It seems the importance that Ibero-American cinema has been acquiring in the film industry or on the international festival circuit does not matter. With all the effort applied to this edition of the Cannes International Festival – the in-person return after two years affected by the pandemic – in the end, this film fest, considered among the most important in the world, has pretty much forgotten Ibero-American cinema, again.

It is not that there are no titles in Spanish. There are some, but few and scattered throughout different sections, and none of them is in the official selection, which includes titles such as Coupez!, by Golden Globe candidate Michel Hazanavicius; Armageddon Time, by James Gray, or Crimes of the Future, by David Cronenberg, among other of the 21 films called to the glory of winning the desirable Palme d’Or. 

It is a trend that has been repeated too often because, despite the importance that cinema in Spanish has gained – especially in recent decades- in other competitions, only a total of 15 Latin American productions between Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico have participated in the official selection so far this century, in addition to Pedro Almodóvar, of course. But the love-hate relationship that the competition maintains with the filmmaker from La Mancha, (who has been nominated for the Golden Globe several times) and who still does not have the Palme d’Or despite being a regular presence at the festival, is already a source of compassionate comments.

And if the words of the general delegate of the Festival de Cannes, Thierry Frémaux, are to be believed, when he said that the event “will be oriented towards the future” when announcing this year’s selection, perhaps one should not expect a great change in years to come regarding the Hispanic presence at the French Riviera.

But it is better to focus on what this 75th edition of the Cannes Festival will offer from May 17th to the 28th. For example, the world premiere of Mi país imaginario (My Imaginary Country), the latest work by Chilean documentary filmmaker Patricio Guzmán, will be shown in a special out-of-competition screening. The film marks the return of the filmmaker to this cinematographic forum in which he was awarded the best documentary in 2019 with La Cordillera de los Sueños (Mountain Range of Dreams.)

There’s also the world premiere of La Jauría (The Pack), by Andrés Ramírez Pulido, the only Latin American in the official selection of the Critics’ Week, a parallel contest to Cannes that celebrates the achievements of first and second works by directors who are just starting out.

At least the Venezuelan actor Edgar Ramírez is one of the five members of the jury for the Un Certain Regard section, something that could come in handy for the Costa Rican film Domingo y la niebla (Domingo and the Fog), by Ariel Escalante Meza, the only Latin American film selected among the 20 titles that compete in this category.

Another Costa Rican production, Luz Nocturna (Nocturnal Light), by Kim Torres is also included in the official Cannes selection. In fact, it even aspires to the Palme d’Or. But it is a short film, a section in which two Latin American productions have won the award so far this century: the Colombian Leidy, by Simón Mesa Soto, in 2014, and the Mexican Ver Llover (See Rain), by Elisa Miller, in 2006. Out of competition, the Mexican short film La colmena (The Hive) will also be screened, focusing on the insecurity that reigned at the University of Guanajuato from 2015 to 2019.

More striking will be the presence of Tom Cruise on the Croisette as part of the world tour promoting Top Gun: Maverick, his return to the franchise that saw him become a movie star; and also out of competition, but ready to heat up the Cannes red carpet, will be the world premiere of Elvis, by the Golden Globe nominee Baz Luhrmann; or another movie with a musical theme but, as a documentary – Jerry Lee Lewis, Trouble in Mind, by Golden Globe winner Ethan Coen.

The Cannes Festival shares with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) the love for the restoration of film classics, sometimes working on joint projects. That is why it is pleasing to see such an important title for Ibero-American cinema as Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol (1964), by the Brazilian Glauber Rocha, in this edition of the Cannes Classic section dedicated to keeping alive the great works of the great authors who are part of the world cinema heritage. In this section, it will also be seen the Argentine film Tres en la deriva del acto creativo (Three in the drift of the creative act) (2021), by Fernando ‘Pino’ Solanas, a recently deceased filmmaker who had a close relationship with the festival. His family as well as Glauber Rocha’s will be at the event.

This section also includes another documentary, directed by the Spaniard José Luis López-Linares with Goya, el ojo que escucha (Goya, the eye that listens). The documentary focuses on the figure of Jean-Claude Carriere, the French screenwriter known for his work with Luís Buñuel, in what would be his last trip to Spain to admire the work of his favorite artist.

But this co-production is not the only Spanish film in Cannes – El agua, by Elena López Riera, will also be seen, competing in the well-known Directors’ Fortnight sidebar while Rodrigo Sorogoyen, one of the most present directors in current Spanish audiovisual, will premiere out of competition his latest feature film, As bestas.

Of all of them, a Mexican and a Spanish could win the Palme d’Or for best feature film, but for their partnership in international works.  One, the producer Julio Chavezmontes, who will attend the Cannes Film Festival for the third year, this time to present the co-production Triangle of Sadness, by Swedish director Ruben Östlund, winner of the award in 2017 with The Square, a film with which the director also sought to get his second Golden Globe. And in the Catalan director Albert Serra, the filmmaker born in Girona, competing in the official section as the director of the French co-production Pacifiction.

Translation: Mario Amaya