Cannes Critics’ Week Unveils 2024 Lineup

The Cannes Critics’ Week, the parallel film festival sidebar organized by the French film critics’ union, has unveiled its 2024 selection.

The psychological thriller Ghost Trail, the first feature from acclaimed French shorts director Jonathan Millet, will open the 2024 sidebar. Adam Bessa (star of 2022’s Un Certain Regard winner Harka) plays the lead in the manhunt drama about a man pursuing his former torturer, using only his sensory memories to guide him.

The competition lineup includes Brazilian drama Baby from director Marcelo Caetano, a portrait of a young outsider growing up in São Paulo; Constance Tsang’s Blue Sun Palace, which looks at the lives of Chinese immigrants in Queens; and the Egyptian/French/Danish/Qatari/Saudi Arabian drama The Brink of Dreams about a group of girls from the disenfranchised Christian Copts who defy tradition and set up an all-female street theater troupe.

Other competition titles include Antoine Chevrollier’s Block Pass, which dives into France’s rural motocross culture; the neo-noir drama Locust, from Taiwanese director KEFF; Leonardo Van Dijl’s Julie Keeps Quiet, about a young woman at an elite tennis academy; and Federico Luis’ South America-set drama Simon of the Mountain. The Special Session screenings include Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s Across the Sea, which follows a decade in the life of a migrant who emigrated illegally to Marseille; and Alexis Langlois’ musical comedy Queen of Drama, which recounts the rise and fall of fictional pop idols. Emma Benestan’s revenge horror Animal, starring Oulaya Amamra as a woman training to compete in the male-dominated Camargue, or “running of the bulls,” will close the section.

Director Rodrigo Sorogoyen, whose The Beasts won this year’s César for best foreign film, heads up the Critics’ Week jury, which will award prizes recognizing excellence in short films and emerging talent.

The 63rd edition of Critics’ Week (La Semaine de la Critique), runs May 15-23, alongside the main Cannes Film Festival. The section focuses on first and second feature films from up-and-coming directors. Many of the biggest names in international art house cinema got their start at the section. Two-time Palme d’Or winner Ken Loach brought his feature debut Kes to Critics’ Week in 1970. Julia Ducournau’s first film, Raw, was a 2016 Critics’ Week selection. Her follow-up, Titane, won the Palme d’Or in 2021. Justine Triet’s second feature, Victoria screened in Critics’ Week in 2013. Her fourth feature, Anatomy of a Fall, took the Palme d’Or last year.

The top prize at the Critics’ Week in 2023 went to Tiger Stripes, a body horror/coming-of-age genre mashup from first-time Malaysian director Amanda Nell Eu.

2024 Critics’ Week Lineup

Competition

Baby Marcelo Caetano

Blue Sun Palace Constance Tsang

Julie Keeps Quiet Leonardo Van Dijl

Locust KEFF

Block Pass Antoine Chevrollier

The Brink of Dreams Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir

Simon of the Mountain Federico Luis

Special Sessions

Ghost Trail Jonathan Millet (Opening Film)

Across the Sea Said Hamich Benlarbi

Queens of Drama Alexis Langlois

Animal Emma Benestan (Closing Film)