Current events are sure to put an additional spotlight on dissident Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov. He was under house arrest in Russia since 2017, and prevented from attending Cannes when his two previous films, “Leto” (2018), and “Petrov’s Flu” (2021), premiered in competition. A declared supporter of Ukraine, Serebrennikov, now living in Germany, competes for the Palme with his period biopic “Tchaikovsky’s Wife.” Meanwhile, the Cannes administration has avoided programming any Russian directors siding with the Putin regime, and recently confirmed that press accreditation is denied to Russian journalists who do not support the festival’s official pro-Ukraine stance.
This year’s competition boasts two Italian directors, Mario Martone, and Italian-French actress/director Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. Each has experienced modest success in previous Cannes festivals. Martone has been screened in Cannes three times in the past but was in competition for the Palme only with “Troubling Love” (1995), based on an Elena Ferrante novel. He competes this year with “Nostalgia,” a film that follows a man who returns to his old neighborhood in Naples after a 40-year absence.
Better known for her more than 100 roles in front of the camera, Bruni Tedeschi nonetheless imbues her small number of films as director with sensitivity, emotional range and comic flare. She was awarded two A Certain Regard prizes for “Actresses” (2007), and competed for the Palme with “A Castle in Italy,” 2013. “Les Amandiers,” aka “Forever Young,” her latest as director, stakes out a place in the official competition with a coming-of-age story of three young actors entering a legendary acting school
Newcomers in competition include Saeed Roustayi, an award-winner in Iran best known for “Just 6.5″ (2019), competing with “Leila’s Brothers,” and Swedish-born Tarik Saleh, best known for “The Nile Hilton Incident” (2017), competing with “Boy From Heaven.” Also completely new to the competition are Belgian co-directors Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix Groeningen with the Italian-language generational saga “The Eight Mountains,” and Spanish minimalist Albert Serra, with “Tournament sur les Iles, aka “Bora Bora,” aka “Pacification,” a drama centering on a successful novelist facing a crisis.