10 Cannes Film Premieres To Watch Now

The 2024 edition of the Cannes Film Festival starts on May 14 through the 25^th. The event promises red carpet glamour on the Croisette. We’ve compiled highlights of this year’s event. And for those of us who can’t attend? We have a list of 10 past Cannes film premieres, to watch now from the comfort of your home, thanks to our friends at the French streaming platform France Channel, who are offering another 30 day free trial to HIP readers . The French elevate all aspects of life to an art-form and film is no different.

Cannes Film Festival – 2024 Highlights

The guest of honor at this year’s opening ceremony is Meryl Streep where she will be awarded an Honorary Palme d’Or. Studio Ghibli and George Lucas will also be given prestigious awards.

The Festival is a showcase for emerging talent along with its Official Selection. This year’s president of the jury is none other than the American director Greta Gerwig and also includes screenwriter/photographer Ebru Ceylan, actress Lily Gladstone, actress Eva Green, director and screenwriter Nadine Labaki, director/producer and screenwriter Juan Antonio Bayona, actor Pierfrancesco Favino, director Kore-Eda Hirokazu, and actor/producer Omar Sy.

Highlights of the Festival’s competition and out of competition strands including films by Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrea Arnold and Francis Ford Coppola. There is a new section called Cannes Classics which features heritage films including new restorations, documentaries, and more, with the highlight being the opera extravaganza Napoléon vu par Abel Gance.

Is the Cannes Film Festival Open to the Public?

Most attendees are accredited industry professionals and the press. However the festival hosts a few screenings on the beach (Cinéma de la Plage) which the public can attend on a first come first serve basis. There are a small number of tickets available to a limited number of events though at steep prices.

If you can’t make it to the sunny South of France to attend, don’t despair. We’ve gathered a list of 10 French films that premiered at Cannes. As we’ve done in the past, readers have one month’s free access to France Channel so you can bring a piece of the French Riviera to your home.

10 French Movies Premiered at Cannes

Catch all of these now on the French streaming platform France Channel with a 30 day free trial exclusively for HIP Readers.

Sibyl (2019) – Drama

Lacking inspiration for her new novel, psychotherapist Sibyl begins to borrow source material from her newest patient, blurring fiction and reality in this sultry character study. It is directed by Academy Award Winner Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall)

Menage (FR: Tenue de soirée) (1986) – Classic, Drama

Antoine and Monique struggle to survive until the day that  thundering Bob shows up in their lives. This petty criminal lures them into a series of tumultuous though successful robberies. Monique flourishes in their newfound luxury while Antoine wonders what Bob really wants from them.

Alice and the Mayor (2019) – Comedy drama

The mayor of Lyon suffers from an existential crisis. After 30 years in politics, he feels totally empty and devoid of ideas. As a fix for this problem, his aides bring a brilliant young philosopher, into his inner circle.

The Green Perfume (2022) – Comedy, Crime

In the middle of a performance at la Comédie Française, a poisoned actor dies on stage. Martin, a member of the troupe and friend of the victim, becomes the center of everyone’s attention. He must endure being a police suspect, while also be targeted by a  mysterious organization, the Green Perfume, that seems to have ordered the murder.

A Violent Life (2017) – Crime, Drama

Despite having to content with death threats on his own life, Stéphane decides to return to Corsica to attend the funeral of his best friend. His comrade in arms, Christophe, had been murdered just the day before.

After Love (FR: L’économie du couple) (2016) – Drama

After 15 years of marriage, a couple with two kids is about to divorce. Until the husband find a new place to live, they have to cohabit, and navigate their new normal.

Mazeppa (1993) – Drama

Theodore Gericault, a painter fascinated by horses, encounters Antonio Franconi, the director of the Cirque Olympique. Gericault decides to settle permanently in the circus to be closer to his subject. He neither eats nor sleeps, relentlessly trying to understand the mystery of this magnificent animal. This first film by Bartabas, the founder of the Zingaro theatre, pays tribute to two horse lovers.

I am a soldier (2015) – Drama

At thirty, Sandrine has neither work nor money. She is forced to return to her hometown, Roubaix and start living with her mother. Sandrine’s uncle Henri, a dog breeder, offers her what seemed to be a decent job in his kennel. As she accepts, she quickly finds out that her uncle actually manages a hub for dog trafficking from Slovenia. Against all expectations, Sandrine turns out to be good at her new job.

Ava (2017) – Drama

Ava, 13, is spending the summer on the Atlantic coast when she learns that she will lose her sight sooner than expected. Her mother decides to act as if everything were normal so as to spend their best summer ever. Ava confronts the problem in her own way stealing a big black dog that belongs to a young man on the run.

The Forbidden Woman (1997) – Drama, Romance

At thirty-nine, Francois has everything he needs to be happy; a professional success, a happy family and an apparently fulfilled life. But when he meets Muriel, a young 22-year-old woman, this family man ends up caught up in the adultery game, with a whirlwind of joy, jealousy and tears…

RELATED LINKS

• How do you define being fluent in French? Find out one writer’s experience.
• Looking for more insight into French culture? Here are 7 French cultural rules to live by.
• These 6 feel-good French films to watch will transport you into another world!

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