31):
so familiar with that, you'regoing to recognize her as the
mother from Volver, which gotPenelope Cruz her first
nomination, and I'm pretty surethat Kaya Malaga is going to
feature Carmen Mara in the leadrole.
So I would keep my eye on thistitle and on Carmen Mara for the

(43:52):
rest of the season.
I mean, if this title does well,the idea of Carmen Mara getting
nominated for an Oscar for BestActress because I do believe
she's the lead here is justabsolute fire.
I don't think there's any otherway to describe it than that
Just absolute fire.
She should have been nominatedfor Support actress for volver.
There's really no excuse forthat other than, you know, a

(44:14):
lack of recognition for her name, sadly, at that time.
Um, it was easier to recognizepenelope cruz because she had
all this crossover sort of uh,success with american titles and
, you know, blockbuster titles.
But carmen mara is an absolutelegend and so watch out for that
to be a theme this year.
I've mentioned a bunch ofactors in contention for that

(44:35):
best actor prize in Cannes andpossibly going to push that idea
of a bid for best actor lateron in the year at the Oscars.
But Carmen Mara, I think, is anactress that really stands out
here.
If the film Kaya Malaga isinvited into competition.
Um, we should talk about theyoung filmmaker begun, uh, his
new film, resurrection.
Many of you may recognize himfrom his work long day's journey

(44:58):
into night, which has sort of acult following.
I, I watched it in theaters in3d.
It was a really wonderful film.
Um, uh, it's a great experienceto see it in theaters with an
audience in 3d.
I'm not sure you can get thatat home.
Um, he did go to con, with longday's journey into night, but
it was on certain regard, so hehasn't necessarily been invited

(45:22):
to competition yet, but longday's journey into night was
just such a you know bigannouncement of the kind of
talent he is that you kind ofthink that he is going to be
invited into competition in amatter of time.
Um, there's been some rumblingsas to whether or not this film
incorporates 3d or not.
Um, I'm not sure.

(45:43):
I don't have I don't have anykind of confirmation on that.
It'll be interesting to see ifit is announced in competition,
if they reveal a little bit ofthat, of those details.
Um, but begun, a kind offilmmaker that's, you know,
really open to sort ofexperimenting with the cinematic
form.
So I would not be I would notbe surprised to see that happen.
Um, speaking of best actress, um, I think the lead on this is

(46:06):
going to be uh I hope I'mpronouncing this right shu ki,
which, um was the lead in thefilm the assassin in 2015, which
is a runaway success at con,and I think she's the lead on
this, along with jackson yeefrom better days.
Uh, which I believe was, uh,the nominee for foreign language

(46:27):
film from hong kong year.
I believe that's true.
So both of those faces aregoing to be familiar to voters
and to regular con film festivalgoers, and I've read online
that this has, you know, somefeelings or vibes of a thriller
and a sci-fi.
But you know, as any Beyondmovie, I'm sure that at one

(46:48):
point it's going to devolve fromits own genre and become this
sort of just meditative rumblingthrough time, very much in the
vein of what I think thefilmmaker likes to do, someone
who I think we'll see at thefestival in competition,

(47:11):
competition.
Finally, you know I talk aboutthe idea that the con film
festival lineup in competitionwe're going to have female
filmmakers, because they madethat wonderful push to be more
inclusive.
We're going to have frenchfilmmakers right, and I think
last year we got a taste of itwhen we saw michelle has a
venusius in competition for ananimated title, the most
precious cargo which got pushedto this year's animated race,
which I think will definitelycontend there.

(47:32):
But I think this is theopportunity to finally invite
Sylvain Chaumet to compete forthe competition and compete for
the Palme d'Or with theMagnificent Life of Sylvain
Pagnol.
I also think that, much likethe brazilian title I was
referring to.
I think khan sort of knowswhat's in the ether and beyond,

(47:55):
sort of the crossover globalsuccess, oscar success of I'm
still here, the huge, huge, uhsuccess that was flow, I think,
is going to compel khan toinclude an animated title within
competition this year, and Ithink that Sylvain Chalamet is
the prime contender for that.

(48:16):
Remember, flow premiered on asidebar at the festival and
Sylvain has actually nevercompeted, as far as I know.
Tributes of Belleville premieredout of competition and it was
one of the most well-regardedfilms that year, in 2003, on its
way to two Oscar nominationsfor song and for animated

(48:36):
feature, I think many peoplefelt by the end of the year that
it should have been incompetition, where it could have
competed for more prizes.
The Illusionist was actually apremiere of Berlin in 2010, if
I'm correct.
Illusionist was actually apremiere of berlin in 2010, if
I'm correct, and I think it mayhave bowed in venice out of
competition or possibly in asidebar um or as a special
screening, but it was notinvited to competition um.

(48:59):
This is, of course, based onthe life of the famed french
playwright, novelist andfilmmaker.
Even more reason why I thinkit'll end up being in
competition, and this hasalready been acquired by sony
pictureics, who collaboratedwith Sylvain on both Tributes of
Belleville and the illusionist.
You know, sony Picture Classicshas yet to sort of capitalize

(49:19):
on a win for animated feature,although they've competed
several years, including for, Ithink, the Red Turtle, which
premiered in Cannes as well.
So I think, without exception,magnificent Life of Sylvain
Pagnot is going to be at Cannes.
It could be out of competition,it could be in a sidebar, but I
think that, with last year'sdecision to include the Most

(49:40):
Precious Cargo and the hugeappeal of Flow throughout the
year after its Cannes debut isgoing to push Magnificent Life
ofVA Pena into competition.
Another animated title incompetition is a great, great
piece of news Talking aboutFrench filmmakers, and we've
already talked about some femalefilmmakers.
Here's a French femalefilmmaker and we have the title,

(50:03):
I believe, couture, or maybesome people are calling this
film stitches, so I'm not sureexactly what the exact title is,
and so this is coming from thefrench filmmaker, uh, alice
winnicore, I believe I hope I'mpronouncing that right the
parisian um, and so I think, uh,viewers or listeners might know

(50:24):
her from, uh, proxima anddisorder in in 2015 with Maria
Schonartz.
She hasn't really gotten a bigprime spot at Cannes, but I
think this may be a title that'sflashy enough to premiere there
.
I think this is also flashyenough to premiere as a special
screening.
We'll see what happens.
But part of the flashiness hereis that Angie Angel Lee is at

(50:50):
the center of this film andshe's playing sort of a film
director who's attending ParisFashion Week and I think she,
you know, crosses paths with amakeup artist and other
individuals, maybe a loveinterest, played by Louis Garel.
We'll see what happens.
I mean, distribution rights forthis film are still up for
grabs.
Rights for this film are stillup for grabs.

(51:12):
So if it does premiere, lookout for buyers to potentially
pick this up.
It would be the kind of titlethat I think makes most sense to
premiere at Cannes, consideringParis Fashion Week.
The Parisian filmmaker AngieAngel Lee's in it.
Variety sort of listed this asa.
Maybe I'm not sure this will becompetition.
I think this may be specialscreening, but I'm putting it in
competition right now mostlybecause I'm not sure that you

(51:37):
can have special screening thatincludes both Angelina Jolie and
Brad Pitt.
I think that might be aconflict of interest for the
festival.
I think it would take away andpossibly be yet another thing
they have to contend with.
So I think they would rathersplit them up or include one and
not include the other, of whichI think possibly the Parisian
title from Alice Wintercarp maybe the better contender here.

(52:00):
So we'll see what happens.
Could show up in competition,we'll see and distribution's up
for grabs.
If it ends up being a bit of acharmer, I could see that being
picked up really quick.
And then there are some titlesthat I think are worth talking
about that, you know, I kind ofhave had my eye on, because

(52:20):
there's been some reports aboutthem being presented at some
point during their production ordevelopment to potential, I
believe, financiers or investorson behalf of Khan.
And so I believe these aretitles that Khan at the very
least believes in, or filmmakersthat they believe in, and that,
should they sort of wrap up intime and be ready in time, that

(52:41):
they would be happy to sort ofhighlight in one of their
sections and possibly even incompetition, of course.
I think the first one to startwith is the Sound System is Down
by Ruben Ostlund.
This is supposedly stillshooting and not ready, although
it's been in the works for awhile.
Most recently, I think, it wasannounced that they've cast

(53:03):
Julie Delpy in a part.
We know this film includesKirsten Dunst and Keanu Reeves.
Kirsten Dunst is already goingto have a good year with Derek
Cainfrance's film Roofman, withChanning Tatum later on.
But you know, I think Khan wassort of showing this title or
this project to some investors,and so I don't know where

(53:24):
exactly they're at.
I don't know if it'll be donein time for Khan and at the same
time, I'm not going to dismissthe idea that the title is going
to be ready at some point thisyear.
It has been a while since wesaw Ruben for Triangle of
Sadness and the thing aboutRuben is sort of like Yorgos.

(53:45):
I'm not sure that there's anyupside to premiering at Cannes
for him anymore, because he'salready won the biggest title,
the biggest prize, twice withthe Square and Tri of sadness.
So I think part of me thinksthat it would make more sense to
have this title premiere in thefall in venice, where he can

(54:08):
try to go for the golden lineinstead.
So I'm not dismissing thistitle is going to be ready for
the fall.
I don't think it'll be readyfor khan.
Nor do I think that it would bein his benefit or the title's
benefit to compete in con,because it's very unlikely to be
able to seriously compete forup for the big prize.

(54:30):
Um, we'll see what happens um,and I think it's still shooting
um.
The other film that waspresented, uh by a really a
filmmaker further along in theircareer was Nadav Lapid's latest
film yes, um and um.
This film, I think, is a littlebit about sort of a yes man, um

(54:53):
in, in in culture, or sort ofthis idea of this, this
individual who says yes toeverything, and I'm sure at some
point that's going to beexploited uh within the film,
within the plot of the film.
Um, nadiv lapid, uh, his lasttitle, ahed's knee, which was
wonderful, premiered at con in2021.
If this title is ready, I wouldnot be surprised to see it show

(55:17):
up in competition, the titlebeing yes.
I think it's going to be acontroversial piece.
I believe, interestingly enough, that his title Synonyms, which
I believe, won the biggestprize in Berlin that year.
The awards were presided byJulia Binoche.
Don't quote me on that, but Ithink that may be the case, and

(55:38):
Julia Binoche is the presidentagain, and so she may like
Nadeev's work, and so we may endup seeing Nadeev Lapid here,
for yes, shi Hayakawa from Japanhas a film called Renoir, and
her previous film, plan 75,premiered at Cannes 2022 on the

(55:59):
Uncertain Regards section.
I think it was really wellacclaimed and this is kind of an
interesting project that'llalso include the actor Lily
Franke, who I believe was inboth Like Father, like Son and
Shoplifters, both of whichplayed Cannes.
I think that what the sort ofCann con committee has seen of

(56:22):
this title has them up on it, um, because they're presenting it
alongside.
You know, film titles as big asthe sound system is down and
yes, um, and shihayakawa has notbeen invited to competition yet
, but this may be the title thatgets her there, um.
Another film that was presentedalongside those films was, for

(56:44):
example, hotspot by AgnieszkaSmoczniska.
I hope I'm saying that right.
She's a wonderful filmmaker.
The filmmaker from the Lore isa very popular title here in the
States Polish filmmaker titlehere in the States, polish

(57:05):
filmmaker, and I believe thatthis film has Nomi Rapace in a
significant role.
It also has the actress RikaKrishima, who played the wife in
Drive my Car.
I know that Focus Features ison this for the worldwide
distribution.
I think the film has elementsof science fiction in it and is
going to deal with the topic ofAI, which is extremely topical

(57:25):
right now.
So watch out for the hotspot topossibly snag a spot in a
competition.
A film called Death has noMaster by the Venezuelan
filmmaker Jorge T Elena Armand,who last presented, I think, la
Soledad, not in Cannes, butmaybe Venice or Berlin, I'm not
quite sure, but it did reallywell.

(57:47):
The Venezuelan film La Soledad,and this film, his latest one,
death has no Master, is going tofeature Paz Vega, which has had
some crossover success here inthe United States, I think, most
recently coming off her owndirectorial debut, and so, again
, just interesting to see thesound system is down and, yes,

(58:07):
these two really establishedfilmmakers being presented
alongside these up and comingfilmmakers who haven't had a
chance to get into competitionyet.
I think it kind of shows that,you know, I think Khan was
showing the projects toinvestors that they're most
excited about and they think aremost in need of support and
would benefit most of thesupport and projects that
investors are going to be reallyhappy to have been involved

(58:29):
with, and so I think that'sreally significant.
So look out for that title aswell.
Another one is Un Anno diScuola by the Italian filmmaker
Laura Samani, and her film SmallBody was in Critics Week in
2021.
If they want to, you know, keepinviting female filmmakers
again.
Look for Shi Hayakawa and LauraSamani, from Japan and Italy

(58:52):
respectively, to possibly breakinto competition or into higher
sections of sidebar possibly.
A HESA 85 is by the Romanianfilmmaker Teodora Ana Mihai, and
she directed La Civil from 2021, which premiered on Certain
Regard.
Again, that idea of sort ofpromoting these filmmakers to

(59:16):
the next level of competition orpossibly, in the case of, for
example, renoir, finally intocompetition.
Um and uh, the meltdown is fromthe chilean filmmaker, manuela
martelli.
Uh, and this is her follow-up,I believe, to chile 76, which
was a really great film.

(59:36):
Um, that was even nominated atthe director's guild award for
Best First-Time Filmmaker.
So she has a very, very brightcareer, and so we may end up
seeing that possibly on one ofthe sidebars.
And I think the last title theypresented was a film called
Heads or Tails.

(59:57):
That's the English title andthis is by a team of filmmakers,
a group of filmmakers, a duo,alessio Rigo de Rigi and Matteo
Zappos.
I hope I'm pronouncing thatright, but they made the
wonderful film the Tale of KingCrab, which I believe was in a
sidebar at Cannes.
This is their follow-up and Ihear that this is sort of a, you

(01:00:19):
know, spaghetti westerninspired kind of film.
They're really interestingfilmmakers, very visual
filmmakers.
So, again, I expect some ofthese titles to show up, if not
in competition, in other sidebarcompetitions if they are ready.
But I do think it's significantthat all of these titles and all
of these filmmakers are beingpresented alongside Nadeem Lapid

(01:00:42):
, for yes, and Ruben Oslund'sthe Sound System is Down.
It just shows you that Cannesis high on each of these
projects and high onparticipating and supporting and
gaining support for each ofthese projects or less the big
titles that I think we'll beseeing at the Cannes Film

(01:01:02):
Festival, possibly in theannouncement.
And then I'm going to end ourshow before possibly a final
predict section at the end, ifwe haven't run too long on, just
the wildcard section, okay, andI'm calling this the wildcard
section a lot like our previousepisode, because these are
titles that have been sort ofpegged as to not going, and I'm
going to call into questionwhether that's the case and

(01:01:24):
whether that's smart, whetherthat's a smart choice on behalf
of the studios and whoever'scampaigning the films and the
outlets who have sort ofdismissed that they're going to
show up.
Let's start with the Way of theWind from Terrence Malick.
Right, terrence Malick hasn'thad a film debut in some time.

(01:01:45):
The last one I think I hit inlife was AdCon.
There have been rumblings thatthe film has already been
screening.
Variety listed this as a maybe.
I'm thinking that this would bewhere Terrence Malick would
want to debut the film.
Again, it's been screening andI do know that it does already
have a German distributor.

(01:02:05):
I don't know how long it's hadthat distributor, but I also
know that I think studioBabelsberg from Germany has also
been involved in the production, and so I think the German
distributor has the release datelisted as 2025.
So I think the Germandistributor has the release date
listed as 2025.
So I think you know there maybe some intel on behalf of
Germany, who you knowparticipate in the production,

(01:02:26):
as to if the film is ready ornot.
And if that's the case and ithas been screening I think
there's a very good chance thatwe may end up seeing the way of
the wind from Terrence Malick incompetition.
Competition, of course, this isTerrence Malick's sort of take,
and I say that loosely, becausewe never know what to expect
from a Terrence Malick film,except a good one about, you
know, sort of the life of JesusChrist, and it's going to have

(01:02:48):
Giza Roerig in it, who is awonderful actor that most people
are going to recognize from hiswork in Son of Saul, which
premiered at Cannes and was oneof the standout titles in 2015.
And so watch out for the way ofthe wind.
I think it shouldn't bedismissed After the Hunt by Luca
Guadagnino, variety has thislisted as a maybe I think

(01:03:13):
everyone is pretty confidentthat the project is pretty much
complete at this point.
It's really a choice as towhether or not they want to
premiere at Cannes.
Luca has had a lot more successright now, debuting in Venice.
His films have beenwell-received.
Of course, the Italianfilmmaker maybe has a preference

(01:03:35):
to go to Venice At the sametime as I've been speaking about
some of the other filmmakers.
Maybe the best thing he can dofor his career is possibly, you
know, take a break and take hisnext title to Cannes instead.
I do find it interesting thatChallengers never ended up going
to the Cannes Film Festivalwhen it had an opportunity to,
and I wonder if it would nothave had more success had it

(01:03:57):
done so.
Interestingly enough, also anAmazon MGM film, and I'm not
sure if Amazon MGM is sort ofrevising that strategy now or
doubling down on it and saying,no, I don't want to send the
Guadagnino film to Cannes.
Of course this film startsJulia Roberts, andrew Garfield,
aida Berry, chloe Sevigny,michael Stolberg, which is a

(01:04:18):
Luca Guadagnino mainstay.
Amazon MGM are behind this, butthey're also partnering with
Imagine Entertainment on theproduction side.
Brian Grazer is a producer onthis.
Hasn't really worked withGuadagnino before.
It's interesting to see himwork with other filmmakers aside
from Ron Howard.
From Ron Howard We'll see ifthat's going to be a plus to the

(01:04:39):
project, an advantage theproject has, and maybe being
more widely embraced by Academymembers, academy voters, oscar
voters, some of LucaGuadagnino's key collaborators
coming back on this, includingMarco Costa, who was sort of the
runaway editor that everyonereally loved his work last year

(01:05:00):
in Challengers especially, buthe did a great job on Queer, but
on Challengers he even got theace nomination.
The DP on this is actually theDP from Black is King and
Lemonade, most recently the workfrom Beyonce.
But he also worked with SpikeLee on his, his early work, and
on he Got Game, from 98 Ibelieve, and the film is shot in

(01:05:22):
the UK.
Uh, julia Roberts has been alittle bit of a darling of
France lately, um, so this mightbe a reason why she wants to
take the film to Cannes again.
I do think that we have alittle bit of that conflict here
between you know, spotlightingthe Angelina Jolie, alice Win
Winnicott film in Cannes andthen possibly spotlighting the

(01:05:45):
Julia Roberts film in Cannes orthe Brad Pitt film in Cannes.
I'm not sure how serious thosethings are, but you know it's a
small world.
So I wouldn't doubt that thatcomes a little bit into the
decision making as to whothey're going to invite, how and
when.
So I don't think it'scompletely out of the realm of
possibility that after the huntshows up, but I'm not positive

(01:06:07):
that that's what's going tohappen.
You know, some people have beentalking about this project, as
you know, a riff on tar, and ifthat's the case and again I'm
not saying that it is if that'sthe case, maybe it would prefer
con saying that it is.
If that's the case, maybe itwould prefer Khan, because Tar
was so well or so beloved atVenice, and maybe that's not
necessarily where they want to,you know, plant that flag.

(01:06:30):
Another title that I think sortof runs into a similar problem
I've been talking about withEmma Stone and Josh O'Connor,
but sort of more on the thematicside, is Caught Stealing by
Darren Aronofsky.
Again, most recently he was atVenice, which some people quoted
him as not necessarily beinghis festival of choice, possibly

(01:06:52):
after Mother, but the Whalepremiered there didn't
necessarily do great, maybe apolarizing reaction, but it
eventually got Brendan Fraserthat Oscar nomination and that
Oscar win and brought DarrenAronofsky back to the Oscars.
The thing about Caught Stealingand why I'm including it here

(01:07:13):
in the wildcard section isbecause I think there's a title
that really competes forattention against it and that's
roof man, derrick from derrickkane, france with channing tatum
.
There's something about both ofthose titles that I think it's
going to be awkward to have thempremiere at the same time.
Um, they sort of, I think,cannibalize each other and I

(01:07:33):
think the thematic material,possibly that's that's what my,
my gut says as, as two americantitles, um, I think you know
this film includes austin butler, uh, vincent d'onofrio, zoe
kravitz, matt smith, regina king, um, you have uh, aronofsky
collaborators mattie lubetiqueis on this, um, andrew weisblum,

(01:07:56):
the editor, uh, nominated forblack swan and tick tick Boom.
You have a sound designer fromRoma on this as well, and Sony
Pictures will be releasing this,which is kind of an interesting
move for a Darren Aronofskyfilm.
I think this is based on anovel, if I'm not mistaken, and
so I think they want this to bea bigger sort of hit, a bigger

(01:08:18):
sort of more wide, appealingfilm that's coming out on August
29th.
It's not the best date for otherfestivals.
If you look at that date ofAugust 29th, it sort of runs two
days after the start of Venice,right, which is August 27th.
So if they have an early bow atVenice and then go wide in
theaters, they better have, youknow, gold at Venice, because if

(01:08:42):
it's a polarizing title atVenice they're just going to end
up losing money.
I think on the release.
And same thing with Telluridethe August 29th release, wide
release for Cot Stealing is sortof in line with the August 29th
start of the Telluride FilmFestival.
And so I just think that ifyou're going to show caught

(01:09:05):
stealing on those dates in themiddle or two days into Venice
at the start of Telluride, youkind of understand that you're
very confident the piece isgoing to play well to critics
and that you'll be able tocapitalize on that.
That's my feeling at least.
And then you're going to beable to have a moment at each of
those festivals where you knowwe're quickly going to go from

(01:09:29):
the premiere August 29th, ifit's selected in Venice, to more
competition titles the 30th.
So we're going to have brandnew films.
If it premieres August 29th atTelluride, on August 30th you're
going to have brand new films,and so the only way it could
really stand out after those newcompetition titles, sort of
premiere, and have a reactionfrom critics and from audiences

(01:09:50):
is to make money on August 29th,which is what it's going to
need to do, I think, to furtherits chances at getting an Iron
for any kind of Academy Award,to further its chances at
getting nine for any kind ofacademy award, um, and it's
going to be hard for it to makemoney if those first reactions
are sort of on the polarizingside or the negative side.
I'm not sure that on paper thisis, you know, the the easiest

(01:10:14):
or most baity sell to oscarvoters from what I know about
the project.
But I do know that it is a verysplashy project, a very
attention-calling project, andbecause of that I would not be
surprised if they want to have amoment in Cannes as opposed to
at Venice.
There's also something about thewhole title and even the
release date that really playsto me as like an end-of-summer

(01:10:36):
film, and as an end-of-summerfilm I feel like Cannes is the
summer festival.
I almost feel like thefestivals of Venice and
Telluride are almost theannouncement of okay, well, the
fall has arrived in terms ofmovies, and there's something
about caught stealing that Ithink it could sort of steal

(01:10:56):
some of the coattails of thesummer money right that has been
going on with these biggerblockbusters and as we enter the
dog days of summer, little bylittle that money starts
diminishing.
But they might be able toreally capitalize on, like the
last little bits of money thatthe summer audiences are willing
to spend to go watch a movie,and this very much, I think,
sort of in the vein of athriller that could possibly be

(01:11:17):
as appealing as something likethe Town, for example, to mass
audiences.
And so, because of that ideathat it's going to go for some
of that summer money, I feellike Cannes would be the best
place for it to show up.
You know, you look at a movielike Roofman which again, I
thought that thematicallythere's a lot of crossover and
could compete with this title.
I think Roofman already isdated for Octoberober and I

(01:11:39):
think that they're not going toget that quote-unquote summer
money, that splashy premierethat that uh cod stealing could
actually get, um, you know, withaustin butler headlining it and
his face on the poster or whathave you, um, and certainly
something like one battle afteranother right which has been
moved out of summer and um intoseptember, which is it's going

(01:11:59):
to be a little late certainlylate for it to get any of that
summer money.
Now they're going to really tryto capitalize on that IMAX
release idea and my last pitchfor a wild card that we may see
at the festival in specialscreening or competition is
actually going to be theAustralian title Bring Her Back
by the Philippal Brothers.
The release date from 8-24 isslated for May 30th, which makes

(01:12:23):
a lot of sense with thefestival.
Sally Hawkins is in this.
Everyone knows that thePhilippal Brothers had a lot of
success with their previoustitle Talk to me.
I think A24 is really high ondelivering another summer hit
from them.
But I also think I don't have alot of Australian titles that
are catching my eye right nowand that might be a way to both

(01:12:47):
have a summer blockbuster titleand make their competition
lineup more international,possibly a little bit younger
and possibly a little bit moregenre.
And so I'm not disqualifyingthe idea that A24, if they can't
get highest to lowest incompetition, if they don't have
a title that they're reallychomping on the bit to buy, if

(01:13:08):
they feel like Eddington is notgoing to play well at the
festival, that a more populistgenre film, the sophomore effort
from the Philippal brothers,might be a better fit, either in
competition or out ofcompetition.
So bring her back is somethingthat I'm definitely I have my
eye on as possibly crashing thisannouncement on Thursday.

(01:13:32):
All right, and with that, maybeI'll reveal what I'm predicting
for tomorrow's in competitionlineup.
Keep in mind, the competitiontitle should be somewhere
between 21 to 24 titles, Ibelieve last year we had 22.
In 2023, we had 21 titles, butin the year 2021, we had as many

(01:13:54):
as 24 titles.
So I think I'm just going to goahead and predict 22 titles
that I think have the bestchance of getting into that
lineup, based on what I'veshared and I'll include one
spoiler, and so I'm thinkingit's going to go something like
this, in alphabetical order, weshould see Alpha, kaya, malaga.

(01:14:17):
Die my Love.
The Disappearance of JosephMengele Eddington.
The Magnificent Life of SylvainPagnol.
The Mastermind.
Mother, father, sister, brother, no Other Choice.
Nouvelle Vague, the PhoenicianScheme, the way of the wind yes,

(01:14:44):
young mothers.

(01:15:08):
And finally, looking over mylist, I was very unhappy with
the idea that I didn't have anytitle representing italy, um,
and the only one that I couldreally come up with that was
really tempting for me to put inwas the title that I spoke
about before Heads or Tails, bythat duo of filmmakers, alessio

(01:15:30):
Rigo the Reggie and MatteoZoppas.
I hope I'm pronouncing thatright.
They made a wonderful film andI think that this film again
sort of spaghetti Western vibesI'm getting from it about
Buffalo Bill, john C Reilly'seven in this film.
So I'm thinking that that's theonly Italian title that I feel
really compelled to include.
So I'll have that as my 22nd.

(01:15:53):
And if I had to put a spoiler, a23rd title, I'm going to go
back and say that I think therecipe for success for this film
is contingent upon its premierein Cannes, and I think that's
one battle after another.
I think that the place for itto go is a summer premiere, not

(01:16:13):
a fall premiere, followed by afall release.
I think it should be a summerpremiere and then a fall release
.
So one battle after another ismy spoiler.
So not predicting it to show up, but if it does show up I would
not be surprised.
All right, well, that concludesthis special report from
Academy Anonymous.
Tune in as we cover the lineupin the episodes forthcoming,

(01:16:40):
when Jules will be at my sideagain and we'll run down what
the selection is, what it means,who to keep an eye out on and
how many of my predictions Iended up getting right.
Until then, thank you forjoining me.
This has been a fantasticepisode.
I will speak to you guys nexttime.

Speaker 2 (01:17:07):
This is Joseph and you've been listening to Academy
Anonymous.
The music on this episodeentitled Cool Cats was
graciously provided by KevinMacLeod and Incompetechcom
Licensed under Creative Commonsby Attribution 3.0.
Http//creativecommonsorgLicenses by 3.0.

Joseph (01:17:37):
Disclaimer the Academy Anonymous podcast is in no way
affiliated or endorsed by theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences.