Cannes Film Festival 2021 lineup to feature record number of women directors

The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled its official selection lineup for the 2021 event which will run from July 6-17 on the Riviera. Fest President Pierre Lescure and General Delegate Thierry Fremaux made the presentation of 61 titles this morning in Paris, 24 of which are in Competition (four of those are directed by women).

According to Deadline, several names on the list are familiar ones including Jacques Audiard, Francois Ozon, Asghar Farhadi and Nanni Moretti. U.S. filmmakers, include Wes Anderson and 'The French Dispatch' as expected, along with Sean Penn whose drama 'Flag Day' stars Dylan Penn, Katheryn Winnick, Josh Brolin and Eddie Marsan.

Some of the most anticipated films of this edition included Leos Carax's musical romance 'Annette' with Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, which will kick off the festival; Verhoeven's subversive period thriller 'Benedetta', set in the late 15th century and starring Virginie Efira as a novice nun; and 'The French Dispatch', Anderson's 10th movie, with Tilda Swinton, Benicio del Toro, Bill Murray and Timothee Chalamet, among other stars.

There's also an as-yet unrevealed U.S. studio movie to be screened on the beach while a new section, Cannes Premieres, has been created and will feature new works from Andrea Arnold, Hong Sang-soo and Arnaud Desplechin. As is usual practice, further films will be added in the coming days and weeks. Following is the full list of titles announced today.

"Annette," Leos Carax (also in Competition)

"Ahed's Knee," Nadav Lapid"Annette," Leos Carax"Benedetta," Paul Verhoeven"Bergman Island," Mia Hansen-Love"Casablanca Beats," Nabil Ayouch"Compartment No. 6," Juho Kuosmanen"Drive My Car," Ryusuke Hamaguchi"Everything Went Fine," Francois Ozon"The French Dispatch," Wes Anderson"A Hero," Asghar Farhadi"La fracture," Catherine Corsini"Lingui," Mahamat-Saleh Haroun"Memoria," Apichatpong Weerasethakul"Nitram," Justin Kurzel"Paris, 13th District," Jacques Audiard"Par un Demi Clair Matin," Bruno Dumont"Petrov's Flu," Kirill Serebrennikov"Red Rocket," Sean Baker"The Restless," Joachim Lafosse"The Story of My Wife," Ildiko Enyedi"Three Floors," Nanni Moretti"Titane," Julia Ducournau"The Worst Person in the World," Joachim Trier"Flag Day," Sean Penn

"After Yang," Kogonada"Blue Bayou," Justin Chon"Bonne Mere," Hafsia Herzi"Commitment Hasan," Hasan Semih"Freda," Gessica Geneus"House Arrest" OR "Delo," Alexey German Jr."The Innocents," Eskil Vogt"Lamb," Valdimar Johansson"Moneyboys," B.C Yi"Noche de Fuego," Tatiana Huezo"Un Monde," Laura Wandel"Women Do Cry," Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova"La Civil," Teodora Ana Mihai"Unclenching the Fists," Kira Kovalenko"Let Their Be Morning," Eran Kolirin"Rehana Maryam Noor," Abdullah Mohammad Saad

"Evolution," Kornel Mundruczo"Cow," Andrea Arnold"Deception" OR "Tromperie," Arnaud Desplechin"Hold Me Tight," Mathieu Almaric"In Front of Your Face," Hong Sang-soo"Love Songs for Tough Guys," Samuel Benchetrit"Mothering Sunday," Eva Husson"Val," Ting Poo and Leo Scott

"Aline, the Voice of Love," Valerie Lemercier"Babi Yar. Context," Sergei Loznitsa"Bac Nord," Cedric Jimenez"Emergency Declaration," Han Jae-Rim"In His Lifetime" OR "De son vivant," Emmanuelle Bercot"Stillwater," Tom McCarthy"The Velvet Underground," Todd Haynes

"Black Notebooks," Shlomi Elkabetz"H6," Ye Ye"Jane by Charlotte," Charlotte Gainsbourg"JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass," Oliver Stone"Mariner of the Mountains," Karim Ainouz"Baby Yar. Context." Sergei Loznitsa"The Year of the Everlasting Storm," Jafar Panahi, Anthony Chen, Malik Vitthal, Laura Poitras, Dominga Sotomayar, David Lowery, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul

"Bloody Oranges," Jean-Christophe Meurisse

As per The Hollywood Reporter, the Cannes 2021 line-up announcement on Thursday was done from the UGC Normandie theater in Paris. The event live-streamed on the festival's YouTube channel and on Twitter.

( With inputs from ANI )