The Cannes Directors’ Fortnight sidebar has unveiled the 2023 lineup, featuring new films from arthouse favorites Hong Sang-soo, Michel Gondry and Cédric, Kahn, as well as a wide selection of emerging international directors.
Gondry’s Francophone Comedy The book of solutionsthe first movie in seven years of the Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind And The science of sleep director, is a clear highlight of Fortnight this year. French And Yves Saint-Laurent star Pierre Niney stars as a director dealing with a creative block. The project was a hot seller for Kinology in the Cannes market last year.
The phenomenally prolific Hong Sangsoo closes out this year’s Fortnight section with in our time, a drama starring Kim Minhee as a woman in her 40s who temporarily lives with a friend and Ki Joobong as a man in his 70s who lives alone. Both receive visitors, eat noodles and talk. There are cats involved. Sounds like classic Hong, who makes his Directors’ Fortnight debut this year.
The Goldman Case, the latest from the French actor and director Cédric Kahn opens the selection. The period drama focused on the 1976 trial of leftist revolutionary Pierre Goldman, who was convicted of several armed robberies before being mysteriously murdered.
Three American indie filmmakers made the Director’s Fortnight film this year, including Sean Price Williams, known for this DoP work for the Safdie Brothers’ Good timewho will screen his feature film debut The Sweet East; Joanna Arnows The feeling that the time to do something has passed, the portrait of a woman in a low-level corporate job with a long-term casual BDSM relationship; And Riddle of firethe feature debut of LA-based director Weston Razoli, who first garnered attention with such shorts and Anaxia And Jolly Boy Friday.
Asian entries include A Song Sung Blue, a Chinese coming-of-age story by first-timer Geng Zihan; Agra, a generational drama by Indian filmmaker Kanu Behl (Butterfly (Titli)); Vietnamese title The Yellow Cocoon Shell, director Pham Thien An’s feature film debut; and Pakistani horror film In flames by Canadian-Pakistani filmmaker Zarrar Kahn.
There will be a special screening of the 1993 drama by the late Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira Abraham’s Valley to mark the film’s 30th anniversary of its original Director’s Fortnight debut.
The Malian filmmaker Souleymane Cissé receives the honorary Carrosse d’Or prize from the section.
This year, the Directors’ Fortnight has been given a new French name, Quinzaine des Cinéastes, changed from the male-gender-specific Quinzaine des Réalisateurs to make the section more gender-inclusive. The 55th Directors’ Fortnight runs from May 17 to 26.
Check out the full list of the 2023 Directors’ Fortnight lineup below.
Directors’ Fourteen Days 2023
The Goldman caseCédric Kahn (opening film)
Abraham’s Valley, Manoel de Oliveira (special screening)
AgraKanu Behl
The other LawrenceClaude Schmitz
Inside the Yellow Cocoon ShellThien An Pham
Merel Merel BraamElena Naveriani
EleganceIlya Povolotsky
She is ConanBertrand Mandico
CreatureElena Martin Gimeno
desertsFaouzi Bensaidi
In flamesZarrar Kahn
Legua, Filipa Reis/Joao Miller Guerra
The book of solutionsMichael Gondry
Mambar PierretteRosine Mbakam
Riddle of fireWeston Razoli
The feeling that the time to do something has passedJoanna Arnow
The Sweet EastSean Price Williams
A princePierre Creton
A Song Sung BlueZihan Geng
In our dayHong Sang-soo (closing film)
