Belgian director Laura Wandel’s child custody drama Adam’s Interest, starring Anamaria Vartolomei and Léa Drucker, will open the 64th Cannes Critics’ Week, which unveiled its 2025 selection today.
The second feature from Wandal after gritty childhood bullying drama Playground, the handheld camera-shot feature follows three characters in a paediatric ward: a helpless mother (Vartolomei), her malnourished son, and a nurse (Drucker).
The film, which premieres out of competition, is one of 11 first and second feature films, seven in competition, selected out of 1,000 submitted film for the upcoming edition running from May 14 to 22.
Another 13 short films selected from 2,340 submissions will be announced on April 17.
Competition
Competition seven titles include Taiwanese director Shih-Ching Tsou’s Taipei-set urban melodrama Left-Handed Girl. It marks a first solo feature for Tsou, a long-time collaborator of Sean Baker, who co-wrote and edited the work.
The tragicomedy follows the odyssey of a single mother and her two daughters as they attempt to build a new life in the Taiwanese capital against the odds.
Shot in the Spanish shanty town of La Cañada Real on the outskirts of Madrid with the support of its residents, Guillermo Galoe’s first film Sleepless City follows two inseparable friends who must say goodbye when one of them moves out.
Belgian director Alexe Poukine’s Kika stars Manon Clavel as a hard-up social worker who discovers she is pregnant shortly after the death of her partner.
Thai filmmaker Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s contender A Useful Ghost presents a zany take on motherhood. Rising Thai star Mai Davika Hoorne tops the cast as mother who reincarnates as a vacuum cleaner in a bid to protect her family.
Chechen director Deni Oumar Pitsaev’s autobiographical documentary Imago explores his plans to build a futuristically designed house at odds with the landscape and local traditions on a small plot of land in a Georgian valley at the foot of the Caucasus, on the border of Chechnya.
It was among 200 documentaries submitted to the section this year. It follows Egyptian director Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir’s The Brink Of Dreams, which debuted in Critics’ Week last year and then won Cannes Golden Eye documentary award, which is open to non-fiction features from across the Official Selection and parallel sections.
French director Pauline Loquès’ Nino stars Quebecois actor Théodore Pellerin as a young drifter, who spends three days wandering the streets after losing the keys to his apartment.
From the Netherlands, Dutch director Sven Bresser’s first feature film Reedland is described as a dark crime drama about a reed cutter obsessed with the murder of a teenage girl after discovering the body himself, which provokes in him a strange sense of guilt.
It is the first feature by a Dutch director to premiere in Critics’ Week since Karim Traïdia’s The Polish Bride in 1998, and the first Dutch-language feature by a Dutch director to play anywhere on the Croisette since Alex Van Warmerdan’s Borgman in 2013.
Another two French films will premiere as out of competition Special Screenings.
French director Martin Jauvat’s second feature Baise en Ville is billed as a quirky walking road–movie about an unemployed young man who who strolls around in search of a job to pay for his driving lessons. Jauvat himself plays the title role, joined by William Lebghil and Emmanuelle Bercot.
Alice Douard’s first film Love Letters is a dramatic comedy on motherhood, portraying the chaotic journey of two married women as they are waiting for their first baby. One is pregnant, the other must complete the adoption process. They embark on a series of misadventures, encountering a colourful cast of characters. Ella Rumpf and Monia Chokri co-star.
Closing film
The selection closes with Japanese director Momoko Seto’s first animated feature Dandelion’s Odyssey, following the incredible journey of four dandelions who have survived a nuclear explosion and seek a place to take root.
It is the first animated feature to play in the section since Jérémy Clapin’s I Lost My Body in 2019, which won the sections grand prize and then went on to be nominated in the Best Animated Feature Film category of the Academy Awards.
This year’s jury is presided over by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, alongside Moroccan film critic Jihane Bougrine, French-Canadian cinematographer Josée Deshaies, Indonesian producer Yulia Evina Bhara, and Oscar-winning British actor Daniel Kaluuya.
They will deliberate on the Leitz Cine Discovery Prize for short film, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award, the French Touch Prize of the Jury and the Semaine de la Critique’s AMI Paris Grand Prix.
Competition
Sleepless City (Ciudad Sin Sueño)
Dir. Guillermo Galoe
Sp, France
Imago
Dir. Déni Oumar Pitsaev
Fr, Bel
Kika
Dir. Alexe Poukine
Bel, Fr
Left-Handed Girl
Dir. Shih-Ching Tsou
Tw, Fr, U.S., U.K.
Nino
Dir. Pauline Loquès
Fr
A Useful Ghost (Pee Chai Dai Ka)
Dir. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
Thai, Fr, Sg, Ger
Reedland (Rietland)
Dir. Sven Bresser
Nl, Bel
Special screenings
Adam’s Interest (L’intérêt d’Adam) – OPENING FILM
Dir. Laura Wandel
Bel, Fr
Baise en ville
Dir. Martin Jauvat
Fr
Love Letters (Des preuves d’amour)
Dir. Alice Douard
Fr
Dandelion’s Odyssey (Planètes) CLOSING FILM
Dir. Momoko Seto
Fr, Bel
