A larger-than-usual Competition — 24 films — for its 2021 edition was announced today by the Cannes Film Festival, along with the Out of Competition, Un Certain Regard and other titles that comprise (for now) its official selection. Delayed from its usual dates in mid-May to July 6-17, the festival opens with the long-awaited Leos Carax Sparks-scored musical Annette and contains new features by Asghar Farhadi, Mia Hansen-Løve, Jacques Audiard and Nanni Moretti. Cannes also adds this year a new section, Cannes Premieres, containing films by festival veterans such as Oliver Stone, Kornél Mundruczo and Andrea Arnold. Among the American independent directors in the festival, Kogonada follows up his Sundance premiere, Columbus, with the sci-fi drama After Yang; Sean Baker appears in Competition for the first time with the Texas-shot Red Rocket; and Sean Penn returns to the festival with his thriller Flag Day. Also of note on the American independent front are Todd Haynes’s Velvet Underground doc and Tom McCarthy’s Stillwater (both Out of Competition); Justin Chon’s Blue Bayou in Un Certain Regard; and in the Cannes Premieres section, Ting Poo and Leo Scott’s Val, about Val Kilmer. And, held over from last year, when it would have premiered, is Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch. Also of note: in the Special Screenings category, an anthology film, The Year Of The Everlasting Storm, shot during this past pandemic year, with sections directed by Jafar Panahi, Anthony Chen, Malik Vitthal, Laura Poitras, Dominga Sotomayor, David Lowery and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

Read the selections announced today below.

Competition

Annette, Leos Carax (also Opening Night, France)
The Story of My Wife, Ildikó Enyedi (Hungary)
Benedetta, Paul Verhoeven (Netherlands)
Bergman Island, Mia-Hansen-Love (France)
Drive My Car, Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Japan)
Ha’Berech (Ahed’s Knee), Nadav Lapid (Israel)
Casablanca Beats, Nabil Ayouch (Morocco)
Compartment No. 6, Juho Kuosmanen (Finland)
The Worst Person in the World, Joachim Trier (Norway)
La fracture, Catherine Corsini (France)
The Restless, Joachim Lafosse (Belgium)
Paris 13th District, Jacques Audiard (France)
Lingui, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Chad)
Memoria, Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand)
Nitram, Justin Kurzel (Australia)
France, Bruno Dumont (France)
Petrov’s Flu, Kirill Serebrennikov (Russia)
Red Rocket, Sean Baker (U.S.)
Flag Day, Sean Penn (U.S.)
The French Dispatch, Wes Anderson (U.S.)
Titane, Julia Ducournau (France)
Tre Piani, Nanni Moretti (Italy)
Tout s’est bien passé, François Ozon (France)
A Hero, Asghar Farhadi (Iran)

Out of Competition

De son vivant, Emmanuelle Bercot (France)
Emergency Declaration, Han Jae-Rim (Korea)
The Velvet Underground, Todd Haynes (U.S.)
Bac Nord, Cédric Jimenez (France)
Aline, the Voice of Love, Valérie Lemercier (France)
Stillwater, Tom McCarthy (U.S.)

Cannes Premiere
Hold Me Tight, Mathieu Amalric (France)
Cow, Andrea Arnold (U.K.)
Love Songs for Tough Guys, Samuel Benchetrit (France)
Deception, Arnaud Desplechin (France)
Jane par Charlotte, Charlotte Gainsbourg (France)
In Front of Your Face, Hong Sang-Soo (Korea)
Mothering Sunday, Eva Husson (France)
Evolution, Kornél Mundruczo (Hungary)
Val, Ting Poo, Leo Scott (U.S.)
JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass, Oliver Stone (U.S.)

Midnight Screenings
Bloody Oranges, dir: Jean-Christophe Meurisse

Special Screenings
H6, dir: Yi Yi
Black Notebooks, dir: Shlomi Elkabetz
Mariner Of The Mountains, dir: Karim Ainouz
Babi Yar. Context, dir: Sergei Loznitsa
The Year Of The Everlasting Storm; dirs: Jafar Panahi, Anthony Chen, Malik Vitthal, Laura Poitras, Dominga Sotomayor, David Lowery, Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Un Certain Regard
The Innocents, dir: Eskil Vogt
After Yang, dir: Kogonada
Delo, dir: Alexey German Jr
Bonne Mere, dir: Hafsia Herzi
Noche De Fuego, dir: Tatiana Huezo
Lamb, dir: Vladimar Johansson
Un Monde, dir: Laura Wandel
Freda, dir: Gessica Généus
Moneyboys, dir: CB Yi
Blue Bayou, dir: Justin Chon
Commitment Hasan, dir: Hasan Semih Kaplanoglu
Rehana Maryam Noor, dir: Abdullah Mohammad Saad
Let There Be Morning, dir: Eran Kolirin
Unclenching The Fists, dir: Kira Kovalenko
La Civil, dir: Ana Mihai
Women Do Cry, dirs: Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova