Cannes 2025 Line-Up; China's Reduction Of US Film Imports
Streamlined looks at this year's Cannes line-up; and asks whether China’s reduction of US film imports will benefit cinema from other countries.
This edition of Streamlined is looking at films in the Cannes 2025 line-up from Asia, Africa and the Middle East, as well as the immediate impact of China’s decision to “moderately reduce” the number of US film imports in response to Trump’s tariffs. I’m also researching two Streamlined Guides – one on Chinese buyers and the other on East Asia’s co-production funding schemes – which I plan to publish before Cannes. I was hoping to publish the Chinese buyers report next week, but many people I need to speak to are currently attending Beijing International Film Festival, which I’m hoping is a good sign for acquisitions and theatrical releases in the future.
Cannes Unveils Fresh Line-Up; First Film From Nigeria; But Fewer Asian Titles
Cannes film festival has announced one of its youngest and most female-oriented line-ups in years, with an opening film from a first-time female director, Amélie Bonnin’s Leave One Day, and six other women selected for Competition. While there’s a smattering of older, established auteurs in Competition, including Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater and the Dardennes Brothers, the average age of the filmmakers across the selection appears younger than in previous editions. The festival also has a female jury president for the second year running with Juliette Binoche picking up the baton from Greta Gerwig.
Female filmmakers in Competition include Japan’s Chie Hayakawa with Renoir, sold internationally by Goodfellas, but on the whole there are fewer Asian films in the Official Selection than last year. Renoir is the only Asian title in Competition and there are just two in Un Certain Regard – Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound, produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, another high-profile Indian entry following All We Imagine As Light in Competition last year, and Ishikawa Kei’s Japan-UK co-production A Pale View Of The Hills, an adaptation of the Kazuo Ishiguro novel, handled internationally by Gaga Corp.
Midnight Screenings usually selects a few Asian titles and this year has Genki Kawamura’s Exit 8, based on a horror infinite-loop video game and sold by Toho and Goodfellas, along with Hong Kong filmmaker Juno Mak’s Sons Of The Neon Night, a long-gestating dystopian crime thriller handled by Distribution Workshop. Kawamura was last in Cannes as the producer of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s 2023 Monster, which won best screenplay.
Critics Week has selected Taiwanese filmmaker Tsou Shih-Ching’s Left-Handed Girl, produced and edited by last year’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Sean Baker (Anora), and A Useful Ghost from Thailand’s Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke. Directors Fortnight has Kokuho from Korean-Japanese filmmaker Lee Sang-il...
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