Cannes Festival: the films in competition
Here is a list of the titles vying for the Palme d'Or, which will be awarded by this year's jury president Juliette Binoche and her seven fellow judges including Oscar-winner Halle Berry and "Succession" star Jeremy Strong.
PARIS, May 24, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A total of 22 films are competing for the top prize at at this year's Cannes film festival, which wraps up on Saturday.
Here is a list of the titles vying for the Palme d'Or, which will be awarded by this year's jury president Juliette Binoche and her seven fellow judges including Oscar-winner Halle Berry and "Succession" star Jeremy Strong.
- 'A Simple Accident' by Jafar Panahi (Iran) -
A highly political but wry tale of four ordinary Iranians confronted with a man they believed tortured them in jail.
"We let the viewer decide for themselves, asking what would they do in that situation?" Panahi told AFP about his film, which was shot in secret.
- 'Sentimental Value' by Joachim Trier (Norway) -
A moving tale about a quietly fractured family starring Elle Fanning that got an extraordinary 19-minute standing ovation after its premiere.
The director's last feature, "The Worst Person in the World", also premiered at Cannes in 2021 without winning, but many critics see this as the 2025 frontrunner.
- 'Two Prosecutors' by Sergei Loznitsa (Ukraine) -
The maker of the 2018 "Donbass" documentary about the war in eastern Ukraine returns with a feature film about an idealistic young prosecutor working in the 1930s USSR during Stalin's purges.
Loznitsa told AFP that contemporary Russia "is different from Soviet society in the 20th century, but the essence is the same".
- 'Eagles of the Republic' by Tarik Saleh (Sweden/Egypt) -
A thriller about an adored Egyptian actor forced to make a propaganda film that takes direct aim at the country's real-life sitting president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
"This film is not a satire - unfortunately," Saleh told journalists.
- 'Young Mothers' by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Belgium) -
The Belgian brothers, who have already won the Palme d'Or for best film twice, tell the story of five teenage mothers grappling to adapt to their new responsibilities in their native Belgium.
The Guardian newspaper gave the film a rare five-star review, calling it a "poignant, compassionate work of unforced social realism".
- 'Sound of Falling' by Mascha Schilinski (Germany) -
A haunting tale of trauma featuring four generations of women growing up on a farm house in east Germany.
Schilinski is little known, but her film became an early favourite, with the Hollywood Reporter saying it was a "movie that resembles nothing you've quite seen before".
- 'Nouvelle Vague' by Richard Linklater (US) -
A feel-good drama, stylishly filmed in black and white, that reimagines the filming of Jean-Luc Godard's all-time cinema classic "Breathless" in Paris in 1959.