22 films from some of the world’s most famous directors are competing for the grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival, which opens on Tuesday.This year, the Palme d’Or will be awarded by a jury that includes Hollywood star Demi Moore and Korean director Park Chan-wook.Only five out of 22 films competing for the prestigious Palme d’Or were directed by women, compared to seven out of 22 films last year.The feminist group 50/50 accused organizers of “feminism-washing” by using women’s empowerment icons Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon as “Thelma and Louise” in the 1991 film for propaganda purposes.“There is absolutely no point at which we choose Geena Davis or Susan Sarandon or a Ridley Scott film for the poster in order to give ourselves a feminist image,” Cannes Film Festival president Thierry Frémaux told reporters on Monday.The 50/50 group, which advocates for equality in the film industry, signed a charter with the Cannes Film Festival in 2018.He added: “If we are hesitant between two films… and this hesitation is between a film by a director and a film by a female director, we will choose the film by the female director.”Organizers say that this year female directors represent 34 percent of all feature film directors selected for the official program at the Cannes Film Festival.
“A Bitter Christmas” by Pedro Almodóvar
The legendary Spanish director – who has never won the Palme d’Or – hopes to be lucky for the seventh time with this story for a director who relies on the lives of those close to her to write her stories.
“Parallel Stories” by Asghar Farhadi
The Oscar-winning exiled Iranian director has assembled a stellar French cast including Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert and Pierre Niney to tell “several stories intertwined in a corner of Paris.”
“Paper Tiger” by James Gray
American director James Gray made a late entry with his crime drama about two brothers navigating the Russian mafia, starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, from the producers of The Yards and Little Odessa.
“A Woman’s Life” by Charlene Bourgeois-Tackett
French actress Lea Drucker plays a stressed-out surgeon in hospital who meets a novelist who comes to see her work and turns her life upside down – one of four French-made films shown this year.
“Black Ball” by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrosi
A sprawling Spanish historical film exploring gay life inspired by Federico Garcia Lorca’s last unfinished work, starring Glenn Close and Penelope Cruz, which turns on a moment of civil war in the country where the poet and playwright died.
“The Coward” by Lukas Dhont
The highly-rated young Belgian director of “Girl” and “Close” returns with a drama set in the trenches of World War I, with visuals “inspired by color photographs of the period.”
‘suddenly Written by Ryosuke Hamaguchi
Following the global success of “Drive My Car,” the Japanese director returns with a film shot in France, in which Virginie Efira plays the head of a nursing home who befriends a dying Japanese playwright.
“The Unknown” by Arthur Harary
The screenwriter of the 2023 Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall” adapts the graphic novel he wrote with his brother about a man who wakes up in the body of a mysterious stranger.
“Garance” by Jean Herry
Cannes favorite Adele Exarchopoulos plays a talented but hard-headed actress in this French tale of a woman losing her grip.
“Sheep in the Box” by Hirokazu Koreeda
A couple welcomes a humanoid robot into their home in the latest film from the Japanese director who won the 2018 Palme d’Or for “Shoplifters.”
“Hope” by Na Hong Jin
Real-life couple Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander star in this psychological thriller about people who set out to find a monster, then find themselves hunted by the South Korean author.
‘Naji’s memoirs “By Koji Fukada
After tackling the pop industry’s exploitation of young Japanese women in his latest film, Love on Trial, Fukada heads to rural Japan for a feature film about the meeting of two lonely souls.
“The Gentle Monster” by Mary Kreutzer
The Austrian director brings together French actors Léa Seydoux and Catherine Deneuve – who star in two competing films – in a story about a couple, one of whom suddenly reveals a brutal side.
“A Man of His Time” by Emmanuel Marie
The Belgian director turns his attention to the civil servants who ruled occupied Vichy France in this wartime drama with Swann Arlaud of “Anatomy of the Fall” fame.
‘Fjord “By Christian Mungiu
The Romanian winner of the 2007 Palme d’Or for “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” collaborates with Norwegian actor Renate Rensef, of “Sentimental Value” and “The Worst Person in the World” fame, in the story of the conflict between two families in a remote Norwegian village.
“The Birthday Party” by Leah Misius
As for the third film by the emerging French director, Italian Monica Bellucci stars alongside French stars Bastien Bouillon and Hafsia Hirzi.
“Mulan” by Laszlo Nemes
The Hungarian director of the famous film “Son of Saul” returns to Cannes with a biographical film about the life of French resistance hero Jean Moulin.
‘Homeland “By Pawel Pawlikowski
The Polish director, who won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for “Ida” in 2015, returns with another black and white film, this time about the return of writer Thomas Mann to Germany in 1949.
“The Man I Love” by Ira Sachs
Rami Malek, who won an Oscar for his role as Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” plays an artist at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in New York in the 1980s.
“The Beloved” by Rodrigo Sorogoyen
There is a lot of buzz around the Spanish director’s drama starring Javier Bardem, which revolves around a director who rekindles his difficult relationship with his actress daughter while shooting the film.
“Minotaur” by Andrey Zvyagintsev
The exiled Russian director follows up his breakthrough films “Leviathan” and “Loveless” with a film about the Russian middle class grappling with the military draft during the Ukraine war.
“Dream Adventure” by Valeska Griesbach
The German “Western” director makes her debut in main competition with the story of a woman living in the border region between Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey who agrees to a deal to help a friend.
