The 10 most highly anticipated movies at Cannes 2024
Purists of the cinematic experience will say that the annual Cannes Film Festival is the biggest movie event of the year, and in many ways, they are, indeed, right. Of course, the Academy Awards would have something to say about this proposition, but the Oscars carry such little relevance in contemporary culture in comparison to an event that celebrates diversity, creativity and ingenuity above all.
With superhero fatigue having made audiences drowsy for years and the constant barrage of box-office noise saturating an already dull market, independent world cinema has been given a renewed focus. Indeed, ever since Parasite took home the esteemed Palme d’Or in 2019, the festival has gone on to attract an increasing number of eyes thanks to its finger being firmly on the pulse of the modern zeitgeist.
In the years that followed, Cannes awarded two female filmmakers, Julia Ducournau and Justine Triet, with its highest honour, while the Swedish director Ruben Östlund received the same award as he continued his industry dominance with the beloved satire Triangle of Sadness. Cannes seems to be becoming the most popular and extravagant movie event on the movie calendar.
2024’s edition is no different either, with the festival welcoming such established filmmaking icons as David Cronenberg and Francis Ford Coppola, as well as exciting contemporaries like Andrea Arnold and Agathe Riedinger.
Highly anticipated movies at Cannes:
All We Imagine As Light (Payal Kapadia)
Payal Kapadia’s debut feature film, All We Imagine As Light, is the first film from India to compete at Cannes since 1994 and is also one of the only four female-directed movies in the category. The film focuses on two nurses who live together in Mumbai and take a road trip to a beach town where they hope to realise their innermost desires.
Starring Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam and Hridhu Haroon, All We Imagine As Light is one of the most hotly-anticipated movies at Cannes this year. Premiering on May 23rd at the festival, expect to find a piece of cinema that explores the difficult nature of romantic relationships amid the hustle and bustle of contemporary India.
Anora (Sean Baker)
Tangerine and The Florida Project director Sean Baker is returning to Cannes this year with the romantic comedy Anora. At around two hours and 20 minutes in length, Anora is Baker’s longest movie. It has also been backed by Neon, who has co-incidentally distributed each of the last four Palme d’Or winners, including Anatomy of a Fall and Triangle of Sadness.
In that light, Baker will be hoping for similar success with Anora. The film tells the story of a young sex worker from Brooklyn, played by Mikey Madison, who gets a shot at the good life when she marries the son of a Russian oligarch. However, when the husband’s parents learn of the marriage, they travel to New York City to try and crush the newlywed wife’s dreams.
The Apprentice (Ali Abbasi)
Holy Spider and Border filmmaker Ali Abbasi has his new movie, The Apprentice, at Cannes this year. It’s a biographical drama that sees Sebastian Stan play Donald Trump, with the film – also starring Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova and Martin Donovan – focusing on Trump’s rise to economic power as a real estate businessman in New York in the 1970s and 1980s.
Trump has dominated the entertainment and politics headlines for around a decade now, so it’s not too surprising to see him arrive in a biopic form in 2024. The crux of this one, though, focuses on a ‘Faustian’ pact between Trump and the notorious political fixer Roy Cohn, providing an exploration into themes of power, business, politics, and corruption.
Bird (Andrea Arnold)
Easily one of the most anticipated movies at Cannes this year is the drama Bird, directed by Red Road, Fish Tank, and American Honey filmmaker Andrea Arnold. Starring Barry Keoghan, Franz Rogowski, Jasmine Jobson, and James Nelson-Joyce, Bird promises to detail the tender and emotional moments of outsider British life, as Arnold often has throughout her career.
Bird tells of a 12-year-old girl who lives with her single father and brother in a dilapidated property in North Kent. Approaching teenagehood, she begins seeking adventures elsewhere when her father seems to have no time for her. Keoghan had left Gladiator 2 for Bird, which may bring even more attention to the drama film.
Caught By The Tides (Jia Zhang-Ke)
There’s a highly anticipated Chinese offering in competition at Cannes this year in the shape of Jia Zhang-Ke’s drama Caught by the Tides. Set from the early 2000s to the present day, Caught by the Tides tells the tender love story of Qiao Qiao and Guao Bin: when the latter sets off for another province in China without warning, the former decides to go looking for him.
Jia has cast his frequent collaborator, wife, and muse, Zhao Tao, in Caught by the Tides, while Li Zhubin also returns to the director after A Touch of Sin. The director has also admitted to experimenting with new technologies like 5D and even AI to make his latest film, so the romantic drama looks to be a real mix of old-style narrative and innovative filmmaking techniques.
Megalopolis (Francis Ford Coppola)
Certainly one of the most publicised movies competing at this year’s festival is Megalopolis, the passion project from Francis Ford Coppola that has been in the making for over 40 years. A bizarre project of gargantuan proportions, Coppola’s new movie is expected to be a phantasmagorical cinematic trip into the brain of the same mind behind such classic movies as Apocalypse Now and the Godfather saga.
Telling the story of an accident that destroys a metropolis and the maverick architect who aims to rebuild it as a utopia, Megalopolis promises to be an utterly crazy film, with the trailer already pointing to surrealism and even a time-stopping sub-plot. Yet, with Coppola in charge of such stars as Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf and Dustin Hoffman, surely nothing can go wrong?
Parthenope (Paolo Sorrentino)
The Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino has been making movies since the 1990s, but it’s only been since the 21st century that he has received acclaim for his work. Creating such beloved pieces of cinema as The Family Friend, Il Divo, and Youth, starring Michael Caine, Sorrentino’s greatest success came in 2013 when he released his Oscar-winner and Palme d’Or nominee The Great Beauty.
Over a decade later, he’s back at Cannes with one of his most exciting projects in years, Parthenope, a fantasy drama about a mysterious woman who may be a mythical creature. With Stefania Sandrelli, Luisa Ranieri, and Gary Oldman, Sorrentino’s latest film looks like quintessential Cannes material, certainly having the potential to take home the coveted Palme d’Or prize.
Rumours (Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, Guy Maddin)
When the Canadian screenwriter and director Guy Maddin has a film on the horizon, you’d better sit up and take notice. An iconic filmmaker known for his surrealism and unique approach to the cinematic medium, Maddin has thrilled his cult fanbase with such classics as My Winnipeg and The Forbidden Room over the years, but his new project has gained the attention of Cannes, shortlisting it for the competition category.
Featuring the likes of Charles Dance, Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander, the story follows representatives from wealthy democracies who get lost in the woods and are forced to face up to a series of surreal situations. It is a little unfair to call it solely Maddin’s work, however, with the Canadian co-directing with Galen Johnson and Evan Johnson, with the latter penning the script.
The Substance (Coralie Fargeat)
In attendance at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival will be David Cronenberg, the grandfather of body horror, with his latest film, The Shrouds, undoubtedly having the power to draw the masses. Yet, just a few theatres over, French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat will be screening The Substance, a body horror that might just eclipse Cronenberg’s film, especially when it stars the likes of Margaret Qualley, Demi Moore and Dennis Quaid.
Coming from the director of the superb 2017 thriller Revenge, little is known about The Substance besides basic details, with the story thought to follow a society that allows people to create different versions of themselves. Sounding like vintage Cronenberg, we predict The Substance to overshadow the Canadian’s latest effort.
Wild Diamond (Agathe Riedinger)
As much as Cannes is a celebration of cinema soon to be hitting the big screen, it also provides a chance for burgeoning young filmmakers to find a platform. That’s why one of the most anticipated films from the festival has to be Agathe Riedinger’s Wild Diamond, a debut feature from the French director and screenwriter which tells the story of a 19-year-old forced to contend with aspirations of stardom as she comes of age.
French cinema has a rich history of coming-of-age stories, from François Truffaut’s 400 Blows to the Dardenne brothers’ Kid with a Bike to Céline Sciamma’s Girlhood, with Riedinger hoping that her new film might be able to slide in alongside such greats.
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