After the announcement of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival Critics’ Week yesterday, another lineup for the parallel Cannes Directors’ Fortnight section (or Quinzaine des cinéastes) has been announced. As previously announced, the Directors’ Fortnight this year will pay tribute filmmaker Todd Haynes, who will receive the French Film Directors’ Guild’s lifetime achievement honor, the Carrosse d’Or award at the opening ceremony on May 14th.
The 57th edition of the Fortnight is pluralist, mixed, and rich in discoveries. It celebrates a cinematic liveliness that is invaluable and more essential than ever, even as directors and producers find it increasingly difficult to finance their projects. It stands with directors the world over in the fight against homogenization, commodification, and thus the neutralization of cinema. The Cannes Film Festival is pleased to share with you a lineup that honors the art of mise en scene and the desire and generosity of the auteurs.
The 57th edition is once again curated by Julien Rejl and maintains its focus on auteur-driven cinema. For the second year in a row, the Fortnight opens with a film released posthumously: “Enzo,” directed by “BPM (Beats Per Minute)” filmmaker Robin Campillo, who stepped in following the April death of his longtime collaborator, “The Class” director Laurent Cantet. Set against the backdrop of Marseille, “Enzo” tells the story of a young apprentice mason whose unexpected friendship with a Ukrainian coworker opens his eyes to new possibilities. The film, produced by Marie-Ange Luciani (“Anatomy of a Fall“), features rising talents Eloy Pohu and Maksym Slivinskyi, along with Élodie Bouchez and Pierfrancesco Favino.
Bookending the selection is Eva Victor’s “Sorry, Baby,” a Sundance standout acquired by A24. Victor directs and stars as a college professor dealing with the aftermath of sexual assault, alongside performances from Naomi Ackie and Lucas Hedges. Rejl spoke to the breadth of this year’s selection: “The 57th edition of the Fortnight is pluralist, mixed, rich in discoveries. It celebrates a cinematic liveliness that is invaluable and more essential than ever… It stands with directors the world over in the fight against the homogenisation, the commodification and thus the neutralisation of cinema.”
Among the festival’s most anticipated premieres is “Miroirs No. 3” by Christian Petzold, marking the acclaimed German director’s first appearance at Cannes. In this latest collaboration with actress Paula Beer, Petzold explores the emotional unraveling of a pianist following the sudden death of her boyfriend in a car crash. “It’s a kind of melodrama, very mysterious, but with the same great direction, precision and elegance that makes the charm of Christian Petzold’s cinema,” said Rejl.
Lloyd Lee Choi brings “Lucky Lu,” adapted from his short film “Same Old,” which centers on a Chinese delivery driver in New York trying to recover his stolen e-bike as his long-separated family prepares to reunite. The film stars Chang Chen (“Dune“).
From Australia, Sean Byrne returns with “Dangerous Animals,” a shark-themed thriller starring Hassie Harrison (“Yellowstone”) as a surfer abducted by a serial killer, played by Jai Courtney, with Josh Heuston also in the cast. IFC Films and Shudder have already picked up distribution rights.
Iraqi-born, New York–based filmmaker Hasan Hadi makes his feature debut with “The President’s Cake,” about a 9-year-old girl asked to bake a cake for Saddam Hussein’s birthday. His previous short, “Swimsuit,” won an Oscar-qualifying prize and was acquired by HBO Max.
Also part of the slate are several notable French and Canadian entries: “Indomptables,” a detective thriller set in Cameroon from director Thomas Ngijol; Anthony Cordier’s comedy “Middle Class,” featuring Laurent Lafitte, Élodie Bouchez, and Laure Calamy; and “Peak Everything,” a quirky romantic comedy by Anne Émond, in which a humble kennel owner’s quiet life is upended by a woman who sells light-therapy lamps.
On the documentary front, “Militantropos,” directed by Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, and Simon Mozgovyi, offers a poignant reflection on the personal impacts of the war in Ukraine.
The Fortnight’s organizers contextualized this year’s selection with a strong statement of purpose: “In a turbulent world beset on all fronts by reactionary attitudes… cinema is one step ahead of society. Rather than judge, it complicates. Rather than condemn, it interrogates. Rather than make sweeping statements, it pays attention to small-scale stories – those of individuals as they experience events. It does so with anger or humour, and always with a good dose of poetry.”
QUINZAINE DES CINÉASTES
“Enzo” (A film by Laurent Cantet, dir. Robin Campillo) (OPENING FILM)
”Amour Apocalypse” (Peak Everything) (dir. Anne Émond)
”Brand New Landscape” (見はらし世代) (dir. Yuiga Danzuka) – first feature film
”Classe Moyenne” (Middle Class) (dir. Anthony Cordier)
”Dangerous Animals” (dir. Sean Byrne)
”La Danse Renards” (The Foxes Round) (dir. Valéry Carnoy) – first feature film
”L’Engloutie” (The Girl in the Snow) (dir. Louise Hémon) – first feature film
”Les Filles Désir” (The Girls We Want) (dir. Prïncia Car) – first feature film
”Girl on Edge” (Hua yang shao nv sha ren shi jian) (dir. Jinghao Zhou) – first feature film
”Indomptables” (dir. Thomas Ngijol)
”Kokhuo” (dir. Lee Sang-il)
”Lucky Lu” (dir. Lloyd Lee Choi) – first feature film
”Militantropos” (dir. Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova & Simon Mozgovyi)
”Miroirs No. 3″ (Mirrors No.3) (dir. Christian Petzold)
”La Mort N’Existe Pas” (Death Does Not Exist) (dir. Félix Dufour-Laperrière)
”The President’s Cake” (Mamlaket al-Qasab) (dir. Hasan Hadi) – first feature film
“Que Ma Volonté Soit Faite” (dir. Julia Kowalski)
“Sorry, Baby” (dir. Eva Victor) – first feature film (CLOSING FILM)
SHORT FILMS
“+10K” (dir. Gala Hernández López)
“Before The Sea Forgets” (dir. Ngọc Duy Lê)
“The Body” (dir. Louris van de Geer)
“Bread Will Walk” (Le pain se lève) (dir. Alex Boya)
”Cœur Bleu” (Blue Heart) (dir. Samuel Suffren)
”Karmash” (کرمش) (dir. Aleem Bukhari)
”Loynes” (dir. Dorian Jespers)
”La Mort Du Poisson” (Death of the Fish) (dir. Eva Lusbaronian)
”Nervous Energy” (dir. Eve Liu)
”When The Geese Flew” (dir. Arthur Gay)
The full lineup for the 2025 Cannes Film Festival can be seen here. The festival runs from May 13th until May 24th.
Are you excited for the 2025 Cannes Film Festival? What do you think of the Directors’ Fortnight lineup? Are you planning to attend the festival this year? Which films are you most looking forward to seeing? You can check out my reactions to the lineup here. Please let us know in the comments section below or on our Twitter account.
