The 2024 Cannes Film Festival is underway with Quentin Dupieux’s The Second Act starring Léa Seydoux and Louis Garrel serving as the opening-night film.
This year’s lineup includes major Hollywood premieres like Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, Kevin Costner’s first film of a planned four-part series Horizon: An American Saga, Francis Coppola’s long-gestating Megalopolis, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness in a reteam with Emma Stone, Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada and Andrea Arnold’s Bird to name a few.
They are joined by new films from stalwart auteurs including David Cronenberg, Jacques Audiard, Ali Abbasi, Jia Zhang-Ke, Christophe Honoré, Paolo Sorrentino, Gilles Lellouche, Mohammad Rasoulof and Michel Hazanavicius, Guy Maddin, Noémie Merlant and Oliver Stone.
Read all of Deadline’s takes below throughout the festival, which runs May 14-25. Click on the title to read the full review and keep checking...
This year’s lineup includes major Hollywood premieres like Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, Kevin Costner’s first film of a planned four-part series Horizon: An American Saga, Francis Coppola’s long-gestating Megalopolis, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness in a reteam with Emma Stone, Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada and Andrea Arnold’s Bird to name a few.
They are joined by new films from stalwart auteurs including David Cronenberg, Jacques Audiard, Ali Abbasi, Jia Zhang-Ke, Christophe Honoré, Paolo Sorrentino, Gilles Lellouche, Mohammad Rasoulof and Michel Hazanavicius, Guy Maddin, Noémie Merlant and Oliver Stone.
Read all of Deadline’s takes below throughout the festival, which runs May 14-25. Click on the title to read the full review and keep checking...
- 5/16/2024
- by Pete Hammond, Joe Utichi, Damon Wise, Stephanie Bunbury and Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
The wars in Gaza and Ukraine have dominated headlines for the past several years, yet receiving relatively little coverage today is the Syrian civil war, sparked in the wake of 2011’s Arab Spring. It is yet ongoing and stands now at an uneasy stalemate. Over a decade of fighting, horrifying humanitarian and war-time crimes were committed; all the while 13 million Syrians were displaced from their homes. These refugees, lost in foreign countries offering asylum, are still looking for answers and perhaps a reckoning and retribution. Director Jonathan Millet’s debut narrative feature Ghost Trail dives deep into one survivor’s psyche and lays bare the cost of a conflict from which the world seems to have moved on.
In Strasbourg, France, mild-mannered asylum-seeker Hamid (Adam Bessa) is doing odd jobs, moving in Syrian exile circles, looking for a man who he says is his cousin lost during the war. Occasionally...
In Strasbourg, France, mild-mannered asylum-seeker Hamid (Adam Bessa) is doing odd jobs, moving in Syrian exile circles, looking for a man who he says is his cousin lost during the war. Occasionally...
- 5/15/2024
- by Ankit Jhunjhunwala
- The Film Stage
The immediate cost of war is front and center these days, as the grim scenarios in Gaza and Ukraine continue to play out in front of us. But in his fiction debut, documentary filmmaker Jonathan Millet takes us beyond the headlines of the now to present the little-discussed realities that face those people displaced.
On the surface, it uses the traditional tropes of the spy movie — a secret intelligence network, cryptic codenames, clandestine meetings in public places — but Ghost Trail isn’t exactly thrilling, certainly not in the manner of a John le Carré novel. Closer in spirit to Spielberg’s Munich, it’s a quietly profound character study about the need for a closure that may never come. In that respect, Ghost Trail is exactly what it says it is; a search for something intangible, something undoubtedly there but at the same time … not.
The French have a saying,...
On the surface, it uses the traditional tropes of the spy movie — a secret intelligence network, cryptic codenames, clandestine meetings in public places — but Ghost Trail isn’t exactly thrilling, certainly not in the manner of a John le Carré novel. Closer in spirit to Spielberg’s Munich, it’s a quietly profound character study about the need for a closure that may never come. In that respect, Ghost Trail is exactly what it says it is; a search for something intangible, something undoubtedly there but at the same time … not.
The French have a saying,...
- 5/15/2024
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s an inconvenient reality of modern existence that we seldom have the bandwidth to devote sincere attention to more than one humanitarian crisis at a time. Just like Afghanistan gave way to Ukraine which gave way to Gaza, it won’t be long before another unspeakable human tragedy absorbs the limited amount of minutes in each day that we’re able to allocate to international news. All but the most saintlike among us have been guilty of prioritizing a shiny new human rights violation at the expense of an ongoing one, but that doesn’t mean that things magically improve once our attention drifts away. Oftentimes, that’s when things really start to get ugly.
Years have passed since the Syrian refugee crisis was a trendy thing to talk about, but the distractions created by our lightning fast world haven’t dulled the painful challenges that millions of displaced Syrians face each day.
Years have passed since the Syrian refugee crisis was a trendy thing to talk about, but the distractions created by our lightning fast world haven’t dulled the painful challenges that millions of displaced Syrians face each day.
- 5/15/2024
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
A stirring, expertly judged thriller powered by a pair of blazing performances, Ghost Trail (Les Fantômes) kicks off Cannes’ Critics’ Week sidebar in first-rate form.
Revolving around a Syrian exile tracking down his former torturer in France, French director Jonathan Millet’s feature-length fiction debut is a work of visceral intensity and formidable control, pulling you into a tight grip and holding you there. The cat-and-mouse premise and brisk, nerve-jangling execution are familiar from numerous other geopolitically timely spy/manhunt tales on big and small screens. But if Ghost Trail doesn’t necessarily buzz with novelty, it boasts a bracing sense of craftsmanship and purpose — of “understanding the assignment,” as the kids might say — both behind and in front of the camera.
Working from a screenplay (“inspired by true events”) co-written with Florence Rochat, Millet displays a shrewd grasp of paranoid-thriller mechanics: fluid camerawork, crisp cutting, propulsive music, anxiety-spiking sound design.
Revolving around a Syrian exile tracking down his former torturer in France, French director Jonathan Millet’s feature-length fiction debut is a work of visceral intensity and formidable control, pulling you into a tight grip and holding you there. The cat-and-mouse premise and brisk, nerve-jangling execution are familiar from numerous other geopolitically timely spy/manhunt tales on big and small screens. But if Ghost Trail doesn’t necessarily buzz with novelty, it boasts a bracing sense of craftsmanship and purpose — of “understanding the assignment,” as the kids might say — both behind and in front of the camera.
Working from a screenplay (“inspired by true events”) co-written with Florence Rochat, Millet displays a shrewd grasp of paranoid-thriller mechanics: fluid camerawork, crisp cutting, propulsive music, anxiety-spiking sound design.
- 5/15/2024
- by Jon Frosch
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cannes parallel section Critics’ Week opens Wednesday with French director Jonathan Millet’s psychological manhunt thriller Ghost Trail (Les Fantômes), starring Adam Bessa as man in in pursuit of a faceless, former torturer.
Running from May 15 to 23, the compact line-up will showcase 11 first and second works features by emerging directors, seven in competition, as well as 13 short films.
Deadline caught up with Artistic Director Ava Cahen on the eve of the 63rd edition.
Deadline: You’re on your third selection as Critics’ Week artistic director. How was it this year?
Ava Cahen: We always put the counters back to zero. So everything felt new, even if it’s my third year. We received a few more films than normal and screened 1,050 features. It’s hard when you’ve only got 11 slots. Obviously there were a lot more than 11 films that we would have liked to have welcomed. There was a lot of discussion.
Running from May 15 to 23, the compact line-up will showcase 11 first and second works features by emerging directors, seven in competition, as well as 13 short films.
Deadline caught up with Artistic Director Ava Cahen on the eve of the 63rd edition.
Deadline: You’re on your third selection as Critics’ Week artistic director. How was it this year?
Ava Cahen: We always put the counters back to zero. So everything felt new, even if it’s my third year. We received a few more films than normal and screened 1,050 features. It’s hard when you’ve only got 11 slots. Obviously there were a lot more than 11 films that we would have liked to have welcomed. There was a lot of discussion.
- 5/15/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
When he won the Un Certain Regard jury’s joint Best Actor prize for Harka in 2022, Adam Bessa wasn’t onstage to accept it. He’d figured he didn’t stand a chance, so he’d gone fishing in Marseille instead and was struggling with a seabass when the call came. He laughs. “‘You have to come back,’ they said. I was like, ‘Nah. I’m in the middle of nowhere right now, I can’t.’ So, I made a little video instead.”
Adam Bessa
This year, Bessa is back in Cannes with Critics’ Week opener Ghost Trail by Jonathan Millet. “It’s the story of a Syrian intellectual who was jailed during the civil war in Syria and now he’s chasing the man who tortured him. It’s based on a true story, about these guys who escaped from prison and tried to create a secret militia, a secret spy group.
Adam Bessa
This year, Bessa is back in Cannes with Critics’ Week opener Ghost Trail by Jonathan Millet. “It’s the story of a Syrian intellectual who was jailed during the civil war in Syria and now he’s chasing the man who tortured him. It’s based on a true story, about these guys who escaped from prison and tried to create a secret militia, a secret spy group.
- 5/14/2024
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
French director Jonathan Millet riffs on manhunt tropes in “Ghost Trail,” the psychological thriller that will be the Cannes Critics’ Week opener.
Variety has been given an exclusive first-look clip from the film, which is inspired by real-life events.
“Ghost Trail” is the story of a Syrian man named Hamid who is part of a secret group pursuing fugitive leaders that perpetrated horrors in the name of the Syrian regime during the country’s civil war.
His mission takes him to France, on the trail of his former torturer. And he manages to tracks him down, as it appears from the clip.
“But with his judgment clouded by pressure, doubt and revenge, can he be certain of the righteousness of his own actions?” the synopsis reads.
Millet, who previously co-directed doc “Ceuta, Douce Prison” – about five migrants who leave their lands to try their luck in Europe and end up...
Variety has been given an exclusive first-look clip from the film, which is inspired by real-life events.
“Ghost Trail” is the story of a Syrian man named Hamid who is part of a secret group pursuing fugitive leaders that perpetrated horrors in the name of the Syrian regime during the country’s civil war.
His mission takes him to France, on the trail of his former torturer. And he manages to tracks him down, as it appears from the clip.
“But with his judgment clouded by pressure, doubt and revenge, can he be certain of the righteousness of his own actions?” the synopsis reads.
Millet, who previously co-directed doc “Ceuta, Douce Prison” – about five migrants who leave their lands to try their luck in Europe and end up...
- 5/8/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Cannes’ Critics Week has revamped its ticketing procedures to prioritise the press badge holders to each film’s first screening.
Press will be granted first access to all first screenings - 11.00 for Competition titles and 14.00 for Special Screenings - via the electronic ticketing platform.
“Critics and all journalists are the people who should be seeing the films first. They are the people who are at the start of a film’s journey, who launch its first steps and word of mouth,” said Thomas Rosso, Critics’ Week programme manager. “Critics’ Week wants to reaffirm the vital role of critics in the...
Press will be granted first access to all first screenings - 11.00 for Competition titles and 14.00 for Special Screenings - via the electronic ticketing platform.
“Critics and all journalists are the people who should be seeing the films first. They are the people who are at the start of a film’s journey, who launch its first steps and word of mouth,” said Thomas Rosso, Critics’ Week programme manager. “Critics’ Week wants to reaffirm the vital role of critics in the...
- 5/3/2024
- ScreenDaily
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