This time last year, the film world was buzzing about the 2019 winner at the Cannes Film Festival, Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite. Unfortunately, 2020’s Cannes event, originally scheduled for May 12-23, was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, after a long wait, we finally have the list for the 2020 Cannes Film Festival lineup.
According to artistic director Thierry Frémaux, this year’s festival received a record number of 2,067 submitted films. Of those 2,067 features, this year’s Cannes Official Selection includes The French Dispatch by Wes Anderson, Asa Gu Kuru (“True Mothers”) by Naomi Kawase, Lover’s Rock and Mangrove (both directed by Steve McQueen), Last Words by Jonathan Nossiter, Peninsula, the sequel to Yeon Sang-ho’s critically acclaimed Train to Busan, Aya and the Witch, the first ever CG-animated film by Studio Ghibli, and Soul, a new Pixar film starring Jamie Foxx and directed by Pete Docter. In total, 56 films have made the cut for this year’s selection.
According to demographics, this year’s festival features 13 films directed by women (two more than last year’s roster), and all entries come from over 20 different countries. Lover’s Rock and Mangrove are the first two installments of Steve McQueen’s anthology series, Small Axe, with McQueen recently announcing that he’s dedicating both films to the memory of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. Actor Viggo Mortensen is making his directorial debut at Cannes this year with the film Falling.
As always, the Cannes Selected films will be invited to screen at festivals in Locarno, Telluride, Toronto, Deauville, San Sebastian, Pusan, Angoulême, Morelia, New York, Lyon, Rome, Rio, Tokyo, Mumbai or Mar del Plata, Sundance, and, newly added to the list this year, the San Sebastian Film Festival.
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