The lineup for the 2021 Cannes Critics’ Week (La Semaine de la Critique) has been announced. See also the full lineup of the Official Selection.
OPENING FILM
Robust (Constance Meyer): When his right-hand man and only mate has to go away for a few weeks, Georges – an ageing film star – is given a substitute, Aïssa. The disillusioned actor and the young female security guard forge a special relationship.
COMPETITION
Amparo (Simón Mesa Soto): Colombia 1998, Amparo, a single mother, struggles to free her teenage son after he is drafted by the army and assigned to a war zone. She is thrown into a race against time in a society ruled by men, corruption and violence.
Feathers (Omar El Zohairy): When a magician’s trick goes wrong at the six-year-old Mando’s birthday party, an avalanche of coincidental absurdities befalls the boy’s family.
The Gravedigger’s Wife (Khadar Ayderus Ahmed): Nasra urgently needs an expensive surgery to treat a chronic kidney disease. Her husband Guled is already working hard as a gravedigger to make ends meet: how can they find the money to save Nasra and keep the family together?
Libertad (Clara Roquet): Nora’s quiet life is turned upside down when, during her summer holidays, this naïve 15-year old comes across Libertad, also 15. This new, intense friendship between the two utterly different girls will guide them towards adolescence.
Olga (Elie Grappe): 2013. A 15-year-old gymnast is torn between Switzerland – where she is training for the European Championship in preparation for the Olympics – and Ukraine, where her mother is a journalist, reporting on Euromaidan.
Small Body (Laura Samani): Italy, 1900. Agata is a young woman who embarks herself on a desperate journey to reach a mysterious sanctuary to save her daughter’s soul from the eternal damnation of Limbo.
Zero Fucks Given (Julie Lecoustre & Emmanuel Marre): 26-year-old Cassandre is an air hostess working for a low-cost airline. She lives one day at a time and parties after each flight with not a care for tomorrow. For her Tinder handle, she’s chosen Carpe Diem because she sees herself reflected in her company’s motto: “The world won’t wait.”
SPECIAL FEATURE SCREENINGS
Bruno Reidal, Confession of a Murderer (Vincent Le Port): In 1905, French seminarian Bruno Reidal is found guilty of murdering a child. At the request of the doctors observing him, he writes his memoirs to explain his action.
Softie (Samuel Theis)
A Radiant Girl (Sandrine Kiberlain): Paris, summer 1942. Irene is a young, bubbly, 19-year-old Jewish girl. Her family watches her discover the world, friends, new love and a passion for the theatre. The aspiring actress is living her youthful life without a care in the world, but she does not know that time may be running out.
Anaïs in Love (Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet): Anaïs is thirty and broke. She has a lover, but she’s not sure she loves him anymore. She meets Daniel, who immediately falls for her. But Daniel lives with Emilie – whom Anaïs also falls for. This is the story of a restless young woman. And the story of a profound desire.
SHORT & MEDIUM LENGTH
Brutalia, Days of Labour (Manolis Mavris): Perfectly identical girls, dressed in military uniforms, work day and night. A matriarchal family. An oligarchic society. What would happen if we replace bees with humans?
Lili Alone (Zou Jing): Lili, a young mother, lives with her gambler husband in a remote part of Sichuan. Lonely and poor, she heads for the city in a bid to earn enough money to save her dying father.
An Invitation (Hao Zhao & Yeung Tung): In the summer of 2008, an 8-year-old boy visits his estranged father to apply for a permanent identity card. As the visit comes to an end, they find it increasingly difficult to ask what they want from each other.
Inherent (Nicolai G.H. Johansen): We follow a girl roaming the streets, gazing at a boy. Soon it becomes clear that she is bound to something. In the attic of her house resides a sinister presence who she serves. As the infatuation grows, she is torn between her desires and her ties.
Intercom 15 (Andrei Epure): Several residents discover an unconscious woman lying in front of the block. Even though she lives on the third floor, nobody knows her name. While waiting for rescue, the neighbours ponder her life and themselves.
If It Ain’t Broke (Elinor Nechemya): Like lost girls on a winter’s day, Alona and Hagar ramble through the streets of Haifa. One is escaping her life, the other her future.
Noir-soleil (Marie Larrivé): After an earthquake in Naples bay, the body of a man is found. While Dino and his daughter, Victoria, travel to Italy for a DNA test, the past catches up with them.
Safe (Ian Barling): On a winter night in Atlantic City, the manager of a defunct casino must reckon with his parental failures when his unruly son needs help out of an illicit bind.
Soldat noir (Jimmy Laporal-Trésor): France, 1986. When Hughes, a young man from the French West Indies, discovers the new Freetime ad, it is a shock: France, the country where he was born, considers him a cannibal. This is the start of a radical awareness fueled by anger and frustration.
On Solid Ground (Jela Hasler): Summertime in a city. The coolness of a morning swim in the river quickly vanishes as the heat exacerbates insignificant daily nuisances. As Eli tires to escape the narrowness and agitation of the city, she keeps on facing aggression. Her rage starts to build up.
CLOSING FILM
A Story of Love and Desire (Leyla Bouzid): While discovering a collection of sensual and erotic Arab literature he never imagined existed, Ahmed falls head over heels in love with Farah, and although literally overwhelmed with desire, he will try to resist it.