What movies are playing at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival?
Its been a while, but for the first time since 2019, the Cannes Film Festival is officially happening on the Croisette. After being canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic (though some films, such as Spike Lees Da 5 Bloods, which would have screened at Cannes had it happened, were afforded a designation from the prestigious event), the 2021 Cannes Film Festival is happening right now on the French Riviera with a full slate of international features. Heres everything to know about this years Cannes Film Festival, including the full lineup. The 2021 lineup at the Cannes Film Festival features new films from Wes Anderson, Sean Baker, Sean Penn, Leo Carax, and Tom McCarthy. But despite the usual vast pedigree of talent at Cannes, awards attention for the films that launch there is uncertain. Only twice have Palme dOr winners also won Best Picture at the Oscars (1955s Marty and 2019s Parasite)  although that data point could be rendered moot by the coronavirus pandemic. The Cannes Film Festival normally takes place in May, but this years event was delayed until July. That tweak pushes the festival debuts further down the calendar and places the 2021 films into whats an already truncated Oscar season. The 2022 Oscars will only consider movies released from March 1 through December 31 because of last years eligibility tweaks. Fans of Anderson (who is set to debut his first live-action film since The Grand Budapest Hotel received nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture) and McCarthy (the director of Spotlight, whose new film with Matt Damon is screening out-of-competition) shouldnt be discouraged about their awards prospects sight unseen. Heres the full list of Cannes Film Festival premieres in 2021. COMPETITION  Annette, dir: Leos Carax (opening night film)  Flag Day, dir: Sean Penn  Tout Sest Bien Pass, dir: Franois Ozon  A Hero, dir: Asghar Farhadi  Tre Piani, dir: Nanni Moretti  Titane, dir: Julia Ducournau  The French Dispatch, dir: Wes Anderson  Red Rocket, dir: Sean Baker  Petrovs Flu, dir: Kirill Serebrennikov  France, dir: Bruno Dumont  Nitram, dir: Justin Kurzel  Memoria, dir: Apichatpong Weerasethakul  Les Olympiades, dir: Jacques Audiard  Benedetta, dir: Paul Verhoeven  La Fracture, dir: Catherine Corsini  The Restless, dir: Joachim Lafosse  Lingui, dir: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun  The Worst Person In The World, dir: Joachim Trier  Bergman Island, dir: Mia Hansen-Love  Drive My Car, dir: Ryusuke Hamaguchi  Aheds Knee, dir: Nadav Lapid  Casablanca Beats, dir: Nabil Ayouch  Compartment No. 6, dir: Juho Kuosmanen  The Story Of My Wife, dir: Ildiko Enyedi  OUT OF COMPETITION  De Son Vivant, dir: Emmanuelle Bercot  Stillwater, dir: Tom McCarthy  The Velvet Underground, dir: Todd Haynes  Bac Nord, dir: Cdric Jiminez  Aline, dir: Valrie Lemercier  Emergency Declaration, dir: Han Jae-Rim  MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS  Bloody Oranges, dir: Jean-Christophe Meurisse  CANNES PREMIERES  Evolution, dir: Kornel Mundruczo  Cow, dir: Andrea Arnold  Mothering Sunday, dir: Eva Husson  Love Songs For Tough Guys, dir: Samuel Benchetrit  In Front Of Your Face, dir: Hong Sang-soo  Hold Me Tight, dir: Mathieu Amalric  Deception, dir: Arnaud Desplechin  Val, dirs: Ting Poo, Leo Scott  JFK Revisited: Through The Looking Glass, dir: Oliver Stone  *Jane By Charlotte, dir: Charlotte Gainsbourg  SPECIAL SCREENINGS  *H6, dir: Yi Yi  Black Notebooks, dir: Shlomi Elkabetz  Mariner Of The Mountains, dir: Karim Ainouz  Babi Yar. Launched in 1946, the Cannes Film Festival has long found itself as an early year destination for cineasts and international filmmakers. As Brittanica points out, the Cannes marketplace is also a shining beacon for the event. Like other film festivals, it became an international marketplace where producers and distributors could exchange ideas, view films, and sign contracts, reads the site. The phenomenon of international coproduction arose at Cannes in the late 1940s.  According to the Cannes Film Festival website, the event retains its great importance because, the Festival de Cannes has remained faithful to its founding purpose: to draw attention to and raise the profile of films, with the aim of contributing towards the development of cinema, boosting the film industry worldwide and celebrating cinema at an international level.  Now, even with enhanced COVID-19 protections and contentious salvia tests for patrons, the Cannes Film Festival is still a key destination for the entertainment industry and those who cover its moves. This is to say nothing of the famously persnickety Cannes crowd, which can either boisterously praise a film after its debut with a lengthy standing ovation or drown out its credits in loud boos. While the movies will not stream online during the festival, Cannes promises 12 days of live online coverage of premieres, press conferences, and more via its website. According to the website Cannes Guide, the daylight dress code is fairly informal and patrons can get away with wearing business casual clothes or even shorts and a T-shirt, provided shoes or sandals are worn as footwear. Dont wear flip-flops as some of the humorless security goons have been known to take issue with these, the site reads. At night and for lavish premiere events, black-tie attire is often a requirement. The Cannes Film Festival begins Tuesday, July 6, 2021, and ends Saturday, July 17, 2021. Its unclear as of this writing which film will win the 2021 Palme DOr, but strong titles in the lineup include The French Dispatch, Andersons film about a New Yorker-like magazine that stars his usual cadre of actors including Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, and Owen Wilson, and Annette, Caraxs musical with music from the band Sparks and lead roles for Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. Netflix has skipped the Cannes Film Festival for the last three years on account of a rule about theatrical exhibition in France that Cannes added in 2018, and the streaming giants relationship with Cannes organizers continues to be a bit frosty. The only thing is that we have a rule, namely, films in competitions have to be released in French movie theatres, Thierry Frmaux, Cannes artistic director, said this week. Its not a very difficult rule to abide by. But Netflix does not want to abide by that rule, it doesnt want to come out of competition  I invited them  and we talk a lot together as friends. I hope Ill convince them one day.  But back in 2018, Netflix boss Ted Sarandos did not anticipate changing his companys release plans to suit Cannes. We hope that they do change the rules. We hope that they modernize, he said to Variety back then. But we will continue to support all films and all filmmakers. We encourage Cannes to rejoin the world cinema community and welcome them back. Thierry had said in his comments when he announced his change that the history of the Internet and the history of Cannes are two different things. Of course they are two different things. But we are choosing to be about the future of cinema. If Cannes is choosing to be stuck in the history of cinema, thats fine.  Speaking this week, however, Frmaux made sure to connect Netflix to the past as well. The work is outstanding, he said of Netflix, citing The Irishman and Mank among other major Netflix debuts. Ted Sarandos, Scott Stuber, theyre people who started their career in the cinema, and obviously Netflix has gained a huge foothold because they engage people who work in the cinema.  But while Netflix has built up its film roster on the work of Martin Scorsese and David Fincher, Frmaux posited that streaming services have yet to launch a prestigious directorial career. What directors have been discovered by [streaming] platforms? he said. I was asking one question: give me a name of a director discovered by some platforms? When the press could not, Frmaux agreed. Im saying that because we  the Cannes Film Festival, the other festivals  our mission is to discover, is to put new names on the maps, he added. And its what we do. So Im not sure that even Netflix or whoever, they can skip the Cannes Film Festival. And once again, they will. PREDICTthe 2021 Emmy nominations through July 13  Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Dont miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. SIGN UP for Gold Derbys free newsletter with latest predictions