The Cannes Movie Pageant is over, and whereas the Marché Du Movie is as booming as ever with thrilling packages of future movies, the primary motion has been for these movies taking part in in competitors, all of which may make a giant splash on the field workplace or the awards season race for the suitable purchaser. Final 12 months’s “The Substance” was acquired by MUBI earlier than it landed a Greatest Image Oscar nomination and made $77.3 million worldwide.
Listed below are the 13 movies we predicted forward of the competition may discover properties shortly, a number of of which have already got. We’ll replace the beneath listing with all of the acquisitions as they arrive in.
“Romería”
Part: Competitors
Distributor: Janus Movies
Director: Carla Simón
Buzz: After selecting up “Two Prosecutors” in June, Janus Movies isn’t fairly carried out shopping for. Subsequent up for the label: all North American rights to “Romería,” written and directed by celebrated Spanish filmmaker Carla Simón. The movie had its World Premiere in Competitors on the 2025 Cannes Movie Pageant and can have its North American premiere on the New York Movie Pageant. Janus Movies will open the movie theatrically in North America in 2026.
“Two Prosecutors”
Part: Competitors
Distributor: Janus Movies
Director: Sergei Loznitsa
Buzz: Within the return to fiction filmmaking for the primary time since 2018 from the “Donbass” and “The Invasion” director, Sergei Loznitsa tailored a suppressed novella set throughout Stalin’s Nice Purge in 1937 Soviet Union that follows a prosecutor who discovers a letter from a falsely accused detainee that slipped by means of the cracks, sending him investigating corruption and foul play within the Soviet regime. Janus has been lively out of Cannes, and “Two Prosecutors” is the corporate’s second prize-winner acquisition after “Resurrection.”
“Little Amelie”
Part: Particular Screenings
Distributor: GKIDS
Director: Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han
Buzz: Already incomes some sleeper awards buzz after the success of final 12 months’s “Circulate,” “Little Amelie” performed on the Annecy Movie Pageant after GKIDS acquired the North American rights to the animated characteristic. The movie is tailored from a novel referred to as “The Character of Rain” by Belgian creator Amélie Nothomb and follows a toddler Belgian woman born in Japan whose life adjustments drastically after her third birthday.
“A Poet”
Part: Un Sure Regard
Distributor: 1-2 Particular
Director: Simón Mesa Soto
Buzz: The second sale for upstart distributor 1-2 Particular in two days (or 1-2 days?) was the Jury Prize winner from Un Sure Regard, the second characteristic from “Amparo” director Simón Mesa Soto. “A Poet” is described as a darkish comedy of a failed author whose obsession with poetry has introduced him no glory, solely to begin to drag down an aspiring younger pupil. IndieWire’s sturdy evaluate referred to as it a “cringe-inducing satire” and in contrast it to a Dan Clowes comedian dropped at life. 1-2 Particular is planning a theatrical launch.
“Miroirs No. 3”
Part: Administrators’ Fortnight
Distributor: 1-2 Particular
Director: Christian Petzold
Buzz: Upstart distributor 1-2 Particular launched with a splash acquisition out of Berlin, and the brand new firm’s first purchase at Cannes is an thrilling one. The director of “Phoenix” and “Afire” appeared at Cannes for the primary time, even when in one of many sidebars. However he confirmed up with a movie our critic referred to as a “minor-key” drama, one which’s “ephemeral” and “delicate in register” because the classical Ravel piece from which the movie will get its title. The movie has a slim operating time and a few esoteric imagery however a powerful efficiency from lead Paula Beer. Metrograph initially had the movie, however 1-2 Particular now picked up U.S. rights and plans to launch it theatrically.
“Left-Handed Lady”
Part: Critics’ Week
Distributor: Netflix
Director: Shih-Ching Tsou
Buzz: Netflix is getting within the Sean Baker enterprise after selecting up a Mandarin and Taiwanese movie that he co-wrote with director Shih-Ching Tsou. The movie follows a single mom and her two daughters who relocate to Taipei to open an evening market stall, every navigating the challenges of adapting to their new atmosphere whereas striving to keep up household unity. The film gained the Gan Basis Award and the Prix du Rail d’Or from the Cannes sidebar. Netflix took worldwide rights on “Left-Handed Lady” excluding the Baltics, Benelux, Greece, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, France, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Scandinavia, Poland, and Taiwan.
“Magellan”
Part: Cannes Premiere
Distributor: Janus Movies
Director: Lav Diaz
Buzz: Janus Movies’ second acquisition out of Cannes is that this well-mounted historic epic concerning the famed Portuguese explorer who traversed the world, which IndieWire in its evaluate referred to as “hypnotizing” and “non secular.” Gael Garcia Bernal stars within the title function for the movie that’s billed not because the “fable of Magellan, however the fact of his journey.”
“Amrum”
Part: Cannes Premiere
Distributor: Kino Lorber
Director: Fatih Akin
Buzz: The German-Turkish director’s newest challenge led off IndieWire’s listing of flicks post-festival we’d like to see nonetheless discover a distributor. “Amrum” is a interval, coming-of-age drama set within the late days of World Warfare II a few 12-year-old boy (newcomer Jasper Ole Billerbeck present in an open casting name) who diligently forages and hunts for substances for sustenance whereas dwelling together with his Nazi-sympathizing mom (Kruger). The movie reunites Akin with Kruger, who beforehand gained the Cannes Greatest Actress prize for “Within the Fade.” Kino Lorber will launch “Amrum” theatrically earlier than giving it a digital, dwelling, and academic launch.
“The Love That Stays”
Part: Un Sure Regard
Distributor: Janus Movies
Director: Hlynur Pálmason
Buzz: “The Love That Stays” marks Janus Movies’ second collaboration with Icelandic “A White, White Day” director Hlynur Pálmason after “Godland,” which was his nation’s 2022 submission for Greatest Worldwide Function. The brand new movie, which facilities round a 12 months within the lifetime of a household because the dad and mom navigate their separation, earned favorable opinions, with IndieWire evaluating it to “Scenes from a Marriage” and “Kramer vs. Kramer” as a portrait of a fracturing marriage.
“The President’s Cake”
Part: Administrators’ Fortnight
Distributor: Sony Footage Classics
Director: Hasan Hadi
Buzz: Whereas most distributors have been selecting over the competitors titles, SPC discovered its favourite among the many Administrators’ Fortnight part, buying “The President’s Cake” after the movie gained the Individuals’s Alternative Award and the Digicam D’Or within the sidebar. Hadi made his characteristic debut with the movie, and it’s additionally the primary Iraqi film to be honored on the competition, nevertheless it does have Eric Roth and Marielle Heller concerned as government producers championing the film. The movie follows a 9-year-old woman who throughout the Nineties in Iraq is chosen amongst her faculty to arrange a birthday cake for the nation’s president, requiring her to make use of her wits and creativeness to collect the required substances.
“Resurrection”
Part: Competitors
Distributor: Janus Movies
Director: Bi Gan
Buzz: Janus Movies picked up the newest movie from the Chinese language filmmaker Bi Gan (“Lengthy Day’s Journey Into Night time”) after it gained the Particular Jury Prize from the Cannes competitors jury. “Resurrection” is a kaleidoscopic journey instructed in six components and spanning a century a few world the place humanity has misplaced the flexibility to dream, and one creature stays entranced by the fading illusions of the dreamworld. It stars Chinese language famous person singer and actor Jackson Yee and actress Shu Qi, finest recognized for her collaborations with Hou Hsiao-Hsien. Janus in a press release mentioned the movie ought to attraction to followers of David Lynch, Andrei Tarkovsky, Leos Carax, and Wong Kar-wai.
“Nouvelle Obscure”
Part: Competitors
Distributor: Netflix
Director: Richard Linklater
Buzz: Individuals had been hopeful that Linklater would possibly stroll away with some Cannes love within the type of a Greatest Director prize, however the jury appeared to favor materials that spoke to the oppression confronted all over the world right this moment. Linklater’s “Nouvelle Obscure” is just not that kind of movie, however as an alternative a love-letter/homage to the impartial filmmaking spirit. Sarcastically sufficient, the distributor that was most attracted by this message was Netflix. The streamer has a relationship with Linklater as they distributed his romantic crime comedy “Hit Man” final 12 months.
“Sirât”
Part: Competitors
Distributor: Neon
Director: Oliver Laxe
Buzz: Neon’s shopping for spree continues within the distributor’s quest to once more win the Palme d’Or. This one although has some severe “Mad Max” vibes, a movie set amid explosive digital music at a rave as a father ventures into the Moroccan desert to seek for his lacking daughter. The movie stars Sergi López, Bruno Núñez, Stefania Gadda, and Jade Oukid and was even produced by Pedro Almodóvar. Neon picked up North American rights and is once more hoping to launch the movie later this 12 months. Simply no spoilers please!
“It Was Simply an Accident”
Part: Competitors
Distributor: Neon
Director: Jafar Panahi
Buzz: The Iranian auteur Panahi returned to Cannes for the primary time since 2003 for this deeply private movie that was impressed and ideated throughout his second stint in an Iranian jail. Starring Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, and Vahid Mobasser, the movie follows a gaggle of dissidents debating whether or not to kill their former torturer. The movie might be launched in North America later this 12 months. IndieWire’s evaluate referred to as it a “blistering ethical thriller,” and with a number of the finest opinions of the competition to this point, becoming after it finally gained the Palme d’Or. That is additionally Neon’s second time partnering with Panahi after beforehand releasing his movie “The 12 months of the Eternal Storm,” which premiered in Cannes Particular Screenings in 2021.
“Sound of Falling”
Part: Competitors
Distributor: MUBI
Director: Mascha Schilinski
Buzz: Deemed actually the “buzziest gross sales title” of Cannes by IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio and Anne Thompson, “Sound of Falling” landed at Mubi after a aggressive bidding conflict. Mascha Schilinski’s century-spanning coming of age movie facilities on 4 generations of ladies throughout the identical household, all dwelling in a small German farming city throughout many years. Although separated by time, their lives start to reflect one another, resulting in the query: Can reminiscences be inherited, repeated, and finally, relived? IndieWire critic David Ehrlich likened Schilinski to being the subsequent Sofia Coppola. It’s clear that Mubi has a gem on its arms.
“The Secret Agent”
Part: Competitors
Distributor: Neon
Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Buzz: In case you’re handicapping the Palme D’Or race, keep watch over “The Secret Agent,” as a result of Neon and Tom Quinn clearly prefer it’s odds in the event that they’re leaping to amass it and maintain their streak alive. The distributor picked up North American rights and is planning a theatrical launch later in 2025. Star Wagner Moura has earned some early buzz for Greatest Actor at Cannes, and the movie earned sturdy opinions for the Brazilian auteur behind “Bacarau.” The movie additionally stars Maria Fernanda Cândido, Gabriel Leon, Carlos Francisco, Alice Carvalho, and Hermila Guedes and follows a know-how skilled on the run who arrives in Recife, Brazil in 1977 throughout Carnival week, hoping to reunite together with his son, solely to realizes that town is way from being the non-violent refuge he seeks.
“Die, My Love”
Part: Competitors
Distributor: MUBI
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Buzz: The primary main sale of Cannes is among the starriest, with Lynne Ramsay’s intense drama about postpartum melancholy and motherhood starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson going to MUBI in a deal for $24 million, IndieWire can affirm. The movie can also be anticipated to get a wholesome theatrical window and large launch, and MUBI acquired the North American rights along with Latin America, UK, Eire, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, BeNeLux, Turkey, India, Australia, and New Zealand. Our evaluate wrote that Lawrence offers the kind of efficiency that’s made for the Cannes Greatest Actress prize in her “feral” depiction of a lady in rural America engulfed by love and insanity.
Movies Arriving at Cannes with U.S. Distribution
“Alpha”
Part: Competitors
Distributor: Neon
Director: Julia Ducournau
Buzz: It was a sizzling market title eventually 12 months’s Cannes, and a 12 months later the newest from the Palme D’Or winner of “Titane” is again in the primary competitors. The movie follows a 13-year-old woman whose world comes crashing down when she arrives dwelling with a tattoo on her arm.
“Bono: Tales of Give up”
Part: Particular Screenings
Distributor: Apple TV+
Director: Andrew Dominik
Buzz: For his first movie for the reason that Marilyn Monroe biopic “Blonde,” Dominik profiles the U2 frontman as he movies the stage manufacturing of Bono’s one-man present.
“Harmful Animals”
Part: Director’s Fortnight
Distributor: IFC Movies
Director: Sean Byrne
Buzz: A serial killer film and a shark film from the director of “The Satan’s Sweet?” What’s to not like?
“Eddington”
Part: Competitors
Distributor: A24
Director: Ari Aster
Buzz: Destined to be as polarizing as any of his options, Aster’s pandemic-set fourth characteristic is a recent Western with a stellar forged that features Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, and Austin Butler.
“Eleanor the Nice”
Part: Un Sure Regard
Distributor: TriStar Footage and Sony Footage Classics
Director: Scarlett Johansson
Buzz: June Squibb stars on this indie drama that can also be Johansson’s directorial debut a few nonagenarian who after 70 years returns to NY city and befriends a pupil.
“Highest 2 Lowest”
Part: Out of Competitors
Distributor: Apple TV+ and A24
Director: Spike Lee
Buzz: Spike Lee’s reunion with Denzel Washington for a modern-day reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s “Excessive and Low” seems to be like considered one of Lee’s most industrial movies in years, so it’s becoming it’ll get a theatrical launch earlier than touchdown on streaming.
“The Historical past of Sound”
Part: Competitors
Distributor: MUBI
Director: Oliver Hermanus
Buzz: Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor star on this romance set in 1917 amid the world of early twentieth Century people music.
“Honey Don’t!”
Part: Midnight
Distributor: Focus Options
Director: Ethan Coen
Buzz: Ethan Coen’s second solo effort once more pairs him together with his companion and author Tricia Cooke, in addition to star Margaret Qualley, who performs a small-town personal eye investigating a church led by a doubtful preacher performed by Chris Evans.
“Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol”
Part: Particular Screenings
Distributor: Sony Footage Classics
Director: Sylvian Chomet
Buzz: “The Triplets of Belleville” director brings his eclectic animated fashion to this biopic of the lifetime of considered one of France’s nice artists, Marcel Pagnol.
“The Mastermind”
Part: Competitors
Distributor: MUBI
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Buzz: Josh O’Connor, Alana Haim, John Magaro, Gaby Hoffmann, Eli Gelb, Hope Davis, and Invoice Camp star on this heist movie from the “First Cow” director set in 1970 Massachusetts.
“Mission: Unattainable – The Ultimate Reckoning”
Part: Out of Competitors
Distributor: Paramount Footage
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Buzz: The eighth (and perhaps last?) Mission: Unattainable movie sees Tom Cruise dangling from a biplane and going underwater to defeat an omnipotent AI.
“My Father’s Shadow”
Part: Un Sure Regard
Distributor: MUBI
Director: Akinola Davies Jr.
Buzz: Davies Jr. is making his characteristic directorial debut after breaking out with the Sundance-winning brief “Lizard.” The movie is a semi-autobiographical story set over the course of a single day within the Nigerian metropolis Lagos throughout the 1993 Nigerian election disaster.
“My Mother Jayne”
Part: Cannes Classics
Distributor: HBO Documentary Movies
Director: Mariska Hargitay
Buzz: The “Regulation & Order: SVU” star made her directorial debut with this documentary concerning the lifetime of her mom Jayne Mansfield, the Playboy Playmate and ’60s intercourse image who was killed in a automobile accident in 1967 when Hargitay was solely 3 years outdated. The movie might be launched by way of HBO on June 20.
“Orwell: 2+2=5”
Part: Cannes Premiere
Distributor: Neon
Director: Raoul Peck
Buzz: Peck returns to Cannes one 12 months after “Ernest Cole: Misplaced and Discovered” premiered there together with his documentary concerning the lifetime of “1984” creator George Orwell.
“The Phoenician Scheme”
Part: Competitors
Distributor: Focus Options
Director: Wes Anderson
Buzz: Benicio Del Toro and Michael Cera star alongside newcomer Mia Threapleton (Kate Winslet’s daughter), who holds her personal as a nun on this zany interval comedy about one of many richest males in Europe.
“Pillion”
Part: Un Sure Regard
Distributor: A24
Director: Harry Lighton
Buzz: Primarily based on the ebook “Field Hill” by Adam Mars-Jones, the movie starring Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling follows an unassuming man swept off his toes when an enigmatic, impossibly good-looking biker takes him on as his submissive.
“Sentimental Worth”
Part: Competitors
Distributor: Neon
Director: Joachim Trier
Buzz: The Norwegian director’s sixth movie pairs him with “The Worst Individual within the World” star Renata Reinsve on this household drama concerning the reconciliatory energy of artwork.
“Splitsville”
Part: Cannes Premiere
Distributor: Neon
Director: Michael Angelo Covino
Buzz: The staff behind “The Climb” return to Cannes with one other comedy a few man who turns to his buddies for recommendation amid a divorce, solely to find their secret is an open marriage. Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona star alongside Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin.
Extra reporting by Samantha Bergeson, Harrison Richlin, and Ryan Lattanzio.
