It’s been a while, but for the first time since 2019, the Cannes Film Festival is officially happening on the Croisette. After being canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic (though some films, such as Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods,” which would have screened at Cannes had it happened, were afforded a designation from the prestigious event), the 2021 Cannes Film Festival is happening right now on the French Riviera with a full slate of international features. Here’s everything to know about this year’s Cannes Film Festival, including the full lineup.
What movies are playing at this year’s Cannes Film Festival?
The 2021 lineup at the Cannes Film Festival features new films from Wes Anderson, Sean Baker, Sean Penn, Leo Carax, and Tom McCarthy. But despite the usual vast pedigree of talent at Cannes, awards attention for the films that launch there is uncertain. Only twice have Palme d’Or winners subsequently won Best Picture at the Oscars (1955’s “Marty” and 2019’s “Parasite”) — although that data point could be rendered moot by the coronavirus pandemic. The Cannes Film Festival normally takes place in May, but this year’s event was delayed until July. That tweak pushes the festival debuts further down the calendar and places the 2021 films into what’s an already truncated Oscar season. The 2022 Oscars will only consider movies released from March 1 through December 31 because of last year’s eligibility tweaks.
So what does that mean? Fans of Anderson (who is set to debut his first live-action film since “The Grand Budapest Hotel” received nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture) and McCarthy (the director of “Spotlight,” whose new film with Matt Damon is screening out-of-competition) shouldn’t be discouraged about their awards prospects sight unseen.
Here’s the full list of Cannes Film Festival premieres in 2021.
COMPETITION
Annette, dir: Leos Carax (opening night film)
Flag Day, dir: Sean Penn
Tout S’est Bien Passé, dir: François Ozon
A Hero, dir: Asghar Farhadi
Tre Piani, dir: Nanni Moretti
Titane, dir: Julia Ducournau
The French Dispatch, dir: Wes Anderson
Red Rocket, dir: Sean Baker
Petrov’s Flu, dir: Kirill Serebrennikov
France, dir: Bruno Dumont
Nitram, dir: Justin Kurzel
Memoria, dir: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Les Olympiades, dir: Jacques Audiard
Benedetta, dir: Paul Verhoeven
La Fracture, dir: Catherine Corsini
The Restless, dir: Joachim Lafosse
Lingui, dir: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
The Worst Person In The World, dir: Joachim Trier
Bergman Island, dir: Mia Hansen-Love
Drive My Car, dir: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Ahed’s Knee, dir: Nadav Lapid
Casablanca Beats, dir: Nabil Ayouch
Compartment No. 6, dir: Juho Kuosmanen
The Story Of My Wife, dir: Ildiko Enyedi
OUT OF COMPETITION
De Son Vivant, dir: Emmanuelle Bercot
Stillwater, dir: Tom McCarthy
The Velvet Underground, dir: Todd Haynes
Bac Nord, dir: Cédric Jiminez
Aline, dir: Valérie Lemercier
Emergency Declaration, dir: Han Jae-Rim
MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
Bloody Oranges, dir: Jean-Christophe Meurisse
CANNES PREMIERES
Evolution, dir: Kornel Mundruczo
Cow, dir: Andrea Arnold
Mothering Sunday, dir: Eva Husson
Love Songs For Tough Guys, dir: Samuel Benchetrit
In Front Of Your Face, dir: Hong Sang-soo
Hold Me Tight, dir: Mathieu Amalric
Deception, dir: Arnaud Desplechin
Val, dirs: Ting Poo, Leo Scott
JFK Revisited: Through The Looking Glass, dir: Oliver Stone
*Jane By Charlotte, dir: Charlotte Gainsbourg
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
*H6, dir: Yi Yi
Black Notebooks, dir: Shlomi Elkabetz
Mariner Of The Mountains, dir: Karim Ainouz
Babi Yar. Context, dir: Sergei Loznitsa
The Year Of The Everlasting Storm; dirs: Jafar Panahi, Anthony Chen, Malik Vitthal, Laura Poitras, Dominga Sotomayor, David Lowery, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
UN CERTAIN REGARD
The Innocents, dir: Eskil Vogt
After Yang, dir: Kogonada
Delo, dir: Alexey German Jr
Bonne Mere, dir: Hafsia Herzi
Noche De Fuego, dir: Tatiana Huezo
*Lamb, dir: Vladimar Johansson
*Un Monde, dir: Laura Wandel
*Freda, dir: Gessica Généus
*Moneyboys, dir: CB Yi
Blue Bayou, dir: Justin Chon
Commitment Hasan, dir: Hasan Semih Kaplanoglu
Rehana Maryam Noor, dir: Abdullah Mohammad Saad
Let There Be Morning, dir: Eran Kolirin
Unclenching The Fists, dir: Kira Kovalenko
*La Civil, dir: Ana Mihai
Women Do Cry, dirs: Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova
*Denotes first film, eligible for the Camera d’Or
What makes the Cannes Film Festival so special?
Launched in 1946, the Cannes Film Festival has long found itself as an early year destination for cineasts and international filmmakers. As Brittanica points out, the Cannes marketplace is also a shining beacon for the event. “Like other film festivals, it became an international marketplace where producers and distributors could exchange ideas, view films, and sign contracts,” reads the site. “The phenomenon of international coproduction arose at Cannes in the late 1940s.”
According to the Cannes Film Festival website, the event retains its great importance because, “the Festival de Cannes has remained faithful to its founding purpose: to draw attention to and raise the profile of films, with the aim of contributing towards the development of cinema, boosting the film industry worldwide and celebrating cinema at an international level.”
Now, even with enhanced COVID-19 protections and contentious salvia tests for patrons, the Cannes Film Festival is still a key destination for the entertainment industry and those who cover its moves. This is to say nothing of the famously persnickety Cannes crowd, which can either boisterously praise a film after its debut with a lengthy standing ovation or drown out its credits in loud boos.
Can I watch the Cannes Film Festival online?
While the movies will not stream online during the festival, Cannes promises 12 days of live online coverage of premieres, press conferences, and more via its website.
What should I wear to the Cannes Film Festival?
According to the website Cannes Guide, the daylight dress code is “fairly informal” and patrons can get away with wearing business casual clothes or even shorts and a T-shirt, provided shoes or sandals are worn as footwear. “Don’t wear flip-flops as some of the humorless security goons have been known to take issue with these,” the site reads. At night and for lavish premiere events, black-tie attire is often a requirement.
When does the Cannes Film Festival end?
The Cannes Film Festival begins Tuesday, July 6, 2021, and ends Saturday, July 17, 2021.
What’s the best movie at the Cannes Film Festival this year?
It’s unclear as of this writing which film will win the 2021 Palme D’Or, but strong titles in the lineup include “The French Dispatch,” Anderson’s film about a New Yorker-like magazine that stars his usual cadre of actors including Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, and Owen Wilson, and “Annette,” Carax’s musical with music from the band Sparks and lead roles for Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard.
Are Netflix movies allowed at the Cannes Film Festival?
Netflix has skipped the Cannes Film Festival for the last three years on account of a rule about theatrical exhibition in France that Cannes added in 2018, and the streaming giant’s relationship with Cannes organizers continues to be a bit frosty.
“The only thing is that we have a rule, namely, films in competitions have to be released in French movie theatres,” Thierry Frémaux, Cannes artistic director, said this week. “It’s not a very difficult rule to abide by. But Netflix does not want to abide by that rule, it doesn’t want to come out of competition – I invited them – and we talk a lot together as friends. I hope I’ll convince them one day.”
But back in 2018, Netflix boss Ted Sarandos did not anticipate changing his company’s release plans to suit Cannes. “We hope that they do change the rules. We hope that they modernize,” he said to Variety back then. “But we will continue to support all films and all filmmakers. We encourage Cannes to rejoin the world cinema community and welcome them back. Thierry had said in his comments when he announced his change that the history of the Internet and the history of Cannes are two different things. Of course they are two different things. But we are choosing to be about the future of cinema. If Cannes is choosing to be stuck in the history of cinema, that’s fine.”
Speaking this week, however, Frémaux made sure to connect Netflix to the past as well. “The work is outstanding,” he said of Netflix, citing “The Irishman” and “Mank” among other major Netflix debuts. “Ted Sarandos, Scott Stuber, they’re people who started their career in the cinema, and obviously Netflix has gained a huge foothold because they engage people who work in the cinema.”
But while Netflix has built up its film roster on the work of Martin Scorsese and David Fincher, Frémaux posited that streaming services have yet to launch a prestigious directorial career. “What directors have been discovered by [streaming] platforms?” he said. “I was asking one question: give me a name of a director discovered by some platforms?” When the press could not, Frémaux agreed.
“I’m saying that because we – the Cannes Film Festival, the other festivals – our mission is to discover, is to put new names on the maps,” he added. “And it’s what we do. So I’m not sure that even Netflix or whoever, they can skip the Cannes Film Festival.” And once again, they will.
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