Meet the Directors Competing for the 2024 Palme d’Or

Wilson Chapman
·2 min read
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One of the pleasures of the Cannes Film Festival is seeing what films and what directors break out. Sure, in the current crop of films premiering at the 77th festival this May, there are some big names everybody knows; you don’t need an explainer to know that Francis Ford Coppola and “Megalopolis” are a big deal. But Cannes is also where filmmakers such as Julia Ducournau and Justine Triet gained wide exposure and became international known quantities, thanks to the prestige granted by nabbing the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or.

Introduced a full decade into the festival’s existence, the Palme d’Or has a strong pedigree associated with it; several of the films that received the prize — “La Dolce Vita,” “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” “Taxi Driver,” “Paris, Texas,” “Pulp Fiction,” “The Tree of Life,” “Parasite,” and way too many others to properly list — have claim to being some of the greatest movies ever made. The award can set up a film for potential future success at award ceremonies down the line, and is the type of recognition pretty much any director would die to get.

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As arguably the single most prestigious film festival on the planet, Cannes attracts a wide international body of directors, and every year features an eclectic mix of Hollywood names, French locals, and foreign directors both known and up-and-coming. This year is no different. In addition to Coppola, American filmmakers are well represented by Paul Schrader and Sean Baker — with David Cronenberg proudly repping Canada. Then there are non-North American filmmakers well into their career, like Greek-born Yorgos Lanthimos, Italian auteur Paolo Sorrentino, Chinese director Jia Zhangke, and English filmmaker Andrea Arnold. But the films selected for the main competition also come from plenty of newer directors, including one (Agathe Riedinger, behind the film “Wild Diamond”) making her feature directorial debut. These films might get less publicity than your average “Megalopolis,” but the most exciting thing a festival film can do is surprise you, and they certainly have the benefit of surprise on their side.

With the Cannes Festival now well underway, IndieWire is taking a look at the 22 directors competing for this year’s top prize. The filmmakers are listed in alphabetical order. Read on for a guide to every director up for the Palme D’Or at the 77th Annual Cannes Film Festival.

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