The Cannes Film Festival was officially canceled in April due to COVID-19, but that didn’t stop them from going “digital” by releasing a list of 56 films that would have made up its 2020 edition. A total of 15 features were from first-time directors, while 16 of the films listed were helmed by women. The 56 films selected were chosen out of a potential pool of 2,067 features that were submitted. There are 147 countries being represented, and 21 of them coming from France.
Despite the “Official Selection,” there wasn’t a competition lineup announced, instead, Fremaux insisted that all 56 films selected would just have an equal badge of honor of being part of this year’s selection. A fun game to play, which I will continue to spitball/revise in the weeks to come since we will likely never know the full details of this year’s canceled Cannes 2020 competition, is to put together the 18-21 films that would have competed this year for the Palme d’Or.
Some of the below films were not given the Cannes stamp of approval this past wee, mostly because they either decided to wait it out for next year’s festival (Annette, Memoria, Benedetta, Ahed’s Knee) or were hoping to premiere at this year’s fall fests (Tres Piani). Regardless, thanks to rumors, sources, and public information, these are the 18 films that would have surely vyed for the Palme d’Or:
The French Dispatch - Wes Anderson
Summer of 85 - François Ozon
Annette - Leos Carax
Memoria - Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Ahed’s Knee - Nadav Lapid
Benedetta - Paul Verhoeven
Bergman's Island - Mia Hansen-Love
Tre Piani - Nanni Moretti
Ammonite - Francis Lee
Mangrove - Steve McQueen
Lover’s Rock - Steve McQueen
On A Half Clear Morning - Bruno Dumont
Petrov’s Flu - Kirill Serebrennikov
True Mothers - Naomi Kawase
Another Round - Thomas Vinterberg
DNA - Maïwenn
Heaven: To The Land Of Happiness - Im Sang-soo