Ten years after making his Cannes debut with Masaan, filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan is headed back to the Croisette. His new film Homebound has been officially selected for the prestigious Un Certain Regard section at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
Un Certain Regard — a category that spotlights daring, innovative films and celebrates promising first-and-second-time filmmakers — served as Ghaywan’s launchpad in 2015 when Masaan earned him the Promising Future Prize and the FIPRESCI Award.
Masaan, a poignant portrait of four intertwined lives in a small-town in India, resonated globally for its emotional depth.
With Homebound, Ghaywan is poised to take his empathetic storytelling on the world stage once more.
Ghaywan’s Cannes selection comes a year after Payal Kapadia’s debut feature film, All We Imagine As Light, won the Grand Prix at the 2024 edition of the festival. Kolkata-born actress Anasuya Sengupta scripted history by bagging the best actress award in the Un Certain Regard section for The Shameless last year.
This year’s Un Certain Regard slate is brimming with star-studded debuts. Scarlett Johansson will present her first film as a director, Eleanor the Great, which follows a 90-year-old Floridian embarking on a new life in New York. British actor Harris Dickinson also wears the director’s hat for Urchin, a gritty London-set drama starring Frank Dillane.
The competition for the Palme d’Or also boasts an impressive roster. Acclaimed auteurs Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Ari Aster, Julia Ducournau, and Kelly Reichardt are all vying for the top prize. Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme is expected to be a major highlight, featuring an ensemble cast including Benicio del Toro, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Tom Hanks.
Aster’s Eddington, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal, and Austin Butler, promises a surreal cinematic spectacle. Josh O’Connor is leading two films in competition: Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind and Oliver Hermanus’ The History of Sound. Hollywood royalty Jodie Foster will present Rebecca Zlotowski’s thriller Vie Privée.
Tom Cruise will also make a return to Cannes with the screening of Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.
Artistic director Thierry Frémaux and festival president Iris Knobloch, while revealing the lineup earlier today, said that this year saw a record-breaking 2,909 submissions.
To be held from May 13-24, this year’s edition of the Cannes Film Festival will open with Amélie Bonnin’s Leave One Day. French icon Juliette Binoche will preside over the main competition jury. Legendary actor Robert De Niro will receive the honorary Palme d’Or this year.