The 78th Cannes Film Festival will showcase new films from Wes Anderson, Ari Aster, and Richard Linklater in its competition for the prestigious Palme d’Or, organizers revealed Thursday.
Following a successful 2024 edition that yielded the Academy Award winner for best picture, “Anora,” and notable Oscar hopefuls like “Emilia Pérez”, “The Substance,” and “The Apprentice,” the 2025 festival lineup returns with an impressive roster of acclaimed directors.
Festival artistic director Thierry Frémaux presented the official selections during a press briefing in Paris, accompanied by Cannes president Iris Knobloch.
Among the featured entries are Aster’s “Eddington,” a pandemic-era Western featuring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, and Emma Stone; Anderson’s “The Phoenician Scheme,” led by Benicio Del Toro as a European opportunist; and Linklater’s French-language film “Nouvelle Vague,” centered on Jean-Luc Godard and the French New Wave movement.
Julia Ducournau, who made history in 2021 with her Palme d’Or-winning “Titane,” returns with “Alpha,” set in 1980s New York and focused on an 11-year-old whose parent is living with AIDS.
Also making a return are Cannes favorites Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, previous double Palme winners. Their latest project is titled “Young Mothers.” Joachim Trier, known for 2021’s “The Worst Person in the World,” reenters the competition with “Sentimental Value,” once again starring Renate Reinsve.
Outside the main competition, Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, “Eleanor the Great,” will be screened.
Notably absent from the announced selections were two anticipated titles: Terrence Malick’s long-anticipated biblical film “The Way of the Wind,” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another.”
The festival had previously confirmed that “Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning” would premiere at Cannes. The festival honored Tom Cruise with an honorary Palme d’Or in 2022. This year, Robert De Niro will receive a similar accolade during the opening ceremony.
Following Greta Gerwig’s lead, Juliette Binoche will preside over this year’s Palme d’Or jury. Knobloch noted it marks the first instance in six decades where two consecutive women have led the jury.
The festival is scheduled to run from May 13 to May 24.