FROM the here and now to a galaxy far far away, there’s something for everyone at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. Here are 10 films sure to make waves for at this year’s event, which starts Tuesday and runs until May 19. Everybody Knows Secrets come home to roost in this year’s festival opener, directed by Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi. Penelope Cruz, recently seen as Donatella Versace in “American Crime Story,” plays a Spaniard living in Buenos Aires who returns to her hometown outside Madrid with her Argentine husband and children. What was meant to be a brief visit is upset by unexpected events that change all their lives. BlacKkKlansman Cannes has been kind to Spike Lee in the past, giving him awards for his 1986 debut “She’s Gotta Have It” and his 1991 interracial romance “Jungle Fever.” The director is up for the highest prize this year with “BlacKkKlansman,” which tells the true story of an African American police detective in Colorado Springs who infiltrates the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Under the Silver Lake U.S. filmmaker David Robert Mitchell made a big impression at Cannes four years ago with “It Follows,” a creepy low-budget horror about a teenage girl relentlessly pursued by a shape-shifting stalker. His follow-up feature stars Andrew Garfield as an aimless Los Angeleno who turns detective when his neighbor goes missing. A psychedelic mystery ensues as Garfield’s Sam becomes obsessed with urban myths, secret codes and subliminal signs. Cold War “Cold War” by U.K.-based Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski is a love story set in Europe in the 1950s between two people from very different backgrounds. Central to its storyline is Mazowsze, a popular Polish folk music and dance group set up in 1948. “Cold War” is Pawlikowski’s first feature since his religious drama “Ida,” which won the best foreign film Bafta in 2015. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote This year’s festival will end with the world premiere of Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote film — or at least that’s the plan. One of the film’s former producers is trying to halt the screening, claiming it can’t go ahead without his permission. A previous attempt to make the film collapsed in 2000, a calamity charted in the 2002 documentary “Lost in La Mancha.” But Gilliam pressed on and finally managed to complete the film, in which Jonathan Pryce and Adam Driver play contemporary versions of Cervantes’ Don Quixote and Sancho Panza characters. Solo: A Star Wars Story The heaviest hitter at this year’s festival is the latest blockbuster from the Star Wars universe, a prequel charting the early days of space pirate Han Solo. Alden Ehrenreich plays Solo in Ron Howard’s film, which also stars Donald Glover, from TV’s Atlanta, as the young Lando Calrissian. The House That Jack Built Set in the United States over a 12-year period, “The House That Jack Built” is directed by Lars von Trier and stars Matt Dillon as a highly intelligent serial killer who sees his murders as works of art. Uma Thurman, Bruno Ganz and Sofie Grabol also appear in what is sure to be one of the festival’s most talked-about (and grisliest) titles. Fahrenheit 451 Michael B Jordan and Michael Shannon star in the latest film version of the late Ray Bradbury’s classic dystopian novel. Jordan, recently seen in “Black Panther,” is Guy Montag, a futuristic fireman who starts to question why his job demands that he burns all books. Director Ramin Bahrani previously worked with Shannon on “99 Homes,” a 2014 film about rapacious real estate brokers. Whitney The tragic life and roller-coaster career of Whitney Houston has already inspired one British documentary maker to tell her story. However Kevin Macdonald’s film has the backing of the late singer’s family. The official endorsement gave Macdonald access to previously unreleased recordings, unseen home movie footage and rare live performances. Pope Francis: A Man of His Word German director Wim Wenders was given unprecedented access to the Pope over the two years it took to produce what is described as more of “a personal journey” than a biographical documentary. The result is a film whose exploration of the pontiff’s ideas and message guarantees it a five-star rave in the Vatican’s in-house newspaper. (SD-Agencies)
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