Competition Films: Jean-Luc Godard Returns To Cannes, Tommy Lee Jones Directs

Among the 18 feature films competing for the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Jean-Luc Godard is presenting his 19th film at the Cannes Film Festival, Adieu au Langage (Goodbye to Language).

Adieu au Langage (Goodbye to Language): Godard’s first film to compete at Cannes was Cleo de 5 a 7, which premiered at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival. Since then, 18 of his films have been screened at the festival, though not all in competition. Goodbye to Language is Godard’s first film in competition in over 10 years.

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Captive (The Captive): Atom Egoyan directs this Canadian thriller starring Ryan Reynolds, Rosario Dawson, Mireille Enos and Scott Speedman. This will be Egoyan’s fifth film in competition at the Cannes Film Festival; the writer/director won the Grand Jury Prize for The Sweet Hereafter in 1997.

Deux Jours, Une Nuit (Two Days, One Night): Directors and brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne return to Cannes with this film starring Marion Cotillard and Fabrizio Rongione. The Dardenne brothers are Cannes Film Festival regulars, and have won two Palme d’Or, one for 1999’s Rosetta and another for L’enfant in 2005. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne also shared an Award for Best Screenplay for Le Silence de Lorna (Lorna’s Silence) in 2008 and the Grand Jury Prize in 2011 for their film Le gamin au vélo (The Kid With A Bike).

Foxcatcher: Filmmaker Bennett Miller’s Olympic drama Foxcatcher stars Hollywood heavyweights Channing Tatum, Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, Sienna Miller and Vanessa Redgrave.

Futatsume No Mado (Still the Water): from writer/director Naomi Kawase, this Japanese drama is a coming of age story that is sure to turn heads. Kawase is a Cannes legend thanks to her 1997 Cannes debut, when she became the youngest winner of the Camera d’Or for her film Suzaku.

Jimmy’s Hall: a historical drama that takes place in 1921 Ireland. Director Ken Loach made his first appearance at the Cannes Film Festival in 1970 with KES, and has presented over ten films in competition since. Loach won the Palme d’Or in 2006 with his drama The Wind That Shakes the Barley.

Le Meraviglie (The Wonders): Italian director Alice Rohrwacher wrote the script of this coming of age drama which centers around a 12-year-old girl, Gelsomina, who lives confined with her younger sisters under the rule of their strict father. Maria Alexandra Lungu makes her feature debut as Gelsomina, in this fantastical film co-starring Monica Bellucci.

Leviathan: Russian director Andrey Zvyaginstsev transposes the Biblical story of Jobs to modern day Russia.

Maps To The Stars: Controversial director David Cronenberg turns the camera around and focuses on Hollywood in this new thriller. The film stars a handful of Hollywood stars, including Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson and John Cusack. This is Cronenberg’s second collaboration with Pattinson. The two previously worked together on 2012’s Cosmopolis, which also appeared in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

Mommy: Young filmmaker Xavier Dolan presents his fourth film at the Cannes Film Festival. Mommy explores the relationship between a single mother (Anne Dorval) and her 15-year-old son (Antoine-Olivier Pilon) with ADHD.

Mr. Turner: Mike Leigh, the Academy-Award nominated writer/director, is behind this film about British artist JMW Turner (Timothy Spall). Leigh is no stranger to the Cannes Film Festival, having previously won the coveted Palme d’Or in 1996 for his film Secrets & Lies.

Relatos Salvajes (Wild Tales): From Argentina, Damian Szifron makes his Cannes debut with this philosophical film starring Ricardo Darin, Oscar Martinez and Rita Cortese.

Saint Laurent: French director Benrtrand Bonello (House of Tolerance) gives his take on fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, starring Gaspard Ulliel as Saint Laurent alongside co-stars Louis Garrel, Léa Seydoux (Blue is the Warmest Color) and Jeremie Renier (L’enfant).

Sils Maria (Clouds of Sils Maria): Olivier Assayas directs Juliette Binoche in this drama about an actress, Maria Enders, (Binoche) who comes face to face with a younger version of herself. Hollywood starlets, Kristen Stewart and Chloë Grace Moretz also star.

The Homesman: Tommy Lee Jones directs and stars in this western about an outlaw who teams up with a pioneer woman to help escort three crazy women from Nebraska to Iowa. The Homesman also stars Hilary Swank, Meryl Streep, Grace Gummer (Streep’s daughter), Miranda Otto and Hailee Steinfeld. This is Jones’ first time at Cannes as a director; he previously won Best Actor for his work in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005).

The Search: From the director of The Artist (2011), Michel Hazanavicius, The Search tells the story of four characters during the Second Chechen War in 1999, including three refugees and one Russian Army soldier. The film stars Bérénice Bejo, who was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role in The Artist and won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 for Le passé, Annette Bening, another Oscar nominated actress, and Maxim Emelianov.

Timbuktu: Director Abderrahmane Sissako of Mauritania presents a film about the encroachment of religious fundamentalist rule into a small village, where a man struggles to protect his family from the new oppression. Timbuktu stars Ibrahim Ahmed, Toulou Kiki, and singer Fatoumata Diawara.

Winter Sleep: Turkish director Nuri Bilge is following up his 2011 Grand Prize winner Bir Zamanlar Anadoulu’da (Once Upon A Time In Anatolia) with this film about a former actor, Aydin, and his wife, as winter traps them in their small hotel. Haluk Bilginer stars opposite Melisa Sozen and Demet Akbag.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong