With Titles in All Categories, Queer Palm Films Announced

The Queer Palm is eligible to any entry at the Cannes Film Festival that deals in any way with LGBTQ+ themes. At this year's event, which begins on Tuesday and runs through May 25th, the judging committee will pick between 22 eligible titles.

The jury is led by Belgian director Lukas Dhont ("Girl" and Oscar-nominated "Close"), and includes Juliana Rojas, Brazilian director ("Les Bonnes Manners", "Cidade"; "Campo"), Sophie Letourneur, French director and actress ("La Vie at the ranch", "Enorme," "Travels in Italy"), by Jad Salfiti, British-Palestinian journalist (The Guardian, "Arte, BBC... ) and Hugo Bardin ( Paloma ), actor, director and French drag queen, first winner of Drag Race France.

The French site Têtu.com commented on the 22 eligible films (17 feature-length, 5 short) that fall across all the festival categories. 'It must be said that some of the pillars of French gay cinema met there, starting with Christophe Honoré ( "Marcello Mio"), but also Alain Guiraudie ("Miséricorde") or Gaël Morel ("Vivre, Die, Renaissance") – let's also note the presence of the young Alexis Langlois with his "Queens of Drama"'

Langlois made a splash on the festival circuit with his campy "The Demons of Dorothy" and "Terror, Sisters!." Recently the curated film site MUBI ran a retrospective of his work. "A vibrant director of the new French queer cinema, Alexis Langlois makes films that are angry and alive, and insist you stand up and take notice. Reminiscent of the bold visual style and queer anarchy of filmmakers like Gregg Araki, Bertrand Mandico, video artist Ryan Trecartin, and "Filth Elder" John Waters, Langlois's defiantly anarchic, politically militant shorts celebrate the jubilant creativity of LGBTQ+ communities. His films may focus on telling minority stories but they revel in the universality of popular culture, a shared language that Langlois is ultimately intent on queering."

Langlois makes his feature-length debut with "Queens of Drama," which IndieWire describes as "a French pop/punk musical that brings a mid-aughts camp sensibility to Cannes this year."

Per the synopsis; "In 2005, Mimi Madamour, the young pop idol, lives through a cursed and fiery romance with queer punk icon Billie Kohler. Amongst love, hatred, and torn desires for the spotlight, their pursuit of glory and their passion for each other lead them down a path of self-destruction. They are the symbol of an entire generation, a duo that unleashes crowds, they are the Queens of Drama."

"Queens of Drama" competes in the Critics Week category.

Têtu.com was also pleased by a number of the titles: "The Beauty of Gaza" by Yolande Zauberman, the story of a woman who decides to leave Gaza on foot to make the transition to Tel Aviv. And "Eat The Night" by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel, which tells the story of a meeting between two teenagers around a video game designed especially for the film, 'Darknoon.'

"Eat The Night," Film Daily writes is the "second feature from the directing duo following 2019 debut 'Jessica Forever.' It is set in the French city of Le Havre and follows a small-time dealer and his teenage sister who share an obsession with an online video game. When one sibling's reckless choices provoke the wrath of a dangerous rival gang, their virtual life and reality collide.

The film stars "newcomer Lilia Gueneau with 'Winter Boy's' Erwan Kepoa and 'The Night Of The 12th's' Théo Cholbi. Directors' Fortnight artistic director Julien Rejl called the film 'an incredibly ambitious project from France's new generation of filmmakers'."

Têtu.com also noted Noémie Merlant's film, "The Balconettes," a horror-comedy being billed by the distribution company Mk2 Pictures this way: "As a heat wave brings a Marseille neighborhood to the boil, three roommates gleefully meddle in the lives of their neighbors from their balcony. Until a late night drink turns into a bloody affair.

"Written in collaboration with Céline Sciamma, Noémie Merlant's follow-up to her Cannes 2020 debut is a brazen in-your-face-foray into genre. Sometimes gory, sometimes brazen, always playful." Her directorial debut "Mi Iubita Mon Amour" premiered at Cannes.

In Competition this year is "Bird" from British director Andrea Arnold. She has been a Cannes favorite since her 2009 drama "Fish Tank" premiered there. Since then she has directed the youth odyssey road movie "American Honey," which had its premiere and competed for the Palm d'Or in 2016. It won Arnold her third Jury Prize.

"Bird," Screen Daily notes, "centres on a 12-year-old who lives with her single father and brother in a squat and seeks attention and adventure elsewhere; among the cast is breakout stars Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski.

And any title by "Stranger by the Lake" director Alain Guiraudie is worth mention. His latest "Misericordia" premieres Out-of-Competition. Screen Daily describes it as "as a tense rural drama set in an oppressive French village where inhabitants struggle to hide their most intimate secrets and shameful sins."

The film "follows a man who returns to his native town for the funeral of his former boss and village baker when a mysterious disappearance, a threatening neighbour and a priest with strange intentions add an unexpected twist to his stay. 'Misericordia' stars Felix Kysyl ('Consent'), Catherine Frot and Jean-Baptiste Durand, who directed last year's French sleeper hit 'Junkyard Dog'."

This year's short list consists of 17 feature length titles and 5 shorts. The feature length films fall across all categories. Here is the breakdown:

Queer Palm 2024: eligible titles

Competition

Out of Competition

Un Certain Regard

Critic's Week

Director's Fortnight

Acid

Short Movies