2016 Cannes Film Festival Unveils Directors’ Fortnight Picks, Including New Films From Paul Schrader and Laura Poitras

The 48th annual edition of the Cannes Film Festival’s lauded Directors’ Fortnight section announced its picks this morning and, as ever, it includes a hefty number of new works from rising stars, festival favorites already garnering serious acclaim and some of the most buzzed-about international offerings on the circuit. The section is a non-competitive sidebar, but members of the Société des Réalisateurs Français, which organizes the event, do dole out honors. Last year’s winners included “My Golden Days,” “Mustang” and “Embrace of the Serpent.”

The 2016 list includes news films from Oscar nominee Laura Poitras, Chile’s beloved auteur Pablo Larraín and Paul Schrader, who will debut his Nicolas Cage-starrig actioner in the section. Other standouts include Sébastien Lifshitz’s “Therese,” Nathan Morlando’s “Mean Dreams” and the latest from Alejandro Jodorowsky, “Endless Poetry.” There’s even a stop-motion film about an abused zucchini (“My Life as a Courgette,” obviously).

Check out the full lineup below.

“Sweet Dreams,” directed by Marco Bellocchio (Opening Night Film)
“L’economie du couple,” directed by Joachim Lafosse
“The Aquatic Effect,” directed by Sólveig Anspach
“Like Crazy,” directed by Paolo Virzi
“Mercenaire,” directed by Sacha Wolff
“My Life as a Courgette,” directed by Claude Barras
“Neruda,” directed by Pablo Larraín
“Raman Raghav 2.0,” directed by Anurag Kashyap
“Tour de France,” directed by Rachid Djaidani
“Risk,” directed by Laura Poitras
“Two Lovers and a Bear,” directed by Kim Nguyen
“Therese,” directed by Sébastien Lifshitz
“Wolf and Sheep,” directed by Shahrbanoo Sadat
“Mean Dreams,” directed by Nathan Morlando
“Endless Poetry,” directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky
“Fiore,” directed by Claudio Giovannesi
“Divines,” directed by Houda Benyamina
“Dog Eat Dog,” directed by Paul Schrader (Closing Night Film)