Now that awards season is finally over, Hollywood is ready to start promoting its next slate of prestigious films on the festival circuit. One of the world's most highly-regarded festivals is less than a month away, so with barely any time to spare, the Cannes Film Festival announced its lineup on Thursday. Between May 14 and 25, Cannes will show 49 films, with 18 Official Selections competing for the grand prize, the Palme d'Or. As a whole, the chosen 49 films are...diverse.
As you would expect from an esteemed festival, the list of directors is filled with classic names, like David Cronenberg, Jean-Luc Godard, and Ryan Gosling—wait, what? Mixed among the names that you would find on any film studies syllabus are Hollywood stars like Gosling, who's directorial debut Lost River is featured in the Un Certain Regard category, and Tommy Lee Jones, who directed The Homesman, an Official Selection.
The list is even more varied when you consider the actors starring in many of the films. As the head of this year's Grand Jury, Jane Campion (the first woman to win the Palme d'OR) will be judging the performances of everyone from The Homesman's Meryl Streep to Maps to the Stars' Robert Pattinson. Nicole Kidman stars in the festival opener Grace of Monaco while Steve Carell will get dramatic in Foxcatcher, another Official Selection.
By the end of May, one of your favorite celebrities could instantly achieve serious, worldwide recognition. Just imagine, Pattinson no longer known as the guy who played Edward Cullen, but the star of a Palm d'Or winning film. Carell won't be Michael Scott anymore, he'll be a full-fledged serious actor.
Whether or not they win doesn't even matter. Cannes is one place where it truly is an honor just to be nominated.
Image: Cannes Film Festival
