Young talents gear up to take part in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard

by Fabien Lemercier

10/04/2025 - The selection includes works by duo Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis, Hubert Charuel, Stéphane Demoustier, as well as the directorial debuts by Harris Dickinson and Scarlett Johansson

Young talents gear up to take part in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard

Heads or Tails? by Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis

UPDATE (24 April 2025): The selection has been completed with new titles – read about them here.

Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, Chile, India, Japan, Italy, the Czech Republic, the UK, the USA and France: these are the territories covered by the 16 films (for the time being) on the Un Certain Regard programme, which was unveiled today, just like the entirety of the Official Selection (see the article) of the 78th Cannes Film Festival (13-24 May). It’s a showcase dedicated to emerging talents and includes eight feature debuts that Cannes selector Thierry Frémaux indicated would be more focused on genre and less radical than at past editions.

European countries shine bright in the 2025 Un Certain Regard selection, particularly thanks to two Italian sophomore features: Heads or Tails? [+see also:
film review
interview: Alessio Rigo de Righi and M…
film profile] by Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis (who first rose to fame in the Directors’ Fortnight in 2021 with The Tale of King Crab [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alessio Rigo de Righi and M…
film profile]), toplined by Alessandro Borghi, Nadia Tereszkiewicz and John C Reilly; and The Last One for the Road [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Francesco Sossai
film profile] by Francesco Sossai (Other Cannibals [+see also:
film review
interview: Francesco Sossai
film profile], First Feature Competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival).

Also worth highlighting is Caravan [+see also:
film review
film profile], the feature debut by Czech helmer Zuzana Kirchnerová (Cinéfondation Award at Cannes in 2009 with her short film Bába), which is a Czech-Slovakian-Italian co-production.

Two French filmmakers are also among the chosen few. Hubert Charuel will present Meteors [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hubert Charuel and Claude L…
film profile], his second feature, following Bloody Milk [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hubert Charuel
film profile] (unveiled in the 2017 Critics’ Week) and will be banking on the skills of young rising star Paul Kircher as his lead. Meanwhile, Stéphane Demoustier will reveal his fifth feature, The Great Arch [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stéphane Demoustier
film profile], which sees Claes Bang, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Swann Arlaud and Xavier Dolan among the cast.

The UK will also be banking on two feature debuts: Urchin [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which marks the transition to the other side of the camera for British actor Harris Dickinson (seen last year in Blitz [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Babygirl); and Pillion [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Harry Lighton (in competition at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017 and nominated for the BAFTA for Best Short Film for Wren Boys), an Irish-UK production staged by Element Pictures, and starring Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling.

Young US cinema is represented by two feature debuts: Eleonor the Great by famous actress Scarlett Johansson (which will no doubt be the selection’s buzziest title as far as the media is concerned) and The Plague by Charlie Polinger.

South America is also showing off its wares with the feature debut The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo [+see also:
film review
interview: Diego Céspedes
film profile] by Chile’s Diego Céspedes.

Africa is in the running with three titles, including the feature debuts Aisha Can’t Fly Away [+see also:
film review
interview: Morad Mostafa
film profile] by Egypt’s Morad Mostafa (a winning project at Cinemed Meetings 2022 and at the 2024 Atlas Workshops) and My Father’s Shadow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Akinola Davies Jr
film profile] by British-Nigerian director Akinola Davies, which are joined by Promised Sky [+see also:
film review
interview: Erige Sehiri
film profile], the second feature by Tunisia’s Erige Sehiri (who rose to fame in the 2022 Directors’ Fortnight with Under the Fig Trees [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Erige Sehiri
film profile]).

Lastly, a further three titles hail from Asia, with Homebound by India’s Neeraj Ghaywan (who is returning to Un Certain Regard, where he won an award in 2015 with Masaan [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), A Pale View of Hills [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kei Ishikawa
film profile] by Japan’s Kei Ishikawa (see the news – an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro, a Japanese-UK-Polish co-production), who took part in Venice Orizzonti in 2016 and 2022, and Once Upon a Time in Gaza [+see also:
film review
interview: Tarzan Nasser
film profile] by Palestinian brothers Arab and Tarzan Nasser (previously popular in the 2015 Critics’ Week with Dégradé [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and in Venice Orizzonti in 2020 with Gaza mon amour [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), a production that brings together France, Germany, Palestine and Portugal.