Cannes Film Festival Lineup and Overview: New Films From Wes Anderson, Ari Aster, Spike Lee, Richard Linklater, Kelly Reichardt
The Cannes Film Festival officially started yesterday. The highly anticipated slate for the upcoming 2025 celebration includes new films from notable filmmakers such as Wes Anderson, Spike Lee, Richard Linklater and Kelly Reichardt. Cannes announced additional picks to premiere in competition this May, as well as addendums to their renowned Midnight Screening offerings. More than 80 films will be screened at the festival this year, with 22 films in competition for the coveted Palme d’Or, the highest prize awarded to the best feature film in the official competition.
Many films premiering in competition this year hail from big name directors, such as Wes Anderson’s “The Phonecian Scheme,” Ari Aster’s “Eddington,” Julia Ducournau’s “Alpha,” Richard Linklater’s “New Wave” and Kelly Reichardt’s “The Mastermind.” Some of these directors are Cannes alumni; “The Phonecian Scheme” and “New Wave” are the fourth films of Anderson’s and Linklater’s respectively to premiere at Cannes, with “The Mastermind” being Reichardt’s third, and “Alpha” being Ducournau’s second following her 2021 Palme D’or winner “Titane.” “Eddington” serves as Aster’s debut in the festival.
Other films premiering in competition include: Bi Gan’s “Resurrection,” Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s “Jeunes Mères (The Young Mothers’ Home),” Chie Hayakawa’s “Renoir,” Oliver Hermanus’ “The History of Sound,” Hafsia Herzi’s “La Petite Derniére (The Little Sister),” Oliver Laxe’s “Sirât,” Sergei Loznista’s “Two Prosecutors,” Mario Martone’s “Fuori,” Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “O Agente Secreto (The Secret Agent),” Domonik Moll’s “Dossier 137,” Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Just an Accident,” Lynne Ramsay’s “Die, My Love,” Saeed Roustaee’s “Woman and Child,” Tarik Saleh’s “Eagles of the Republic,” Mascha Schilinski’s “Sound of Falling,” Carla Simón’s “Romería” and Joachim Trier’s “Affeksjonsverdi (Sentimental Value).”
Bi, Dardenne, Hayakawa, Hermanus, Herzi, Laxe, Loznista, Martone, Mendonça, Moll, Panahi, Ramsay, Roustaee, Saleh and Trier are all Cannes alumni, with Dardenne and Loznista boasting more than 10 selections each. Schilinski and Simón join Aster in their freshman foray into the festival.
This year, Cannes is home to the feature directorial debuts of names like Harris Dickinson, Scarlett Johansson and Kristen Stewart. Stewart’s film, “The Chronology of Water,” was a late addition to Cannes’ Un Certain Regard lineup, as Stewart had to recut the film for time qualifications. Johansson’s film “Eleanor the Great” and Dickinson’s film “Urchin” are also competing in Un Certain Regard. The Un Certain Regard line is a selection of approximately 20 non-traditional narrative films, often from new directors, and carries a similar prestige to the Palme d’Or top prize. Of the films in Un Certain Regard this year, nearly half are directorial debuts.
Dickinson, Johansson and Stewart are all veterans to Cannes as actors, with Dickinson starring in the 2022 Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness,” Johansson starring in four films that premiered at Cannes and Stewart starring in five. This year, Dickinson and Johansson have double-roles as both directors and actors at the festival, with Dickinson also starring in “Urchin” and Johansson starring in Anderson’s “The Phonecian Scheme.”
Other branches of Cannes lineups, such as their renowned Midnight Screenings series and Out of Competition films, include new films from Ethan Coen, Spike Lee and Christopher McQuarrie. Coen’s film, “Honey Don’t!” is one of five films in the Midnight Screenings lineup and marks his second solo feature film after his split with brother and frequent collaborator Joel Coen. Lee’s film, “Highest 2 Lowest,” was another late addition to the festival’s overall lineup and is premiering Out of Competition. The film is a modern retelling of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller “High and Low,” and stars Denzel Washington. Christopher McQuarrie’s film, “Mission Impossible: The Last Reckoning,” serves as the culmination of the “Mission Impossible” franchise. The film stars McQuarrie’s longtime collaborator and franchise lead Tom Cruise, who received an honorary Palme d’Or in 2022 alongside the screening of “Top Gun: Maverick.” “Mission Impossible: The Last Reckoning” joins “Highest 2 Lowest” in the Out of Competition lineup.
Alongside their lines of new narrative films, Cannes Classics is a repertory program featuring screenings of old films, debuts of new documentaries and discussions with filmmakers. This year, Quinten Tarantino is the Cannes Classics guest of honor, and will discuss the work of old-Western director George Sherman. Two of Sherman’s films, “Red Canyon” and “Comanche Territory,” will screen in conjunction with Tarantino’s discussions. Stanley Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon,” Kevin Smith’s “Dogma: Resurrected,” Charlie Chaplan’s “Gold Rush” and Miloš Forman’s “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” will be screened as part of the Cannes Classics lineup in celebration of the films’ respective anniversaries.
Other Cannes Classics programming features new feature-length documentaries, including a tribute documentary to the late maestro David Lynch titled “David Lynch: Welcome to Hollywood.” The documentary covers the philosophy of Lynch’s work, examining the “dark and writhing surface of the American Dream,” as stated in the trailer. Other notable documentaries include “Slauson Rec,” an observational documentary about Shia Lebouf’s non-traditional teaching methods at his free acting class in the Slauson Recreation Center in Los Angeles, and “My Mom Jayne,” about director Mariska Hargitay’s mother Jayne and Hargitay’s relationship to Jayne after her passing. Both “My Mom Jayne” and “Slauson Rec” are directorial debuts from Hargitay and Lebouf student Leo Lewis O’Neil, respectively.
The latest competitive branch of the festival is the Immersive Competition, featuring mixed-media visual works from around the world. The Immersive Competition began in 2024, making this the second consecutive year of the line. This year, 16 immersive works are on display at Cannes, featuring AI interfaces, virtual reality experiences and video mapping.
For more updates on the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, follow The Independent’s live reporting from the festival grounds here.