CANNES DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT 2023: Lineup Includes Michel Gondry, Hong Sangsoo, Sean Price Williams, and More

Almost a week after announcing the in-competition titles, the Cannes Film Festival has announced the lineup for its Directors’ Fortnight section for its 55th edition. This part of the festival will screen over a diverse 20 films and 10 shorts this year. It will run from May 17 to 26.

The opening film for this section is French actor and director Cédric Kahn’s The Goldman Case. It revolves around the 1976 trial of Pierre Goldman, a real-life, left-wing revolutionary who was convicted of several armed robberies and then mysteriously murdered.

Closing out the section is Korean director Hong Sang-soo’s 30th feature, In Our Day. It stars his muse Kim Minhee as a woman who is temporarily living at a friend’s home, raising a cat. It also centers on a man in his 70s living alone, whose cat has died of old age. Both of them receive unexpected visitors and eat ramyun noodles with hot pepper paste as they talk.

Some of the other exciting films in Directors’ Fortnight include Michel Gondry’s feature directorial comeback in 7 years. The French-language dramedy The Book of Solutions stars Pierre Niney as a filmmaker dealing with a creative block. Hopefully, we can expect some of Gondry’s cinema magic involving surreal settings and handmade visual effects.

Another highlight is The Sweet East, the directorial debut of cinematographer Sean Price Williams who is known for his work with the Safdie Brothers and Alex Ross Perry. According to an enigmatic synopsis, the story revolves around a young woman taking a picaresque journey through contemporary America while being granted access to the strange sects and cults that proliferate in this country by a series of gatekeepers eager to win her over. Jacob Elordi (Euphoria) is among the cast.

Other U.S. features screening at Directors’ Fortnight are Joanna Arnow’s The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed and Weston Razooli’s Riddle Of Fire. Arnow’s film, executive produced by Sean Baker, is a fragmented, experiential look at the life of a woman as time passes in her long-term casual BDSM relationship, low-level corporate job, and quarrelsome Jewish family.

See the Directors’ Fortnight lineup below:

FEATURE FILMS

Abraham’s Valley (Val Abraão)
Dir. Manoel de Oliveira – SPECIAL SCREENING

The Goldman Case (Le Procès Goldman) – OPENING FILM
Dir. Cédric Kahn

Agra (India)
Dir. Kanu Behl

The Other Laurens (Fr)
Dir. Claude Schmitz

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Viet-Sing-Fr)
Dir. Thien An Pham

Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (Switz-Ger-Geo)
Dir. Elene Naveriani

Grace (Blazh)
Dir. Ilya Povolotsky

She is Conann (Bel-Fr-Lux)
Dir. Bertrand Mandico

Creatura (Sp)
Dir. Elena Martín Gimeno

Déserts (Mor-Fr-Ger-Bel)
Dir. Faouzi Bensaïdi

In Flames (Can-Pak)
Dir. Zarrar Kahn

Légua (Port-Fr-It)
Dir. Filipa Reis & João Miller Guerra

The Book of Solutions (Fr)
Dir. Michel Gondry

Mambar Pierrette
Dir. Rosine Mbakam

Riddle Of Fire (US)
Dir. Weston Razooli

The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed (US)
Dir. Joanna Arnow

The Sweet East (US)
Dir. Sean Price Williams

A Prince (Fr)
Dir. Pierre Creton

A Song Sung Blue (China)
Dir. Zihan Geng

In Our Day (S Kor) – CLOSING FILM
Dir. Hong Sangsoo

SHORT FILMS

The House Is on Fire, Might as Well Get Warm
Dir. Mouloud Aït Liotna

A Storm Inside
Dir. Clément Pérot

The Birthday Party
Dir. Francesco Sossai

I Saw the Face of the Devil
Dir. Julia Kowalski

Lemon Tree
Dir. Rachel Walden

Margarethe 89
Dir. Lucas Malbrun

Mast-Del
Dir. Maryam Tafakory

Oyu
Dir. Atsushi Hirai

The Red Sea Make Me Wanna Cry
Dir. Faris Alrjoob

Talking to the River
Dir. Yue Pan