Cannes Film Festival: Palme d'Or race heats up with stellar film lineup

Itrsquos that time of the year when filmmakers and actors across the world will travel to Cannes for a discourse on craft and cinema The Cannes 2024 Film Festival will commence on May 14 and will end on May 25Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadiarsquos All We Imagine as Light has scripted history by becoming the first Indian title in 30 years since Swaham 1994 to feature in the prestigious competition section of the Cannes Film Festival where it will vie for the top prize Palme drsquoOrThe movie is an IndoFrance coproduction about two Kerala nurses working in a Mumbai nursing home The film stars Kani Kusruti and Divya Prabha Kapadiarsquos project will be presented alongside 19 anticipated titles including films from master directors Francis Ford Coppola and Yorgos LanthimosMovies competing for Palme dOr at Cannes Film Festival 2024Megalopolis Francis Ford CoppolaThis selffunded epic a Roman drama transplanted to modernday New York starring Adam Driver has been in the works for more than 40 years Coppola has twice won the Palme dOr for The Conversation 1974 and Apocalypse Now 1979The Apprentice Ali AbbasiA biopic about Donald Trumps formative years from an awardwinning Iranian director is bound to grab attention It stars Sebastian Stan best known as the Winter Soldier in Marvel films and rocker Tommy Lee in the series Pam and Tommy alongside Jeremy Strong of Succession fame as Trumps lawyerKinds of Kindness Yorgos LanthimosThree short stories in one this is the latest teamup between the Greek director and Emma Stone just weeks after she won an Oscar for Poor Things also starring Willem Defoe and Margaret QualleyThe Shrouds David CronenbergThe horror maestros latest supernatural drama is about a man who builds a device to connect with his dead wife a deeply personal project for the Canadian director who lost his wife in 2017 It stars Vincent Cassel and Diane KrugerOh Canada Paul SchraderThe iconic writerdirector has been on a roll lately with a string of dramas about obsessive and dangerous men He reunites with his American Gigolo star Richard Gere for the story of a dying man reflecting on his past mistakesEmilia Perez Jacques AudiardQuite the synopsis a musical about a Mexican cartel boss undergoing a sex change to escape the authorities with pop superstar Selena Gomez in a supporting role The unpredictable French director has tried many genres from The Prophet and Rust and Bone to his Palme dOrwinning DheepanThe Substance Coralie FargeatAn unlikely comeback vehicle for Demi Moore an ultraviolent horror film from the French director of 2017s Revenge that will leave a lot of blood on the screen according to festival director Thierry FremauxThe Most Precious of Cargoes Michel HazanaviciusThe first animation in competition since 2008s Waltz With Bashir is the tale of a twin thrown to safety from a death train transporting his Jewish parents to Auschwitz from the director of the Oscarwinning The ArtistLimonov Kirill SerebrennikovThe exiled Russian director tackles the bizarre true life of dissident poet Eduard Limonov who fled the Soviet Union but returned to found a new Bolshevik Party after the Cold WarParthenope Paolo SorrentinoAnother love letter to his native Naples from the Oscarwinning director of The Great Beauty and Netflix series The Young PopeBird Andrea ArnoldThe celebrated British auteur returns with a comingofage tale set in an English suburb starring Barry Keoghan Saltburn Arnold won an Oscar for a short film Wasp and made acclaimed features Red Road and Fish TankThe Seed of the Sacred Fig Mohammad RasoulofImprisoned for criticising Irans government and barred from leaving the country Rasoulof has already faced pressure to pull his latest film from the Cannes lineup Its plot remains under wrapsAnora Sean BakerA darling of the US indie scene for his portraits of marginalised characters in The Florida Project and Red Rocket Baker returns with a romantic adventure starring Scream actress Mikey MadisonThe Girl with the Needle Magnus von HornLoosely based on the story of a Danish serial killer who helped poor women kill their unwanted children in the early 20th centuryMotel Destino Karim AinouzAn erotic comedythriller from the Brazilian director of Henry VIII drama Firebrand which competed in Cannes last yearGrand Tour Miguel GomesThe story of a British colonial officer in Burma who flees his wedding but is pursued by his brideMarcello Mio Christophe HonoreThe fictional tale of a woman who starts impersonating her father the late Italian screen icon Marcello Mastroianni It features French icon Catherine DeneuveCaught by the Tides Jia ZhangKeOne of Chinas most celebrated auteurs offers a view of the country we are not necessarily used to seeing according to FremauxAll We Imagine As Light Payal KapadiaThe first Indian entry in 30 years tells the intimate stories of a Mumbai nurse and her roommateBeating Hearts Gilles LelloucheThe French actordirector adapts an Irish novel Jackie Loves Johnser OK with Francois Civil and Adele ExarchopoulosWild Diamond Agathe RiedingerA debut film about a young French girl seeking fame on reality TVThree Kilometres to the End of the World Emanuel ParvuA surprise lastminute entry about a gay teenager ostracised by his village community in RomaniaWith inputs from AFPCannes 2024 Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Aditi Rao Hydari to return to the film festival