The Cannes Film Festival returns in 2021, between July 6-17, with Spike Lee as its jury president.

Cannes continues its long-standing tradition of showcasing some of the most appreciated directors of the moment and expected films by cinephiles around the world. The French Dispatch (dir. Wes Anderson), Benedetta (dir. Paul Verhoeven), Ha’berech (dir. Nadav Lapid), Titane (dir. Julia Ducournau), France (dir. Bruno Dumont) are just a few of the major titles that make up the festival program this year.

Leos Carax’s newest film, Anette, will open the 74th Festival de Cannes. Guest of honor at the Opening Ceremony, actress, director and producer Jodie Foster will receive the Festival’s Honorary Palme d’or.

Romania enjoys a strong presence in this year’s edition of the festival, with director Cristian Mungiu elected as president of Semaine de la Critique, Cannes’ section dedicated to emerging filmmakers, and no less than 4 Romanian films selected in different sections, to be presented in world premiere:

La Civil (feature film, dir. Teodora Ana Mihai) – Un Certain Regard. A Belgium-Romania co-production (produced by Cristian Mungiu, Dardenne brothers), which tells the story of a Mexican mother searching for her daughter who has been abducted by members of a drug cartel.

When Night Meets Dawn (short film, dir. Andreea Cristina Borțun) – Quinzaine des Réalisateurs. The film follows a day in the life of a teenage boy searching for an identity. He goes looking for his new friend on the hot streets of an eerie city. As the blue night rises, a visceral journey begins. Nature around him becomes exotic and the exotic becomes alluring.

Întregalde (feature film, dir. Radu Muntean) – Quinzaine des Réalisateurs. Three friends on a humanitarian trip meet a lonely old man whom they try to help get to the sawmill where he claims to work. When their car gets stuck in a ditch in the woods, the sawmill turns out to be abandoned and they have to spend the night with the senile old man, their views on empathy and generosity begin to falter.

Intercom 15 (short film, dir. Andrei Epure) – Semaine de la Critique. Several residents discover an unconscious woman lying in front of the block. Even though she lives on the third floor, nobody knows her name. While waiting for rescue, the neighbors reflect on her life and their own.

The complete list of films in the Cannes’ Official Selection 2021:

Competition

Ha’berech (dir. Nadav Lapid)

Annette (dir. Leos Carax)

Benedetta (dir. Paul Verhoeven)

Bergman Island (dir. Mia Hansen-Løve)

Casablanca Beats (dir. Nabil Ayouch)

Hytti Nro 6 (dir. Juho Kuosmanen)

Drive My Car (dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)

Tout s’est bien passé (dir. François Ozon)

Flag Day (dir. Sean Penn)

France (dir. Bruno Dumont)

The French Dispatch (dir. Wes Anderson)

A Hero (dir. Asghar Farhadi)

La fracture (dir. Catherine Corsini)

Lingui (dir. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)

Memoria (dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

Nitram (dir. Justin Kurzel)

Les Olympiades (dir. Jacques Audiard)

Petrov’s Flu (dir. Kirill Serebrennikov)

Red Rocket (dir. Sean Baker)

Les Intranquilles (dir. Joachim Lafosse)

The Story of My Wife (dir. Ildikó Enyedi)

Tre Piani (dir. Nanni Moretti)

Titane (dir. Julia Ducournau)

The Worst Person in the World (dir. Joachim Trier)

Un Certain Regard

Mes frères et moi (dir. Yohan Manca)

After Yang (dir. Kogonada)

Blue Bayou (dir. Justin Chon)

Bonne Mère (dir. Hafsia Herzi)

Commitment Hasan (dir. Hasan Semih Kaplanoglu)

Freda (dir. Gessica Généus)

Gaey Wa’r (dir. Na Jiazuo)

Great Freedom (dir. Sebastian Meise)

Delo (dir. Alexey German Jr.)

The Innocents (dir. Eskil Vogt)

La Civil (dir. Teodora Ana Mihai)

Lamb (dir. Valdimar Jóhansson)

Let There Be Morning (dir. Eran Kolirin)

Moneyboys (dir. C.B. Yi)

Noche de Fuego (dir. Tatiana Huezo)

Rehana Maryam Noor (dir. Abdullah Mohammad Saad)

Unclenching the Fists (dir. Kira Kovalenko)

Un Monde (dir. Laura Wandel)

Women Do Cry (dir. Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova)

Out of Competition

Where is Anne Frank? (dir. Ari Folman)

Aline, the Voice of Love (dir. Valerie Lemercier)

Bac Nord (dir. Cédric Jimenez)

Emergency Declaration (dir. Han Jae-Rim)

De son vivant (dir. Emmanuelle Bercot)

Stillwater (dir. Tom McCarthy)

The Velvet Underground (dir. Todd Haynes)

Midnight Screenings

Tralala (dir. Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu)

Suprêmes (dir. Audrey Estrougo)

Bloody Oranges (dir. Jean-Christophe Meurisse)

Special Screenings

Bill Murray’s party: New Worlds, the cradle of a civilization (dir. Andrew Muscato)

Mi iubita, Mon amour (dir. Noémie Merlant)

Les Héroïques (dir. Maxime Roy)

Are you lonesome tonight (dir. Wen Shipei)

Babi Yar. Context (dir. Sergei Loznitsa)

Black Notebooks (dir. Shlomi Elkabetz)

H6 (dir. Yé Yé)

O Marinheiro das Montanhas (dir. Karim Aïnouz)

The Year of the Everlasting Storm (dir. Jafar Panahi, Anthony Chen, Malik Vitthal, Laura Poitras, Dominga Sotomayor, David Lowery, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

Cannes Premiere

Vortex (dir. Gaspar Noé)

Cow  (dir. Andrea Arnold)

Tromperie (dir. Arnaud Desplechin)

Evolution (dir. Kornél Mundruczo)

Hold Me Tight (dir. Mathieu Amalric)

In Front of Your Face (dir. Hong Sang-soo)

Jane by Charlotte (dir. Charlotte Gainsbourg)

JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass (dir. Oliver Stone)

Love Songs for Tough Guys (dir. Samuel Benchetrit)

Mothering Sunday (dir. Eva Husson)

Val (dir. Ting Poo and Leo Scott)

Melissa Antonescu

Writer, photographer and videographer. For Films in Frame she writes news about the latest happenings in the film world and brings to the readers' attention the productions that can be seen at the cinema. When she's not writing articles, she's photographing people in a small studio or searching for new cake recipes.