With many of the biggest and brightest names in international film descending on the French Riviera this week, all signs point to one thing: the 2025 Cannes Film Festival is officially underway – with French star Juliette Binoche serving as this year’s jury president. As one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, many of the movies showcased here go on to be some of the buzziest of the subsequent awards season (with last year’s Palme d’Or winner ‘Anora’ going on to win multiple Oscars, including Best Picture). Although some titles can take months to reach cinemas after their Cannes premieres, here are the most sought-after movies of the 78th Cannes Film Festival to start keeping tabs on.
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Big-Name Auteurs Showcase Their Newest Films
In a particularly standout year for the Cannes Film Festival, a wealth of prominent filmmakers will unveil their newest work. Horror auteur Ari Aster unites an all-star cast consisting of Pedro Pascal, Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, and Austin Butler in ‘Eddington,’ a 2020-period piece revisiting the particularly tumultuous period of time through a clash between the sheriff and the mayor of Eddington, New Mexico.
Also screening ‘In Competition’ is the unofficial King of Whimsy, Wes Anderson, with the star-packed ‘The Phoenician Scheme’ – featuring both Anderson regulars and newcomers Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Cera, Mia Threapleton, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, and more. The ensemble comedy centres on a father-daughter duo travelling the globe to seal one last business deal before the magnate patriach retires – or is assassinated – whichever comes first.
The slate also highlights several notable voices in independent cinema. Lynne Ramsay (‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’) returns with ‘Die My Love,’ a postpartum-depression drama-thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson. Additionally, French body-horror auteur Julia Ducournau, who won the 2021 Palme d’Or for ‘Titane,’ comes back to Cannes with ‘Alpha’ – a hotly sought-after, provocative work certain to shock, thrill, and likely unsettle.
Outside competition, a handful of exciting films will premiere as well. Among them is (the final?) ‘Mission: Impossible’ instalment, ‘The Final Reckoning,’ poised to thrill on Tom Cruise’s star power alone. Meanwhile, former jury president Spike Lee also returns, presenting his fifth collaboration with Denzel Washington, ‘Highest 2 Lowest,’ a reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 film ‘High and Low.’
Famous Faces On Both Sides Of The Camera
In an ironic twist of fate, the 2025 Cannes Film Festival’s ‘Un Certain Regard’ category (a section intended to highlight new talent, as well as non-traditional storytelling and innovative narratives), is littered with a handful of famous faces – this time trying their hand behind the camera. Preemptively generating favourable buzz is Scarlett Johansson’s debut feature ‘Eleanor the Great,’ a cross-generational tale of friendship starring beloved character actress June Squibb.
Also making their directorial debuts at Cannes are Kristen Stewart and Harris Dickinson (the soon-to-be John Lennon), each presenting uniquely fascinating character studies. Stewart’s ‘The Chronology of Water’ adapts Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir of the same name, with Imogen Poots in the role of Yuknavitch discovering liberation through both writing and swimming. Meanwhile, Dickinson’s ‘Urchin’ explores the streets of London through the eyes of a young man (played by Frank Dillane) struggling to turn his life around.
Of course, the festival will also have many of today’s hottest talents in front of the camera, with rising actor Josh O‘Connor in particular leading not one, but two films premiering in competition. O‘Connor shares the screen opposite fellow rising star Paul Mescal in ‘The History of Sound,’ a post-WWI American period piece helmed by South African filmmaker Oliver Hermanus. The film tenderly explores a romance between two men as they seek to record and preserve everyday songs and testimonials.
O’Connor also appears alongside Alan Haim (of the band HAIM), John Magaro, and Gaby Hoffman in celebrated American filmmaker Kelly Reichardt’s 1970s art heist drama ‘The Mastermind.’ Also highly awaited is indie darling Renate Reinsve‘s Cannes return in ‘Sentimental Value’ – another film made with her ‘The Worst Person In The World’ collaborator, Norwegian writer-director Joachim Trier.
Contentious Topics On & Off-Screen
Cannes has rarely shied away from showcasing provocative, controversial, or politically charged films – with this year proving no different. Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi explores how a minor accident may lead to escalating consequences in the meditative ‘It Was Just An Accident.’ Remarkably, this year’s presentation feels relatively straightforward compared to the past, when Panahi famously smuggled a film into Cannes via a USB hidden in a cake while under house arrest. However, it remains unlikely that Panahi himself will attend the festival in person this time around.
Meanwhile, the perpetually controversial Shia Labeouf will also make an appearance in Cannes screens this year in ‘Slauson Rec,’ a documentary that appears to be as eccentric and enigmatic as the actor himself. Directed by Leo Lewis O’Neill, the film documents O’Neill’s experiences attending LaBeouf’s free acting school in South Central Los Angeles. Reportedly given unrestricted access to film anything and everything, O’Neill’s resulting documentary doesn’t always cast LaBeouf in the most flattering light. With LaBeouf scheduled to co-present the film in person at Cannes, it remains to be seen how this chapter in his unpredictable career will unfold.
While not included in the official 2025 Cannes Film Festival slate, one of the most anticipated films of the festival period is set to screen in the parallel Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema section – which champions independent productions and critical conversations surrounding films. Sepideh Farsi’s ‘Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk’ has been stirring massive waves all the way from when the documentary was first announced in the Cannes ACID slate – news tragically overshadowed by the Israeli airstrike that killed its Palestinian protagonist, Fatima Hassouna, and several family members just one day later.
Depicting everyday life in Gaza amidst the ongoing conflict, Farsi captures the experience through video calls with a young woman living in Gaza. The circumstances surrounding the documentary’s content as well as its subjects have already prompted over 350 international filmmakers to sign a letter condemning Hassona’s tragic death – as well as the passivity and silence from the film industry.
Born in Korea and raised in Hong Kong, Min Ji has combined her degree in anthropology and creative writing with her passion for going on unsolicited tangents as an editor at Friday Club. In between watching an endless amount of movies, she enjoys trying new cocktails and pastas while occasionally snapping a few pictures.
