I was sent, from a usually reliable source, the shortlist of the Official Competition for this year's Cannes film festival, which is supposed to be announced on April 13th. I emailed a contact I knew from the Fest to confirm if this is more or less the lineup. No answer back as of yet, but you can rest assured that 95% of these films are going to be selected based on the buzz and, of course this being Cannes, the directors at the helm.
“The Beguiled” (Sofia Coppola)
“Wonderstruck” (Todd Haynes)
"Okja" (Bong Joon-Ho)
"How To Talk to Girl's At Parties" (John Cameron Mitchell)
"War Machine" (David Michod) "Under the Silver Lake" (David Robert Mitchell)
"Happy End" (Michael Haneke)
"Claire's Camera" Camera" (Hong San-Hoo)
"Madame Hyde" (Serge Bozon)
"Ismael's Ghosts" (Arnaud Despechin)
"Mektoub is Mektoub" (Abdelattif Kechiche)
"Racer and the Jailbird" (Michaël Roskam)
"Based on a True Story" (Roman Polanski)
"The Killing of a Sacred Deer" (Yorgos Lanthimos)
"The Square" (Ruben Ostlund)
"Mary Shelley" (Haifaa Al-Mansour)
"Wild Pear Tree" (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
"Thelma" (Joachim Trier)
"Where Life is Born" (Carlos Reygadas)
"Jeanette" (Bruno Dumont)
"Radiance" (Naomi Kawase)
"Kings" (Deniz Gamze Erguven)