Today, the president, Iris Knobloch, and the general delegate, Thierry Frémaux, held a press conference to announce the 2025 Cannes Film Festival selections. The early announcements have been fewer than usual. Still, it has already been announced that the final part of the Mission Impossible franchise, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, will be screened at the festival, to nobody’s surprise. The opening film will be Partir un jour, directed by debutant Amelie Bonnin.
The main competition is littered with the tired usual suspects: Wes Anderson, the Dardenne Brothers, Kleber Mendoca Filho and others. Other returning directors include Jafar Panahi, Kelly Reichart, Joachim Trier, Richard Linklater, Julia Ducournau, and Tarik Saleh. The latter bafflingly won the award for Best Script for Boy From Heaven in 2022. The new film is, once again, co-produced by Film i Väst. It is downright startling to see Dominik Moll’s name in an A-list festival competition in 2025. The most interesting selections seem to be Sirat by Oliver Laxe, who made the beautiful Fire Will Come, and A Simple Accident by Jafar Panahi.
The fact that Kirill Serebrennikov was relegated to a minor section with The Disappearance Of Josef Mengele is puzzling. Without having seen László Nemes’ Árva, it is difficult to believe that it could be less interesting than the majority of the films selected. As the festival looks now, it doesn’t make much sense to attend the festival this year. Maybe that might change with additions. Last year, thirteen films were added 11 days after the presentation. Among them were The Seed of the Sacred Fig and Flow. Of course, La Semaine de la Critique and Quinzaine des Cineastes will present their selections next week, but It is difficult to imagine that it will make much difference.
Main Competition Selections
A Simple Accident – Jafar Panahi
Alpha – Julia Ducournau
Dossier 137 – Dir. Dominik Moll
Eagles Of The Republic – Tarik Saleh
Eddington – Ari Aster
Fuori – Mario Martone
La Petite Derniere – Hafsia Herzi
Mastermind – Kelly Reichardt
Nouvelle Vague – Richard Linklater
Renoir – Chie Hayakawa
Romería – Carla Simón
Sentimental Value – Joachim Trier
Sirat – Oliver Laxe
Sound Of Falling – Mascha Schilinsk
The History Of Sound – Oliver Hermanus
The Phoenician Scheme – Wes Anderson
The Secret Agent – Kleber Mendoca Filho
The Young Mother’s Home – The Dardenne Brothers
Two Prosecutors – Sergei Loznitsa
Un Certain Regard Selections
Aisha Can’t Fly Away -Morad Mostafa
Caravan – Zuzana Kirchnerová
Eleanor The Great – Scarlett Johansson
Heads Or Tails? – Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis
Homebound – Neeraj Ghaywan
The Last One For The Road – Francesco Sossai
L’inconnu de la Grande Arche – Stéphane Demoustier
Meteors – Hubert Charuel
The Mysterious Gaze Of The Flamingo – Diego Céspedes
My Father’s Shadow – Akinola Davies Jr
The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo – Diego Céspedes
Once Upon A Time In Gaza – Tarzan Nasser and Arab Nasser
A Pale View Of The Hills – Kei Ishikawa
Pillion – Harry Lighton
Promised Sky – Erige Sehiri
The Plague, Charlie Polinger
Urchin – Harris Dickinson
2025 Cannes Film Festival Selections Other sections
Out Of Competition
The Coming Of The Future, Cedric Klapisch
Highest 2 Lowest by Spike Lee
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Christopher McQuarrie
The Richest Woman in the World – Thierry Klifa
Partir un jour, Amélie Bonnin – opening film
Vie Privée – Rebecca Zlotowski
Cannes Première
Amrum – Fatih Akin
Connemara – Alex Lutz
Splitsville – Michael Angelo Covino
The Disappearance Of Josef Mengele – Kirill Serebrennikov
Orwell – Raoul Peck
The Wave – Sebastian Lélio
Special Screenings
Stories Of Surrender, Bono – Andrew Dominik
The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol – Sylvain Chomet
Tell Her I Love Her – Romane Bohringer
Midnight Screenings
Dalloway – Yann Gozlan
Songs Of The Neon Night, Juno Mak
The Exit 8 -Genki Kawamura