Cannes Film Festival 2014

Predicting Cannes Film Festival 2014 Lineup

written by: MRoderick

Introduction

In a few days, the formal selection of Cannes Film Festival 2014 will be announced. This means that there are only a few days remaining for speculation, hypothesizing and debating about the most likely titles to premiere in this year’s upcoming show. In this post, we have put together a list of what we believe are the best bets to make it to the show. The winner of the Cannes Film Festival 2014 will be picked by a jury headed by Jane Campion, a former Palme d’Or winner. The proceedings are set to kick off on May 2014 after the premiering of 'Grace of Monaco’. Take a look at the most anticipated films to premiere at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

1. Clouds of Sils Maria - Cannes Film Festival 2014

Directed by Olivier Assayas

Cast: Chloe Moretz, Bruno Ganz, Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, Johnny Flynn, Brady Corbet and Daniel Bruhl.

This is touted to be there at the Cannes Film Festival, Attractions. Although Assayas has not made a major movie since Summer Hours, everything seems to suggest that this will be the return to form. The movie concerns Maria Enders, who plays the part of Binoche, who, after being told to take part in the revival of a play that made her very famous two decades ago, leaves with her assistant, Kristen Stewart for rehearsal in Sils Maria. This is distant location found in the Alps. One of the best films ever done by Assayas was also concerning creative production and role-playing. This means we may be just be right about this one.

2. Bird People - Cannes Film Festival 2014

Directed by Pascal Ferran

Since winning Camera d’Or in 1994 Cannes Film Festival for the film Coming to Terms with the Dead, we haven’t really seen much about Pascal, a prolific French director. This makes us excited about her leading the line with this international cast that has been scripted by Breaud. Breaud last wrote Le Petit Lieutenant, which Xavier Beauvois directed. The story occurs in an area of Paris between an international hotel and an airport zone and it is a contemporary film that attempts to describe the world of today as well as the dreams and hopes of everyone in social environment in which there is an outbreak of a supernatural. Although the Cannes Film Festival is often condemned for not having female directors, Pascal Ferran stands a good chance of forming part of those that will line up this year.

3. Maps to the Stars - Cannes Film Festival 2014

Directed by David Croneberg

Cast: Sarah Gadon, Robert Pattinson, John Cusack, Mia Wasikowska, Julianne Moore, Carrie Fisher and Olivia Williams. The fact that Croneberg teams up with Pattinson in this film makes it a hot contender to win gold during the May 14 event at the Cannes Film Festival. Their last collaboration which was an adaptation of Comopolis, an anti-capitalism book by Don DeLillo, was just so awesome that some people mistakenly took it to be terrible.

The film is basically a Hollywood satire which also uses Julianne Moore’s talents and that of Mia Wasikoska. Just like Cosmopolis, Maps to the Stars looks just as bold and visionary.

The Kindergarten Teacher - Cannes Film Festival 2014

Directed by Nadav Lapid

If Cannes film festival, as they often say, is the ultimate drama school, then it should not be a surprise to often see classroom depictions. As of yet, Nadav Lapid has not appeared in Cannes as far as film premiering is concerned. However, he work-shopped his last production, The Policeman, an award winning film in Cannes Atelier. In a world where artists are seldom appreciated, and where sensitive souls have no chance, a kindergarten teacher who loves poetry discovers a kid poet and thereafter takes it upon herself.

5. Leviafan - Cannes Film Festival 2014

Directed by Andrew Zvyagintsev

Cast: Elena Lyadova, Alexey Serebryaov and Vladimir Vdovichenkov

Boasting of three deliriously exciting titles already, Elena, a 2011 drama, saw resurgence in critical appreciation for the most exciting director to have ever grazed the Russian film industry in the past decade, Andrew Zvyagintsev. Leviafan is a socially conscious drama similar to highbrow science fiction. Zvyagintsev returns with Oleg Nevin, the screen writer who is also the one that penned The Banishment and Elena.

This film has been described as melting into a tragedy and brings out today’s social problems. The project is much more ambitious compared to Zvyagintsev’s last work and also unites him with Elena Lyadova. The film has a large cast containing 7 main characters that deal with human insecurity on a 'new country’. The problem gradually unwinds to mythological scale with respect to human condition. His 2007 film, the Banishment won Best Actor while Elena, 2011, played in Uncertain Regard we are convinced Leviafan deserves a slot in the Main Competition.

6. The Homesman - Cannes Film Festival 2014

Director: Lee Jones

Cast: Hillary Swank, Tommy Lee Jones, Grace Gummer, Merryl Steep, Hailee Steinfeld, James Spader, John Lithgow, Wiliam Fichtner, Tim Blake Nelson, and David Dencik.

Quite remarkably, Cannes is among the few places not to have undervalued terrific directional debut of Tommy Lee Jones titled: “Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada”. They gave Jones Best Actor Award and the film was given a Competition berth. The Homesman is a story about a claim jumper who teams up with a woman to move 3 mentally unstable women to Iowa from Nebraska. Given its insanely heavyweight cast, and assuming that it is ready, we think it is heading straight for Croisette.

7. The Search

Directed by Michel Hazavanicius

Cast: Annette Bening and Berenice Bejo

The Artist, surprise package of 2011 festivals, was to prove an even bigger crowd-pleaser. After being snapped up by Harvey Weinstein, it went on to scoop Best Picture, Actor and Director at the Oscars. Naturally therefore, all eyes are on Michel Hazavanicius to see if he can repeat the magic with The Search. It is a remake of 1948 Fred Zinnemann film The Search. Having begun to shoot the film in August 2013, Hazavanicius has just enough time to ready the film for the Cannes Festival. Will Bejo repeat her win for Best Actress that she won last year with “The Past”?

Conclusion

The competition is tough since Cannes film festival features some of the world’s finest films. However, the above films have a strong case to make it to this year’s competition. What do you think of our list? Did we capture your prediction as well? You tell us what you think about our Cannes Film Festival prediction.