21/04/2015 - Four French filmmakers, as well as one Belgian, one Portuguese, one Spanish, one Swedish, one Lithuanian and one Turkish director, make for a selection that aims to wow the audiences

“There were 25 interesting films that we didn’t take, as you have to be able to defend each work as it deserves to be defended.” General Delegate Edouard Waintrop unveiled the selection of the 47th Directors’ Fortnight, which will unspool from 14-24 May as part of the 68th Cannes Film Festival, at lunchtime today in Paris. The programme of features includes 17 titles that will effectively become 19, since Arabian Nights [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Miguel Gomes
film profile] by Portugal’s Miguel Gomes (whose attendance had already been announced – read the news) will be screened, at the director’s request, as three different films on three separate days (probably with two days’ gap in between each part).

Europe towers above the rest on the line-up, with ten out of the 17 titles selected, and leading the pack are four French features. The already-announced titles In the Shadow of Women [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by French director Philippe Garrel (which will open the Fortnight – read the news) and My Golden Years [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by his fellow countryman Arnaud Desplechin (read the news) have been joined by Les Cowboys [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Thomas Bidegain (read the article) and Fatima [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philippe Faucon
film profile] by Philippe Faucon (read the article).

Also set to represent Europe on the Croisette are The Brand New Testament [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jaco van Dormael
film profile] by Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael (see the news), A Perfect Day [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fernando León de Aranoa
film profile] by Spanish director Fernando León de Aranoa (news), The Here After [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Magnus von Horn
film profile] by Swedish filmmaker Magnus von Horn (a feature debut co-produced by Poland and France) and Peace to Us in Our Dreams [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sharunas Bartas
film profile] by Lithuania’s Sharunas Bartas, not to mention Mustang [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Deniz Gamze Ergüven
film profile] by Turkey’s Deniz Gamze Ergüven (a majority French production with Germany and Turkey).

The menu is rounded off by three US feature films (including the new movie by Jeremy Saulnier and two titles produced by Forest Whitaker), two hailing from South America (a Colombian film by Ciro Guerra and a Chilean documentary by Salvador Allende’s grand-daughter), a Japanese title (directed by Takashi Miike) and a Moroccan production (Much Loved [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Nabil Ayouch).

From highly moving films (courtesy of Desplechin, Bartas and Faucon) to comedies (Van Dormael and Famuyiwa, who will close the parallel section with Dope), from meandering love stories (Garrel) to Amazonian shamanism (Guerra), and from a Sioux reservation (Zhao) to the nightlife of Marrakech (Ayouch), via the fate of Turkish women (Gamze Ergüven), a gore-thriller (Saulnier), adventure (Bidegain), crazy Yakuzas (Miike), a family-orientated take on a political myth (Tambutti) and the legal repercussions of a crime (von Horn), the 2015 Directors’ Fortnight has clearly positioned itself under the banner of “astonishment”, symbolised perfectly by Miguel Gomes’ colossal triple film.

As previously reported, this year’s Carrosse d'Or will be bestowed upon Chinese director Jia Zhangke (see the news).

Feature films:
In the Shadow of Women - Philippe Garrel (opening film)
A Perfect Day - Fernando León de Aranoa
Allende mi abuelo Allende - Marcia Tambutti
Arabian Nights - Miguel Gomes
Les Cowboys - Thomas Bidegain
El abrazo de la serpiente - Ciro Guerra
Fatima - Philippe Faucon
Gokudo daisenso (Yakuza Apocalypse: The Great War of the Underworld) - Takashi Miike
Green Room - Jeremy Saulnier
Much Loved - Nabil Ayouch
Mustang - Deniz Gamze Ergüven
Peace to Us in Our Dreams - Sharunas Bartas
Songs My Brothers Taught Me - Chloé Zhao
Efterskalv (The Here After) - Magnus von Horn
The Brand New Testament - Jaco Van Dormael
My Golden Years - Arnaud Desplechin
Dope - Rick Famuyiwa (closing film)

Short films:
Bleu Tonnerre - Jean-Marc E. Roy & Philippe David Gagné
Calme ta joie - Emmanuel Laskar
El pasado roto - Martín Morgenfeld & Sebastián Schjaer
Kung Fury - David Sandberg
Pitchoune - Reda Kateb
Provas, Exorcismos - Susana Nobre
Pueblo - Elena Lopez Riera
Quelques secondes - Nora El Hourch
Quintal - André Novais Oliveira
Rate Me - Fyzal Boulifa
The Exquisite Corpus - Peter Tscherkassky
Actua 1 - Philippe Garrel (*1988)

(Translated from French)