Cannes 2023: Director’s Fortnight sidebar will feature Michel Gondry, Sean Price Williams, and 18 other movies all of which could be the next big thing

Jordan Hoffman
Updated ·3 min read
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When the initial list of titles debuting at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival was announced last week we wrote that there would be more to come. We know that Wes Anderson, Todd Haynes, and Jonathan Glazer will compete with international directors like Wang Bing, Wim Wenders, Alice Rohwacher, and Nuri Bilge Ceylan for the Palme D’Or, and that Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” James Mangold’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” Steve McQueen’s documentary “Occupied City,” and Sam Levinson’s series “The Idol” will also show out-of-competition at le Palais des Festivals et des Congrès adjacent to one of the Mediterranean’s most famous yacht basins. 

But just a short stroll down le Boulevard de la Croisette (though it can sometimes take ya 15 minutes or more when it’s crowded) is the JW Marriott Cannes, completed in 1992, and wow do those peach-pastel colors and gold-tinted glass show it! Several long staircases underneath the hotel is the headquarters of la Quinzaine des Réalisateurs also known as the Director’s Fortnight sidebar. Screening here, as ever, are movies with a little less heat on them, but a common refrain you’ll often hear at the fest is “am I nuts, or are some of the Director’s Fortnight movies much better than what’s in competition?”

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On the menu for 2023 are 20 features and eight shorts. Among them is a new one from Michel Gondry, The Book of Solutions. It is the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director’s first picture in seven years, and the film deals with the subject of creative blocks. Write what you know! Cinematographer Sean Price Williams (best known for his work with Josh and Benny Safdie) has a feature of his own, “The Sweet East,” written by New York City film critic/programer Nick Pinkerton, which, should l’essence du Pinkerton come through in the film, guarantees that it will be something of a must see. Also, a new one from South Korea’s Hong Sang-soo, “In Our Day.” With this, Hong has debuted 12 movies since 2017. France’s Cedric Kahn is also in the mix with a true crime tale from the 1970s, “The Goldman Case.” But in addition to all of this, there are plenty of movies from around the world, each of which might be the big new breakout!

Director’s Fortnight began in 1969 and has, over the years, premiered some extraordinary films. Among them are George Lucas’s “THX-1138,” Scorsese’s “Mean Streets,” Chantel Akerman’s “Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles,” Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It,” The Hughes Brothers’s “Menace II Society,” Sofia Coppola’s “The Virgin Suicides,” Bong Joon-ho’s “The Host,” and Sean Baker’s “The Florida Project.”

Stay tuned, as the International Critics’ Week titles will probably be announced tomorrow. This sidebar-to-the-sidebar is where “Aftersun” made its debut last year, leading to Paul Mescal’s surprise Best Actor Oscar nomination. 

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