Asghar Farhadi’s Everybody Knows to open the 71st… | Little White Lies

Festivals

Asghar Farhadi’s Everybody Knows to open the 71st Cannes Film Festival

04 Apr 2018

Words by Hannah Strong

Two people, a man and a woman, standing together in a city street. The man has a beard and the woman has long dark hair. They are both smiling.
Two people, a man and a woman, standing together in a city street. The man has a beard and the woman has long dark hair. They are both smiling.
Everybody Knows is set for the coveted opening slot of the festival on 8 May.

With the 91st Cannes Film Festival now little over a month away, the opening title gracing the French Riviera has been announced as Asghar Farhadi’s Everybody Knows. Starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, the psychological thriller is Farhadi’s follow-up to 2016’s The Salesman, which took home Best Screenplay and Best Actor at Cannes in 2016.

Filmed entirely in Spanish despite Farhadi being unable to speak the language, Everybody Knows is only the second Spanish language film ever to open the festival, following in the footsteps of Pedro Almodóvar’s Bad Education all the way back in 2004. It’s also the first title not directed by a French, American, British or Australian filmmaker to open Cannes since Fernando Meirelles’ Blindness back in 2008.

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Asghar is no stranger to the Croisette, having premiered The Salesman in 2016 and The Past in 2013 – he even appeared during the festival’s opening ceremony last year to heap praise on Cannes’ memorable atmosphere. The rest of the Cannes Competition line-up is expected to be announced at the festival press conference on April 12.

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