Attendees of the 78th Cannes Film Festival are still anxiously awaiting the official schedule rollout (it’s supposed to happen any day now), but they were treated to more films added to the lineup Thursday morning. The latest additions complete the official selections for 2025, with the festival kicking off Tuesday, May 13 with “Leave One Day” by Amélie Bonnin, as previously announced.
There’s been much speculation as to whether or when Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan‘s (“Long Day’s Journey Into Night”) “Resurrection” would make the cut. It was long pegged as a shoo-in for Cannes (including on IndieWire’s own wish list), while reports said the sci-fi epic was racing to the finish. Last week, a placeholder for the film on the official Cannes website was leaked online and distributed across the social media platform X.
Thierry Frémaux and his programming team finally added “Resurrection,” which will vie in the official competition alongside films like Lynne Ramsay’s “Die, My Love,” Wes Anderson’s “The Phoenician Scheme,” and Ari Aster’s “Eddington.” This brings the competition total to 22 films.
Bi’s film stars Taiwanese-Hong Kong film legend Shu Qi as a woman who, in a post-apocalyptic far future, undergoes a brain surgery that acquaints her with an android whom she begins to develop feelings for. Bi’s 2018 “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” incorporated 3D camerawork in its final stretch, and it world-premiered in Un Certain Regard. “Resurrection” looks to be another ambitious epic that spans genres and filmmaking modes.
Also added to the lineup as a special screening is Eugene Jarecki’s documentary “The Six Billion Dollar Man.” It was pulled from Sundance earlier this year due to “unexpected developments” in the story in its portrait of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange facing a possible 175 years in prison for exposing U.S. war crimes.
Other additions out of competition include Martin Bourboulon’s “13 Jours, 13 Nuits,” an epic about the evacuation of 600 people out of the French embassy during the Taliban takeover of Kabul. Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret’s “Ma Frére,” about childhood friends in a working-class Paris neighborhood, was added in the Cannes Premiere section.
Cannes brass says the schedule will be unveiled on Thursday.
