04 · 23 · 15

Michel Franco: The Other Mexican in Cannes 2015

The 68th Cannes Film Festival has added seven titles to its Official Selection: two in the Official Competition and five in the Un Certain Regard section. We are extremely proud to announce that the extraordinary Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco will participate in the Official Competition with his new film Chronic. Congratulations!

This is the third time that Michel Franco will participate at Cannes: in 2009 his first feature film Daniel y Ana / Daniel and Ana was screened as part of the Director’s Fortnight, and in 2012 the filmmaker won the prize for Best Film in the Un Certain Regard section with Después de Lucia / After Lucia. Now, with the inclusion of Chronic in the Official Competition, Michel Franco will once again bring Mexican cinema to play on an international level.

Michel Franco has had a long career at FICM, and we are delighted by his continued success. Franco’s short film El soldado (2001) participated in the “Jornadas de Cortometraje Mexicano” at the Cineteca Nacional, a project founded by Daniela Michel - founder and Director of FICM – and Enrique Ortega. Franco’s seventh short film, Entre dos (2003), participated in the first edition of FICM that year. His first feature film Daniel y Ana, was presented as a Special Screening at the 7th edition of FICM. In 2012, Franco received the Premio Tradicional at the 10th FICM, and a year later he participated in the Official Competition at the 11th edition of the festival with A los ojos, co-directed with his sister Victoria Franco.

With the addition of Chronic to the program of the 68th Cannes Film Festival, Mexican cinema has become the key representative of Latin American Cinema in the competition – with Michel Franco in the Official Selection, and David Pablos, director of Las elegidas / The Chosen Ones, in the Official Selection - Un Certain Regard section.

Below we present a list of the films that were recently added to the Cannes program:

Official Selection

- Chronic, by Michel Franco – Mexico

- Valley of Love, by Guillaume Nicloux – France

Un Certain Regard

- Alias Maria, by José Luis Rugeles Gracias – Colombia

- Taklub, by Brillante Mendoza – The Philippines

- Lamb, by Yared Zeleke – the first Ethiopian film ever to compete at Cannes

- Cemetery of Splendour, by Apichatpong Weerasethakul – Thailand

- AN, by Naomi Kawase (the opening film for the Un Certain Regard section) – Japan

Special Screenings

- Une histoire de fou / Don’t Tell Me the Boy Was Mad, by Robert Guédiguian – France

Midnight Screening

- Love, by Gaspar Noé – France

For more information, visit: www.festival-cannes.com