This year’s Cannes Film Festival’s lineup includes several exciting Irish co-productions
By Brian Bowe
The sun has arrived! Summer is here! That time of year where the streets are filled with bare-chested men showing off that gym bod they spent the winter months perfecting. Of course, if you wish to avoid such sights out of fear that it may lower your self-esteem, as your winter was spent gorging on chocolates to a box set of Hill Street Blues because you heard it was an underrated and often overlooked ‘80s telly gem, your best bet is taking refuge in a local cinema.
It’s dark here, and air conditioned, with screens that boast a wide selection of popcorn-appropriate blockbusters to help while away the hours. Look, all your friends are here – Furiosa, Inside out 2, and everyone’s favourite non-franchise franchise sequel, Twisters. Having fun yet? No? Look, this is as good as it gets, buddy.
Wait! Okay, okay, maybe I can sort you out. I get it, you’re into more artsy stuff. I got you covered. The Cannes Film Festival, just about the best darn festival in the whole world kicked off at the end of May and has given us plenty of movies to look forward to. This year is especially exciting as the stellar lineup includes several Irish productions / co-productions.
This year’s president of the Competition Jury is Greta Gerwig, director of one of last summer’s two movie juggernauts, Barbie, which also just so happens to be the highest grossing film in Irish box office history. Gerwig and her jury will have their work cut out for them, though, as this year’s selection is absolutely packed with highly-anticipated flicks including Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, Sean Baker’s Anora, Paul Schrader’s Oh Canada, The Shrouds by David Cronenberg, and Kevin Costner’s newest cowboy folly, Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1.
Dublin production company Element Pictures have three films that will be premiering at the Cannes Film Festival. These projects are Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness, Ariane Labed’s September Says, and Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl.
Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness, Yorgos Lanthimos
Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone star in Lanthimos’ Poor Things follow-up, Kinds of Kindness, which, if the trailer is anything to go by, looks like a move away from the commercial success of the director’s previous two films and a return to his nightmarish roots. The script was co-written by Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou (The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer), and developed by Element Pictures and Film4.
Shot in Ireland with support from Screen Ireland and BBC Film, and slated for the Festival’s Un Certain Regard Section, September Says is the directorial debut of Greek actress Ariane Labed. Labed, who recently starred in Swimming Home last year, opposite Christopher Abbot, is probably best known for her roles in Lanthimos films, including Alps and the Colin Farrell-led dark comedy The Lobster. Starring Mia Tharia and Pascale Kann, the movie follows two sisters – July and September. When September is suspended from their school, July begins to assert her own independence. Tension in the family builds on a holiday in Ireland as a series of surreal encounters test them all to their limit.
After gaining worldwide recognition for 2017’s I Am Not a Witch, Zambian/British filmmaker Rungano Nyoni is set to unveil her latest film, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, at Cannes’ prestigious Un Certain Regard section. The film, produced by Element Pictures, was filmed in Zambia and post-produced in Ireland with backing from BBC Film and popular American indie production company A24.
“Screen Ireland is delighted that there is such a strong presence for Irish film and creative artists at the Cannes film festival this year,” Désirée Finnegan, chief executive of the body said in a statement. “Congratulations go to the creative teams behind all of these films.”
Elsewhere, Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi, who impressed Cannes audiences in 2022 with Holy Spider, returns to Festival Competition with his latest offering, The Apprentice. Starring Sebastian Stan, the film charts a young Donald Trump’s ascent to power through a Faustian deal with the influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn. A Canada-Ireland-Denmark co-production, The Apprentice’s producers include Ruth Treacy (Let The Wrong One In) and Julianne Forde (Louise Lives Large) for Irish production company Tailored Films.
Dublin director Lorcan Finnegan, best known for Nocebo and Vivarium, will be premiering The Surfer in the Midnight Screenings section of Cannes. The psychological thriller stars Nicolas Cage as a man who returns to his beach-side hometown in Australia, where he is humiliated in front of his teenage son by a local group of surfers who claim ownership over the secluded beach of his childhood. An Australian/Irish co-production, the film wrapped shooting in Yallingup in Western Australia late last year.
After stunning Cannes audiences back in 2017 with The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Barry Keoghan returns to the Croisette with Bird, the latest film from British Director Andrea Arnold, who won the Festival’s Jury Prize in 2016 with American Honey. Bird follows 12-year-old Bailey who lives with her single dad Bug (Keoghan) and brother Hunter in a squat in North Kent. Bug doesn’t have much time for his kids and Bailey who is approaching puberty seeks attention and adventure elsewhere.
So there you have it. Don’t get too bogged down in this summer’s never-ending stream of bloated blockbusters. There’s plenty of good stuff on the way. The Cannes Film Festival highlights an impressive presence of Irish filmmakers and actors, showcasing their talent and creativity on the global stage. Just around the corner is Kinds of Kindness, coming June 28. If it’s anything like Element Pictures’ previous collaborations with Lanthimos, it’s sure to be one you don’t want to miss.
