- Words Louis Rabinowitz
The returns of Park Chan-wook, David Cronenberg and Hirokazu Kore-eda, big premieres for Top Gun and Elvis and a David Bowie documentary - dive into what the 2022 Cannes festival has on offer.
Rumours have been incessantly circulating about this year’s Cannes Film Festival and the films that might play there – new David Lynch! New Pixar! – and it’s now unveiled its official line-up. While some of the prior whispers have indeed been proven false, there are plenty more treats in store for film fans which have been confirmed.
The festival’s Official Competition strand, where films vie for the prestigious Palme d’Or award, is set to be a demolition derby of beloved filmmakers, some of whom are making a return after lengthy hiatuses. Top of the bill is David Cronenberg, whose Crimes of the Future – his first film in eight years – marks a return to the body horror genre that made him famous, with Viggo Mortensen, Lea Seydoux and Kristen Stewart starring.
Other big names in the Competition strand include Korean auteur Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, The Handmaiden) with mystery thriller Decision to Leave, 2019 Palme winner Hirohazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters) with Korean-language debut Broker starring Song Kang-ho, Kelly Reichardt’s (First Cow, Certain Women) Showing Up, her latest collaboration with muse Michelle Williams, James Grey’s (Ad Astra) autobiographical drama Armageddon Time, Swedish satirist and 2017 Palme winner Ruben Östlund’s (Force Majeure) Triangle of Sadness and Claire Denis’ (High Life) Stars At Noon.
There’s plenty of action to be found outside the main Competition, too. The Out of Competition strand includes three blockbuster premieres, two of which were previously announced: Tom Cruise sequel Top Gun: Maverick, with a special tribute to Cruise’s career planned for the screening, Baz Luhrmann’s big-budget biopic Elvis, starring Austin Butler as the man himself and Tom Hanks as his mentor. Also joining the strand is the long-awaited return of George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road) with the fantasy Three Thousand Years of Longing, which stars Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba.
Other highlights include the directorial debut of actress Riley Keough alongside Gina Gammell with the film Beast, the aptly-timed return of Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa with the hard-hitting The Natural History of Destruction and voluminous David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream, which will include reams of previously unseen concert footage.
The Cannes Film Festival will run from May 17th-28th.