The Man Who Killed Don Quixote will close the… | Little White Lies

Festivals

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote will close the 71st Cannes Film Festival

19 Apr 2018

Words by Adam Woodward

Two men in historical costumes on horseback, one wearing a leather jacket and scarf, the other in armour and a helmet, against a backdrop of trees and buildings.
Two men in historical costumes on horseback, one wearing a leather jacket and scarf, the other in armour and a helmet, against a backdrop of trees and buildings.
Ter­ry Gilliam’s epic pas­sion project is set to receive its world pre­mière on 19 May.

This year’s Cannes is shap­ing up to be a fes­ti­val full of sur­pris­es. The bulk of the Offi­cial Selec­tion, which was announced last week, is notable more for the high-pro­file absen­tees than for the still impres­sive list of names who man­aged to sub­mit their final cuts in time. (For our mon­ey the 50th Direc­tors’ Fort­night is where it’s at.) Not to be out­done, how­ev­er, Fes­ti­val Pres­i­dent Pierre Les­cure has con­firmed that con­tro­ver­sial Dan­ish direc­tor Lars von Tri­er, win­ner of the Palme d’Or in 2000, will be made per­sona gra­ta this year – his new film The House That Jack Built, star­ring Uma Thur­man and Matt Dil­lon, will screen Out of Competition.

Even more excit­ing­ly, Ter­ry Gilliam’s long-ges­tat­ing pas­sion project The Man Who Killed Don Quixote has been announced as the Clos­ing Film, though it’s per­haps telling that the film’s pre­mière coin­cides with its French the­atri­cal release. Will the epic wait have been worth it? Or will it be a lemon? We’ll find out on Sat­ur­day 19 May.

Get more Lit­tle White Lies

Else­where there’s a Com­pe­ti­tion slot for Cannes reg­u­lar and pre­vi­ous Palme win­ner Nuri Bilge Cey­lan, whose The Wild Pear Tree is joined by Knife + Heart by French film­mak­er Yann Gon­za­lez and Ayka from the Tul­pan direc­tor Kaza­kh Sergey Dvort­sevoy, win­ner of the 2008 Un Cer­tain Regard prize. Last­ly, Kevin Macdonald’s Whit­ney Hous­ton doc­u­men­tary, sim­ply titled Whit­ney, is one of two new Mid­night Screen­ings along with Ramin Bahrani’s HBO-backed Fahren­heit 451, star­ring Sofia Boutel­la, Michael B Jor­dan and Michael Shannon.

Check out the rest of this year’s Cannes line-up here.

You might like

Collage depicting crowd crossing street, person standing in large tent, clouds and sky in background, bold colours and geometric shapes.
Festivals

Time in the Flesh: A Queer East Correspondence

by Jae Huang, Soumya Sharma

In col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Queer East Film Fes­ti­val, our final pair from this year’s Emerg­ing Crit­ics pro­gramme reflect on their experience.
Two people in casual clothes, one wearing a red top, chatting outdoors; people sitting at tables indoors, some playing musical instruments.
Festivals

Temporal Sensibilities: Queering timelines and nostalgia

by Yuki Yoshikawa, Pear Nual­lak

In col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Queer East Film Fes­ti­val, our sec­ond pair from the Emerg­ing Crit­ics cohort offer their thoughts on this year’s programme.
A collage of scenes from a film, including a man in traditional Japanese dress, a woman in a revealing dress, and various other characters in action.
Festivals

This Must Be the Place: A Queer East Correspondence

by Qinghan Chen, Lydia Leung

In col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Queer East Film Fes­ti­val, this year’s Emerg­ing Crit­ics cohort offer their respons­es to the film programme.
A group of young people sitting on benches, with one person speaking into a microphone in front of them. The scene is set against a backdrop of colourful graffiti-covered walls.
Festivals

A new film festival aims to build a community for filmmakers

by Thomas Boyd

Launch­ing in July, Col­lec­tive Film Fes­ti­val Lon­don will offer a vari­ety of inclu­sive, inter­na­tion­al film screen­ings along­side mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary, DIY workshops.
Three adults in dark leather jackets standing in a dimly lit room, one woman and two men
Festivals

What to watch at the first ever SXSW London festival

We delve into the juicy screen offer­ings that are com­ing to the cap­i­tal this June, from pre­mieres to indus­try pan­els and more.
A woman with long, pink hair and eyes closed, appearing pensive or thoughtful.
Festivals

Challenging representation and centring trans community and craft at TITE 2025

by Eli Cugini

The first edi­tion of the Trans Image / Trans Expe­ri­ence Fes­ti­val (TITE) in Dublin show­cas­es the mul­ti­tudes con­tained in the trans com­mu­ni­ty while pro­vid­ing a vital sense of safe­ty at a time of soci­etal hostility.