The lineup for the 2019 Cannes Critics’ Week (La Semaine de la Critique) has been announced. See also the full lineups of the Official Selection, Directors' Fortnight and ACID programme.
OPENING FILM
Litigante (Franco Lolli): In Bogota, Silvia, a single mum and a lawyer, is implicated in a corruption scandal. A deeper anxiety weighs on her as well. Leticia, her mother, is seriously ill. Upon having to face her inevitable passing, Silvia embarks on a love story for the first time in years.
COMPETITION
Abou Leila (Amin Sidi-Boumédiène): Algeria, 1994. S. and Lotfi, two friends from childhood, travel through the desert looking for Abou Leila, a dangerous terrorist on the run. Their quest seems absurd, given that the Sahara has not been affected by the wave of attacks. Lofti has only one priority : to keep S. as far from the capital as possible, knowing his friend is too fragile to face more bloodshed. But the closest they get into the desert, the more they will be confronted with their own violence.
Land Of Ashes (Sofía Quirós Ubeda): Selva, thirteen years old, discovers that when we die we just shed our skin. We can turn into wolves, goats, shadows, or anything as long as your imagination allows it.
A White, White Day (Hlynur Pálmason): In a remote Icelandic town, an off duty police chief begins to suspect a local man to have had an affair with his wife, who has recently died in a car accident. Gradually his obsession for finding out the truth accumulates and inevitably begins to endanger himself and his loved ones. A story of grief, revenge and unconditional love.
I Lost My Body (Jérémy Clapin): A cut-off hand escapes from a dissection lab with one crucial goal: to get back to its body. As it scrambles through the pitfalls of Paris, it remembers its life with the young man it was once attached to… until they met Gabrielle.
Our Mothers (César Díaz): Guatemala, 2013. The country is riveted on the trial of the military officers who started the civil war. The victims’ testimonials keep pouring in. Ernesto, a young anthropologist at the Forensic Foundation, identifies people who have gone missing. One day, through an old lady’s story, Ernesto thinks he has found a lead that will allow him to find his father, a guerillero who disappeared during the war.
The Unknown Saint (Alaa Eddine Aljem): Moments before his capture by police, a thief digs a grave to hide a bag of money. Released from prison years later he returns to retrieve the bag, only to find a shrine to an Unknown Saint build directly over his loot, and a brand new village constructed all around it.
Vivarium (Lorcan Finnegan): In search of a starter home, a young couple follow a mysterious estate agent and get trapped in a strange housing development.
SPECIAL FEATURE SCREENINGS
Heroes Don’t Die (Aude Léa Rapin): In a street in Paris, a stranger thinks he’s recognised in Joachim a soldier who died in Bosnia on 21st August 1983. Thing is, this is the very day Joachim was born: 21st August 1983! Thrown by the idea he might be the reincarnation of this man, he decides to go to Sarajevo with his friends Alice and Virginie. In this country, haunted by shadows of the war, they put their hearts and souls in discovering Joachim’s past life.
Tu mérites un amour (Hafsia Herzi): After Rémi's infidelity, Lila, who loved him more than anything, has a hard time dealing with their break-up. One day, he announces that he will travel alone to Bolivia to soul-search and try to understand his mistakes. There, he lets her know that their love story is not over. Between discussions, seeking for comfort and encouragement from her friends, and the madness of love, Lila loses herself.
SPECIAL SHORT SCREENINGS
Demonic (Pia Borg): Demonic revisits the infamous Satanic Panic of the 1980’s, a mass hysteria where people around the world recovered memories of debauchery, murder, human sacrifice and satanic cults. Blending archive and reconstruction the film uncovers the forces at play between psychiatry, media, and false memory.
Naptha (Moin Hussain): Faraz’s quiet life working at an isolated petrol station is turned upside down when his ageing father Malik begins to speak in a long-forgotten language and insists on returning back home.
Please Speak Continuously and Describe Your Experiences as They Come to You (Brandon Cronenberg): Emily is a patient at an experimental psychiatric facility where a brain implant prototype allows her to relive her dreams.
Invisible Hero (Cristèle Alves Meira): Duarte, a blind man in his 50’s, starts to look for his Cape Verdean friend, Leandro, who mysteriously disappeared. Despite Lisbon’s summer heat, Duarte walks miles in his neighbourhood but no one seems to have seen him, nor remembers him. His quest will eventually lead him to the heart of the night and reveal his secret.
Tenzo (Katsuya Tomita): To address the social crisis, Chiken - a buddhist monk - throws himself into various tasks such as a suicide helpline, in his temple in Yamanashi. In Fukushima, his old mate Ryûgyô - whose temple was wrecked by the tsunami - lives in a portacabin and works on construction sites.
SHORT & MEDIUM LENGTH
Party Day (Sofia Bost): Mena lives alone with her daughter Clara. Today is Clara’s seventh birthday. Despite her limited financial resources, Mena still manages to organise a birthday party. But after a phone call from her mother, she becomes distraught and anxious.
The Trap (Nada Riyadh): Away from preying eyes, a young unmarried couple retreat to the depth of a desolate run-down Egyptian seaside resort, to make love. The power dynamic between them is tested, when the girl reveals she wants their relationship to end.
Ikki illa meint (Andrias Høgenni): Elinborg accidentally runs into her friend Marita at the supermarket. The conversation is civil yet slightly awkward, as Elinborg has forgotten Marita’s birthday. However, something else is nagging Marita, who decides to corner her friend and ask if Elinborg has blocked her on Facebook.
Journey Through a Body (Camille Degeye): Thomas, a Swiss-German musician, is stuck at home because of a broken foot. He wanders around his tiny Parisian flat, his leg in a plaster, busy composing a new piece. At sunrise, an unexpected female visitor is showing up for him at the door.
Community Gardens (Vytautas Katkus): It is a story about a cold relationship between a father and his son. Their bond, plagued by indifference, disintegrates completely.
Lucía en el limbo (Valentina Maurel): Sixteen-year-old Lucia wants to get rid of two things more than anything: her lice & her virginity
The Manila Lover (Johanna Pyykkö): During a trip to the Philippines, middle-aged Norwegian Lars has met the Filipina he wants to share his life with, but to his surprise she turns him down. Lars now has to face his own prejudices and deal with this uncomfortable situation.
Tuesday From 8 To 6 (Cecilia de Arce): Névine, a secondary school monitor, is fully committed to her somewhat thankless day job, dealing with teachers, administration and students. Logan, a pupil she is found of, insists on getting a cap back from lost and found. She has no idea of the consequences of her gesture.
She Runs (Qiu Yang): In an ordinary Chinese winter, a small city junior high student, Yu, tries to quit her school aerobic dancing team.
The Last Trip To The Sea (Adi Voicu): Six passengers are traveling to the seaside in a train compartment. After a while, a suspicion makes some of them lose their composure and the remainder of the trip goes terribly wrong.
CLOSING FILM
Dwelling In The Fuchun Mountains (Xiaogang Gu): At her 70th birthday celebration, the aged mother of the Gu family suffers from a stroke, which precipitates her decline into dementia. Who will take care of her? The four brothers face crucial changes in their relationships to one another, as they deal with their own family problems. Their destinies, linked by love and challenged by questions and dilemmas, unfold over the course of the four seasons, as it would in an ancient Chinese scroll painting.