Rather than a crystal ball, it’s a time machine one would need to truly guess what films will be part of the selection of the 76th Cannes Film Festival (from 16 to 27 May), seven days from the Paris press conference for the Official Selection where Thierry Frémaux will climb into the ring (accompanied by new president Iris Knobloch – read the news) to unveil his picks.

The teams of selectors on the Croisette indeed still have many films to watch and many contenders are still awaiting a response. However, beyond the titles previously announced (Jeanne du Barry [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] from France’s Maiwenn as opener – read the article –, Killers of the Flower Moon by American director Martin Scorsese – read the news – and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny by James Mangold), a few favourites stand out. We survey the main tendencies, rumours, probabilities and hypotheses on the horizon.

In official competition, jury president Ruben Östlund (news) could discover About Dry Grasses [+lee también:
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entrevista: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
ficha de la película] by Turkey’s Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Monster by Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, La Chimera [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Italy’s Alice Rohrwacher, The Old Oak [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by British director Ken Loach, Il sol dell’avvenire [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti, Fallen Leaves [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Finland’s Aki Kaurismäki, Club Zero [+lee también:
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entrevista: Jessica Hausner
ficha de la película] by Austria’s Jessica Hausner, Poor Things [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos and, from the United States, The Holdovers by Alexander Payne, Asteroid City by Wes Anderson, May December by Todd Haynes and The Bikeriders by Jeff Nichols. Among other potential titles, the most likely are The New Boy by Australian filmmaker Warwick Thornton, The Perfumed Hill by Mauritania’s Abderrahmane Sissako, Cerrar los ojos [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Spain’s Victor Erice and Enterre seus mortos by Brazil’s Marco Dutra. Argentina also features as an outsider, with Eureka [+lee también:
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entrevista: Lisandro Alonso
ficha de la película] by Lisandro Alonso and Puan from the duo Maria Alche-Benjamin Naishtat while a great mystery surrounds Io Capitano [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Italy’s Matteo Garrone (news). Finally, French films whose fate is traditionally decided only on the night before the press conference, Anatomy of a Fall [+lee también:
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entrevista: Justine Triet
ficha de la película] by Justine Triet is a favourite, before The Beast by Bertrand Bonello and Just The Two of Us [+lee también:
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entrevista: Valérie Donzelli
ficha de la película] by Valérie Donzelli, and a small pack comprising Red Island [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Robin Campillo, Last Summer [+lee también:
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entrevista: Catherine Breillat
ficha de la película] by Catherine Breillat, Along Came Love [+lee también:
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entrevista: Katell Quillévéré
ficha de la película] by Katell Quillevéré and, as a wild card, Salem [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Jean-Bernard Marlin (a last minute candidate). However, it is possible that Thierry Frémaux will be tempted to do a bit of spring cleaning and upset part of the predictions for the race to the 2023 Palme d’Or. Story to be continued, especially as the code of silence seems to be better enforced than ever as the quality of this year’s edition is extremely promising.

Previsions are all  the harder to make since the Directors' Fortnight (and its new general delegate - news) has chosen a wait-and-see attitude regarding invitations and rejections, with only small clues about its editorial line filtering through (more attention to direction than to topics). Critics' Week, meanwhile, is fully in tune with the game typical of the Croisette, where the final stretch is often a chance for the Official Selection to take its pick from the feature films appreciated by the parallel sections. A whole array of films therefore reverberates from one end of the Croisette to the other, including Omen [+lee también:
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entrevista: Baloji
ficha de la película] from Belgian filmmaker of Congolese origins Baloji, animated film Robot Dreams [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Spain’s Pablo Berger, La Cocina by Mexico’s Alonso Ruizpalacios, Tiger Stripes [+lee también:
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entrevista: Amanda Nell Eu
ficha de la película] by Malaisia’s Amanda Nell Eu, Los Colonos (The Settlers) [+lee también:
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entrevista: Felipe Gálvez
ficha de la película] by Chilean director Felipe Gálvez, Nobody Likes Me by Czech filmmakers Tomás Weinreb and Petr Kazda (news), Xue Bao by Tibet’s Pema Tseden, MMXX by Romania’s Cristi Puiu, Sans cœur by Brazilian directors Tião and Nara Normande, Solitude by Iceland’s Ninna Pálmadóttir, Some Rain Must Fall by Chinese director Qiu Yang and a film from fellow Chinese filmmaker Wei Shujun, Zé by Mongolia’s Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir (aka Dulmaa), a film by Canada’s Caitlin Cronenberg and Drag by Canada’s Sophie Dupuis, Passage by Sweden’s Levan Akin, (Ex)perience of Love [+lee también:
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entrevista: Ann Sirot & Raphael Balboni
ficha de la película] by Belgian duo Ann Sirot - Raphaël Balboni, Ebba by Finnish-Swedish director Johanna Pyykkö, Handling the Unded by Norway’s Thea Hvistendahl, Hesitation Wound by Turkish filmmaker Selman Nacar, Banel & Adama [+lee también:
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entrevista: Ramata-Toulaye Sy
ficha de la película] by Senegalese-French director Ramata-Toulaye Sy, In Flames by Canadian-Pakistanese filmmaker Zarrar Kahn, Amanhã sera outro dia by Portugal’s Pedro Pinho and L’or et le monde by Portugal’s Ico Costa, The Devil’s Bath by Austria’s Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, a film from American filmmaker Zia Anger, Lost Country [+lee también:
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entrevista: Vladimir Perišić
ficha de la película] by Serbia’s Vladimir Perisic, Jepotá by Brazil’s Carlos Papá Guarani and Augusto Canani, La bella estate by Italy’s Laura Luchetti (news) and Basileia by Italy’s Isabella Torre, Motherhood by Tunisia’s Meryam Joobeur and Floating In A Vacuum by Tunisia’s Mohamed Ben Attia.

Among potential French titles are Ama Gloria [+lee también:
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entrevista: Marie Amachoukeli
ficha de la película] by Marie Amachoukeli-Barsacq, La Vénus d’argent by Helena Klotz (news), Borgo by Stéphane Demoustier, Bitten [+lee también:
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entrevista: Romain de Saint-Blanquat
ficha de la película] by Romain de Saint-Blanquat (news), Vincent Must Die [+lee también:
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entrevista: Stéphan Castang
ficha de la película] by Stéphane Castang, A Wonderful Girl [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Marie Garel-Weiss, Pendant ce temps sur la Terre by Jérémy Clapin (news), Le dernier des Juifs by Noé Debré (news), Avant que les flammes ne s’éteignent by Mehdi Fikri (news), Keeping Mum [+lee también:
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entrevista: Emilie Brisavoine
ficha de la película] by Émilie Brisavoine, Toni by Nathan Ambrosioni and HLM Pussy by Nora El Hourch (news). Other potential attractions: Party of Fools by Arnaud des Pallières (news), Un métier sérieux by Thomas Lilti (news), Une année difficile by Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, Daaaaaali ! by Quentin Dupieux (news), Conan la Barbare by Bertrand Mandico, Le procès Goldman [+lee también:
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entrevista: Cédric Kahn
ficha de la película] by Cédric Kahn, Le Règne animal [+lee también:
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entrevista: Thomas Cailley
ficha de la película] by Thomas Cailley and Les Fainéants by Karim Dridi.

Finally, emerging among the possible documentary titles are Le Retour by Mati Diop, Ricardo and Painting [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Barbet Schroeder, the documentary-fiction hybrid Four Daughters [+lee también:
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entrevista: Kaouther Ben Hania
ficha de la película] by Tunisia’s Kaouther Ben Hania and Room 999 by Lubna Playoust.

The die is cast, and light will be shed on the gems of Cannes 2023 during the press conferences of April 13 (when Thierry Frémaux plans to reveal 80% of his Official Selection), 17 and 18.