Yahoo Lifestyle Cannes Film Festival Lineup: Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Ari Aster, Julia Ducournau, Kelly Reichardt in Competition
Movies from Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Ari Aster, Julia Ducournau, Kelly Reichardt and more will compete for the prestigious Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
The 2025 edition is shaping up to be a glamorous one with a large Hollywood presence — and of course, lots of stars. Earlier this week, it was officially announced that Tom Cruise will be back on the Croisette with “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” which is debuting out of competition. Other big names likely to be in attendance include Jodie Foster, who stars in Rebecca Zlotowski’s out of competition thriller “Vie Privée”; Josh O’Connor, who is leading two films in competition with Kelly Reichardt’s Vietnam War-set “The Mastermind” and Oliver Hermanus’ gay romance “The History of Sound” alongside Paul Mescal; Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal and Austin Butler, who feature in Ari Aster’s A24 competition film “Eddington”; and the star-studded cast of Wes Anderson’s “The Phoenician Scheme,” which includes Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Benedict Cumberbatch and Scarlett Johansson.
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Johansson will also be at Cannes to premiere her directorial debut, “Eleanor the Great,” in the Un Certain Regard section. The drama stars June Squibb as a 90-year-old woman from Florida who moves to New York City after the death of her best friend and strikes up an unlikely friendship with a 19-year-old. “Babygirl” star Harris Dickinson is also debuting his first movie in the director’s chair, “Urchin,” in Un Certain Regard. The film stars Frank Dillane as Mike, a homeless man in London who struggles to reintegrate into society. Other debut directors in the sidebar competition include Harry Lighton, whose kinky romance “Pillion” stars Alexander Skarsgaard and Harry Melling, while Sope Dirisu leads Akinola Davies Jr.’s first feature “My Father’s Shadow.”
Bono is also expected to attend Cannes for the first time with a film. The documentary “Bono: Stories of Surrender,” based on his autobiographical one-man stage show and from “Blonde” director Andrew Dominik, is being a given a special screening. The U2 frontman may not have to travel too far to attend, however, owning a home just along the French Riviera in the town of Eze.
Overall, six female directors — including Ducournau (“Alpha”), Hayakawa Chie (“Renoir”), Hafsia Herzi (“La Petite Dernière”), Mascha Schilinski (“Sound of Falling”) and Carla Simón (“Romería”) — will compete for the Palme d’Or. The figure is the same as last year, and just one less than the record of seven set in 2023.
Artistic director and general delegate Thierry Fremaux, who co-hosted the lineup press conference in Paris alongside president Iris Knobloch, revealed that the festival received a record number of 2,909 submissions. A few movies are always added after the presser across different sections, including in competition, and it seems that could be more so the case this year. Films that were expected that were not announced Thursday morning include Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest” and Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut “The Chronology of Water.”
As previously announced, Juliette Binoche will preside over the jury, while Robert De Niro will receive this year’s honorary Palme d’Or. The festival will take place from May 13 to 24.
See all the titles debuting at Cannes Film Festival below.
OPENING FILM
“Leave One Day” (“Partir un Jour”), Amélie Bonnin
COMPETITION
“The Phoenician Scheme,” Wes Anderson
“Eddington,” Ari Aster
“Young Mothers” (“Jeunes Mères”), Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne
“Alpha,” Julia Ducournau
“Renoir,” Hayakawa Chie
“The History of Sound,” Oliver Hermanus
“La Petite Dernière,” Hafsia Herzi
“Sirat,” Oliver Laxe
“New Wave” (“Nouvelle Vague”), Richard Linklater
“Two Prosecutors,” Sergei Loznitsa
“Fuori,” Mario Martone
“The Secret Agent” (“O Secreto Agente”), Kleber Mendonça Filho
“Dossier 137,” Dominik Moll
“Un Simple Accident,” Jafar Panahi
“The Mastermind,” Kelly Reichardt
“Aigles of the Republic,” Tarik Saleh
“Sound of Falling,” Mascha Schilinski
“Romería,” Carla Simón
“Sentimental Value,” Joachim Trier
UN CERTAIN REGARD
“The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo” (“La Misteriosa Mirada del Flamenco”), Diego Céspedes
“Météors,” Hubert Charuel
“My Father’s Shadow,” Akinola Davies Jr.
“L’Inconnu de la Grande Arche,” Stéphane Demoustier
“Urchin,” Harris Dickinson
“Homebound,” Neeraj Ghaywan
“A Pale View of Hills” (“Toi Yamanamino Hikari”), Ishikawa Kei
“Eleanor the Great,” Scarlett Johansson
“Karavan,” Zuzana Kirchnerová
“Pillion,” Harry Lighton
“Aisha Can’t Fly Away,” Morad Mostafa
“Once Upon a Time in Gaza,” Arab Nasser and Tarzan Nasser
“The Plague,” Charlie Polinger
“Promised Sky,” Erige Sehiri
“The Last One for the Road” (“Le Città di Pianura”), Francesco Sossai
“Heads or Tails”? (“Testa o Croce?”), Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis
OUT OF COMPETITION
“Colours of Time,” Cédric Klapisch
“The Richest Woman in the World” (“La Femme la Plus Riche du Monde”), Thierry Klifa
“Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” Christopher McQuarrie
“Vie Privée,” Rebecca Zlotowski
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
“Bono: Stories of Surrender,” Andrew Dominik
“Tell Her That I Love Her,” Romane Bohringer
“A Magnificent Life,” Sylvain Chomet
MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
“Dalloway,” Yann Gozlan
“Exit 8,” Kawamura Genki
“Sons of the Neon Night” (“Feng Lin Huo Shan”), Mak Juno
CANNES PREMIERE
“Amrum,” Fatih Akin
“Splitsville,” Michael Angelo Covino
“The Wave” (“La Ola”), Sebastián Lelio
“Connemara,” Alex Lutz
“Orwell: 2+2=5,” Raoul Peck
“The Disappearance of Josef Mengele” (“Das Verschwinden des Josef Mengele”), Kirill Serebrennikov
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