The 2024 Festival Films You Need to Know

We're here for Oscar-nominated director Dianne Houston's tribute to trailblazing small-business owner Melony Armstrong. Houston's experience as a writer on "Empire" and "When We Rise" should be a natural fit for the story, and it's a promising role for Simona Brown, perhaps most recognizable from Netflix's "Behind Her Eyes."

Screens as part of the Narrative Feature competition at American Black Film Festival.

Directors Billy Miossi and Soraya Sélène get to the bottom of that very question, turning a spotlight on Regina Jones, the creative powerhouse and groundbreaking newspaper publisher who ran the iconic SOUL Newspaper between 1966 to 1982 and featured R&B icons from The O'Jays and James Brown to Etta James and The Supremes.

Screens as part of the Documentary Feature competition at the American Black Film Festival.

Writer-director Christine Swanson is bringing viewers a road movie that, in the filmmaker’s own words, “is an unapologetic, ironic presentation of Black joy, Black resilience, and Black humanity.” Renée Elise Goldsberry stars as Celeste, a big city ad exec who is forced into a road trip with her ex’s mother, Paula (Lynn Whitfield), in order to arrive at a career-defining meeting on time. Swanson is no stranger to telling emotional family stories (check out ‘The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel,’ for example), and we suspect Celeste and Paula’s journey will take them places they could have never imagined. Produced by the director’s Faith Filmworks production company, which she co-owns with husband and producer Michael Swanson.

Screens as part of the Narrative Feature competition at American Black Film Festival.

Jamie Foxx, Nile Rodgers, Mariah Carey and Dionne Warwick are just a few of the stars who share their personal stories about Luther Vandross in Dawn Porter's tenth feature documentary, a deep dive into the life and career of the late R&B legend. 'Luther: Never Too Much' debuted this year at the Sundance Film Festival.

Screens as part of the Documentary Feature competition at the American Black Film Festival.

Vivica A. Fox stars as a woman who learns her estranged son has died, leaving behind a daughter and a husband she never knew about. Jussie Smollett makes his return to acting as the grieving son-in-law, but also plays a key roles behind the scenes, as director and co-writer.

Screens as part of the Narrative Feature competition at the American Black Film Festival.

Did you know Yorgos Lanthimos was filming this project while in post-production on 'Poor Things' and planning his fifth project with Emma Stone (a remake of the comedy 'Save the Green Planet')? Of course there's all sorts of anticipation for this anthology film, which Lanthimos co-wrote with his longtime creative partner Efthimis Filippou, and will premiere at Cannes but pretty much skip the festival circuit, opting for a worldwide rollout starting in June. Lanthimos has shared it's a three-part fable, and the cast, which includes 'Poor Things' players Willem Dafoe and Margaret Qualley, as well as Jesse Plemons, Hong Chau, and Hunter Schafer "in a small role," will play different characters in each of the segments. As for the stories themselves: one's about a man without choice who tries to wrest control over his life, the centerpiece about a woman who returns from being missing at sea, and the finale is about the search for a person destined to become a spiritual leader.

Premiered in competition at Cannes Film Festival. In theaters June 21.

Francis Ford Coppola's self-funded sci-fi drama premieres in competition at Cannes, adding to the list of decades-in-the-making passion projects screening at the festival. Coppola contributed $120 million to finish 'Megalopolis,' which tells the story of the rebuilding of a futuristic Roman-inspired metropolis after a devastating disaster. Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, and Shia LaBeouf star.

Premiered in competition at Cannes Film Festival. Expected in theaters September 2024.

What a lovely day it was when we got a first look at the 'Mad Max: Fury Road' prequel that will transport us back to the manic, mechanic, high-contrast dystopia created by George Miller more than 30 years ago. This fifth installment in the franchise follows Furiosa from her kidnapping from the Green Place by the warlord known as Dementus. That character — previously known only to those whose love for this franchise spilled over into its 2015 video game — is being played by Chris Hemsworth. We're excited to see him put down Mjolnir and try to contain Anya Taylor-Joy as the future Imperator who eventually looks to take down Immortan Joe and his Citadel. Sure, we didn't "really" need to know how she lost her arm, or see what Immortan Joe looked like in his pre-respirator era, but highly recognizable and under-appreciated actor Lachy Hulme looks to imbue the character with a proper freak factor that will make us rewatch 'Fury Road' as soon as we get home from the movies.

Premiered out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. In theaters May 24.

Kevin Costner brings the first chapter of his epic four-part Western series to Cannes ahead of its June 28 theatrical premiere. 'Horizon' has been a 36-year passion project for Costner, based off a story he commissioned in 1988 and is planned as a four-film series, which Costner funded, co-wrote, produced, directed, and stars in. Although the third and fourth films have not gone into production, fans will only have six weeks to wait for more tales of the American west, as 'Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2' drops on Aug. 16.

Premiered out of competition at Cannes Film Festival. In theaters June 28.

If you're talking about David Cronenberg movies, it's natural to say something like: "His latest is about watching your deceased loved ones decompose in real time." Aside from that particularly challenging story detail, 'Shrouds' will go down as Cronenberg's most personal film to date — if you're unaware, he lost his spouse, film editor Carolyn Cronenberg, in 2017. We hope it has been a form of solace for him to watch his children Caitlin and Brandon emerge as headline-making filmmakers in their own right. 'Shrouds' is Cronenberg's third collaboration with Vincent Cassel (after 'Eastern Promises' and 'A Dangerous Method'), with Diane Krueger playing three different characters, and Guy Pearce in an undisclosed supporting role. Interestingly, Netflix passed on the project, which Cronenberg initially pitched as a series.

Premiered in competition at Cannes Film Festival. Expected in theaters September 25, 2024.

Perhaps sooner than anyone wanted, a Donald Trump biopic is making its way to the screen, premiering at Cannes this year. Sebastian Stan (who scored an Emmy nomination portraying Tommy Lee in Hulu’s “Pam & Tommy”) stars as Trump during the 1970s and 1980s as he’s mentored by Roy Cohn, the reviled prosecutor best remembered for his work with Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare of the 1950s. Stan’s co-star Jeremy Strong (“Succession”) plays Cohn, with Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump, and Martin Donovan as Trump’s father, Fred Trump.

Premiered in competition at Cannes Film Festival.

Crime-thrillers may not spring to mind when you think of musicals, but writer-director Jacques Audiard’s new film could change that. Inspired by a chapter in Boris Razon's novel ‘Écoute,’ and developed from what was originally envisioned as a four-act opera, ‘Emilia Perez’ traces the journey of a feared Cartel leader (Karla Sofía Gascón) who enlists the help of a lawyer (Zoe Saldana) to escape their criminal life and transition into the woman they have always been inside. Pop artist Camille has penned the film’s original songs, and we’re excited to hear co-star Selena Gomez tackle the French singer’s playful songwriting style in this unique musical comedy.

Premiered in competition at Cannes Film Festival. Expected in theaters August 28, 2024.

'Oh Canada' is an adaptation of the novel 'Foregone' by Russell Banks, the author who was always suspicious of the movie business until he worked with Paul Schrader on 'Affliction' in 1997 (and with Atom Egoyan on 'The Sweet Hereafter' the same year). Jacob Elordi — who continues to put distance between himself and his 'Kissing Booth' character — plays the younger version of Leonard Fife, while Schrader fans will plotz to see Richard Gere playing the older version of the character. The novel plays with time and memory as Fife suffers from late-stage cancer and the effects of chemotherapy, so we're looking forward to the first reviews of the film to see if the stylistic risks Schrader has taken in the past are on display here.

Premiered in competition at Cannes Film Festival.

Distinguished filmmaker Guy Maddin re-teams with his 'Green Fog' co-directors, the brothers Galen and Evan Johnson, for what could be a true festival breakout. The satirical nature of the story is essentially a roast of the annual G7 Summit and features a truly international ensemble cast, which includes Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander, and Takehiro Hira, who just became even more recognizable with his villainous turn on "Shōgun." With 'Midsommer' director Ari Aster on board as hype man/executive producer, it would be weird if the movie isn't picked up worldwide for distribution, and if you've read the early coverage, any studio would be wise to just let Aster and the filmmakers handle the press rounds for the release.

Premiered out of competition at Cannes Film Festival.

Barry Keoghan reportedly excused himself from the stacked cast of the upcoming 'Gladiator 2' sequel to star in this drama from director Andrea Arnold, and that's enough to pique our curiosity. Details are scarce, aside from Keoghan's casting as a single father figure named Bug, bringing up two boys in Kent, UK (and some on-set shots showing him shirtless and covered in fake tattoos of creepy crawlers). He'll star alongside Franz Rogowski in this return to narrative filmmaking for Arnold, who's directed on popular series like "Big Little Lies" and "Transparent" since her first Cannes release, 2016's 'American Honey.' By nabbing Keoghan straight off a red-hot run, complete with an Oscar nomination and the 'Saltburn' sensation that carried through to 2024, Arnold has ensured plenty of eyes will be on this competition entry.

Premiered in competition at Cannes Film Festival.

Know how sometimes you look up an actor you love and wonder why they haven't been on screen much lately? That's how we feel about Mikey Madison, who was truly wondrous as Pamela Adlon's eldest daughter in "Better Things." So to discover she's the lead in 'Tangerine' director Sean Baker's newest movie makes us feel like other people understand what she accomplished on that show. Baker, who is masterful at keeping the secrets of his movies safe until they're released, has indicated this is his biggest budgeted project to date, and it was shot with a polished, 1970s aesthetic, a change-up from his previous, lower-tech approaches to movie making. Thematically it seems to be a new focus for Baker as well, since the story apparently deals with people of means; historically, the director has told stories about people living in the margins and on the fringe of society.

Premiered in competition at Cannes Film Festival. In theaters October 18.

Director Coralie Fargeat burst onto the festival scene in 2018 with her bold and visceral feminist Neo-exploitation flick, ‘Revenge.’ With comparison’s to French New Extremity films (like ‘Martyrs’ and ‘High Tension’), ‘Revenge’ established the director as a talent to watch. At the time of this writing, plot details for her second film, ‘The Substance,’ were scant. For starters, we don’t know what this “substance” is yet. But we do know Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid are starring, and that Fargeat promises it will “push boundaries with a different kind of violence.”

Premiered in competition at Cannes Film Festival.

We root for Michel Hazanavicius. 'The Artist' won him the 2012 Oscar and made him famous worldwide, while 2014's 'The Search' nearly destroyed him. Then he made under-seen, excellent films in 2017's 'Godard Mon Amour' and 'Final Cut', which debuted at Cannes in 2022 and was based on a 2017 Japanese film. The animation in 'Precious' looks gorgeous and the story heart-rending.

Premiered in competition at Cannes Film Festival.

Zhangke Jia also directed 'A Touch of Sin', a much admired, sometimes loved film that won Jia the Best Screenplay award at Cannes in 2013. His other films In Competition for the Palme d'Or include 2018's 'Ash is the Purest White' and 2015's 'Mountains May Depart,' so 'Tides' is a strong contender for the top prize.

Premiered in competition at Cannes Film Festival.

If the poster chokes you up, wait until you see the trailer. Director Ron Howard brings this insider biography (it was done in consultation with Henson's children) to Cannes Classics (and shows up on Disney+ on May 31st). Cannes Classics, which typically shows restorations (such as a new, 4K treatment of 'Paris, Texas') and movie-themed docs (such as 'Faye', about the legendary actress (& legendary handful) Faye Dunaway), is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. We kinda hope Paul Williams shows up for the 'Idea Man' premiere. Heck, he co-wrote 'Rainbow Connection' for 'The Muppet Movie.'

Screened as part the of the Cannes Classics program at Cannes Film Festival.

Nicolas Cage is no stranger to movies about trippy nightmare worlds and meta realities. From the rules-shattering ‘Vampire’s Kiss’ to the criminally under-seen ‘Dream Scenario,’ the nouveau shamanic actor has made a career out of playing people with a tenuous grasp on reality. His expertise as a demented everyman is likely why director Lorcan Finnegan (‘Vivarium’) cast Cage in his new film, ‘The Surfer,’ which premiered as part of the Cannes Film Festival Midnight Screenings slate this year. The movie follows Cage’s would-be surfer as he wanders the super saturated Australian beach of his youth getting harassed by locals, losing out on buying his childhood home, and eventually eating out of a trash can for reasons that may, or may not, become clear when you watch the movie. Is this rollicking thriller a commentary on toxic masculinity or just an exercise in watching a man become unglued? No matter what audiences decide, we can all agree it’s another well-placed entry into the ever-expanding Cagesploitation sub genre.

Premiered in Midnight Screenings at Cannes Film Festival.