Cannes 2022: six regulars on the red carpet

Crowned from his first selection in 1981 for Looks and smileshe also received the jury prize three times: in 1990 for Hidden Agendain 1993 for Raining Stonesand finally in 2012 for The part of the angels. “It’s too much, too much”, agrees himself this committed and modest filmmaker who shares with the general delegate Thierry Frémaux a passion for football. He is one of those big names whose presence reassures the coach, recognizes Gilles Jacob in his Cannes Film Festival love dictionary (1) , and if it exposes it to the accusation of facility, it “consolidates the reputation of a festival”.

→ INVESTIGATION. Cannes Film Festival 2022, a resumption against a backdrop of concerns

♦ Faithful

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

Along with Joel and Ethan Coen, the Dardenne brothers are the other pair of directors who have been regulars at Cannes for the past twenty years. And for good reason, the projection of Rosetta, in 1999, was a shock and earned them, from their first selection, a Palme d’Or. A reward that opened the steps of the competition to them. Each of their films since has been selected at the Festival, i.e. 9 in total counting Tori and Lokitacompeting this year.

Coming from the documentary, sharing with Ken Loach the same social fiber but bringing their own cinematographic style, the two Belgian directors (71 and 68 years old) also share with the British director the privilege of having won a second Palme d’or in 2005 with The Childas well as a script award for Lorna’s Silence, in 2008, a grand prize for Bicycle kidin 2011, and a directing prize for Young Ahmadin 2019. Will their latest film, about a boy and a teenager who arrived alone from Africa and who share the difficult conditions of exile, seduce the jury?

♦ Shady

Nanni Moretti

Definitely preferring Cannes to Venice, the filmmaker, whose film was ready in 2020, moreover waited a year to give the premiere of his feature film to Thierry Frémaux. With a directing award in 1994 for Personal diary and a Palme d’or in 2001 for The Son’s Room, the Cannes Film Festival has been quite successful. At the head of the jury in 2012, he awarded the Palme d’Or to Loveby Michael Haneke.

♦ Failed

Pedro Almodóvar

Despite eight selections at Cannes including one out of competition for Bad Educationthe Palme d’or has always eluded the Spanish director, who nevertheless presented his most beautiful films there, in particular all about my mother (1999) and Volover (2006), went away respectively with the price of the direction and that of the screenplay. And if he didn’t have to be asked to agree to chair the jury for the 70th edition in 2017, “He maintains a complex relationship with the competition, which has never smiled on him”says Thierry Frémaux (2), who must each time convince him to take part.

♦ Regular

Arnaud Desplechin

He is one of the rare French people – along with Olivier Assayas and Jacques Audiard – subscribers to Cannes since his first film, The Sentinelwas selected in competition in 1992. Nothing very surprising in that. “He is one of our best filmmakers”, does not hesitate to proclaim Thierry Frémaux, although the director, in the running six times for the Palme d’Or, has never been rewarded. His Brother and sisterselected this year, returns to an autobiographical vein after Deceptionadaptation of the book by Philip Roth, shown last year in the Cannes Première section, and Roubaix, a lightcompeting in 2019.

An assiduous presence after an “air pocket” which succeeded the selection in competition in 2013 of jimmy p, a sort of astonishing psychoanalytical western, shot in the United States with Benicio del Toro. The general delegate was angry with himself for having then let slip Three memories of my youth at the Fortnight before inviting him back to Cannes as a member of the jury in 2016 then at the opening of the festival, out of competition, in 2017 with Ishmael’s Ghosts.

♦ Tenacious

Naomi Kawase

Few women among the regulars of the competition, like selections where they have long represented the minimum portion. Two of them won the Palme d’or, Jane Campion in 1993 with The Piano Lessonand Julia Ducournau in 2021 with the highly controversial Titaniumand none of them are among the list of the 20 most represented directors since 1946. Things are changing and filmmakers like Claire Denis, in competition this year with Stars at Noonor Alice Rohrwacher are in the process of becoming “subscribers”.

One exception however, Naomi Kawase. Since the Japanese director, who fought to impose her singular poetic universe, won the Camera d’or in 1996 with Suzakupresented at the Directors’ Fortnight, 5 of his films were selected in competition, including Mogari Forest (grand prize in 2007) and To the light (prize of the ecumenical jury in 2017). Tokyo Delights competed in the “Un certain regard” category in 2015, and True Mothersthe last, was part of the selection of the edition that was not held in 2020.