The 78th Cannes Film Festival will feature new films by acclaimed directors Wes Anderson, Ari Aster, and Richard Linklater, all vying for the prestigious Palme d'Or, organizers revealed on Thursday.
Following a successful 2024 edition that launched Oscar-winner Anora and award-season favorites like Emilia Pérez, The Substance, and The Apprentice, this year’s lineup is stacked with major auteurs.
Cannes artistic director Thierry Frémaux and festival president Iris Knobloch made the announcement at a press event in Paris.
Highlights of the competition include:
Ari Aster’s Eddington, a pandemic-era Western starring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, and Emma Stone.
Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, featuring Benicio Del Toro as a European schemer.
Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, a French-language film centered on Jean-Luc Godard and the French New Wave.
Julia Ducournau, who became only the second woman ever to win Cannes’ top prize with 2021’s Titane, returns with Alpha, a drama set in 1980s New York about an 11-year-old whose parent has AIDS.
Cannes regulars are also back:
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, two-time Palme winners, bring Young Mothers.
Joachim Trier re-enters the competition with Sentimental Value, reuniting with The Worst Person in the World star Renate Reinsve.
Scarlett Johansson’s first film as a director, Eleanor the Great, will screen out of competition.
Notably absent from the lineup are highly anticipated titles like Terrence Malick’s The Way of the Wind and Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another.
Previously, it was announced that Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning will premiere at the festival. Tom Cruise, who received an honorary Palme d'Or in 2022, headlines the film. This year, Robert De Niro will be honored with the same award during the opening ceremony.
Juliette Binoche will serve as jury president, following last year’s Greta Gerwig. This marks the first time in six decades that two women have consecutively led the Cannes jury.
The festival will take place from May 13 to May 24.