At a week from the official selection announcement for the next Cannes Film Festival, an overview of the international films expected to be on the Croisette in 2025. “Defining the cinema of 2026”: this is the challenge that Thierry Frémaux has set himself for the next edition of the Cannes Film Festival, from May 12 to 23. Half of the selection is already closed, he told Variety a week ago. Two American giants are already out of the race: “Digger” by Alejandro González Iñárritu, starring Tom Cruise, and Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of “The Odyssey.” The movies are not yet ready (scheduled for September and July 2026, respectively).
The uncertainty surrounds Kirill Serebrennikov’s next project, “Après,” shot in French with Ludivine Sagnier, Louis Garrel, Vincent Macaigne. The same goes for Joel Coen’s “Jack of Spades,” gothic film starring Josh O’Connor and Frances McDormand, as well as James Gray’s “Paper Tiger,” where Adam Driver and Miles Teller will chase the American dream. Albert Serra’s first English-language film, “Out of This World,” may not be ready in time, just like Paweł Pawlikowski’s historical fresco “1949.” Regarding “Coward,” directed by Lukas Dhont, it appears that the film is still in post-production.
After an English-language escapade, notably with the beautiful “La Chambre d’à côté,” Pedro Almodóvar will return to Spanish with “Amarga Navidad.” The film tells the intertwined stories of three characters that blur the boundaries between reality and fiction in an inseparable and sometimes painful way. “Amarga Navidad” promises to be a new plunge (autobiographical?) into the torments of creation, seven years after “Pain and Glory.”
In “Paper Tiger,” we will follow two brothers chasing the American dream. Their ascent becomes complicated when they fall prey to the Russian mafia. Scarlett Johansson, Miles Teller, and Adam Driver are in the cast of this film. An entry into the underworld that is reminiscent of “The Yards” and “We Own the Night,” both previously presented in competition. However, the mixed receptions of his films have cooled James Gray: “But going to Cannes with a film is always painful for me. I can’t associate it with pleasure,” he confessed to the media in 2013.
