#FIRSTLOOK: MUBI CELEBRATES CANNES WITH UPCOMING EXCLUSIVES

To celebrate the upcoming 2023 edition of the Cannes Film Festival, MUBI, the film distributor, production company and global streaming service, presents a special series throughout May focusing on twelve critically acclaimed films from the past 20 years of the festival.

Included in the focus are two MUBI exclusives: Maksym Nakonechnyi’s harrowing drama Butterfly Vision (2022) and Kira Kovalenko’s poignant and daring Unclenching the Fists (2021) which won the Un Certain Regard Award at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.

Further films in the focus include Yorgos Lanthimos’ unsettling drama The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), Karim Aïnouz’s Un Certain Regard winner The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmão, Jessica Hausner’s sci-fi thriller Little Joe (2019), the Taviani’s brothers Palme d’Or winner Padre Padrone (1977) and Radu Jude’s gripping drama The Potemkinists (2022).

The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmão (Karim Aïnouz, 2019) – May 16

Rio de Janeiro, 1950. Euridice and Guida are two inseparable sisters. Each has a dream: becoming a renowned pianist, or finding true love. Because of their father they are forced to live without one another. Separated, they take control of their destiny, while never giving up hope of being reunited.

Butterfly Vision (Maksym Nakonechnyi, 2022) – May 17 | MUBI EXCLUSIVE

After spending months as a prisoner in Donbas, Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance expert Lilia returns home to her family. But the trauma of captivity continues to torment her in dreamlike ways. Something growing deep within Lilia will not allow her to forget, yet she will fight to liberate herself.

The Lunchbox (Ritesh Batra, 2013) – May 18

A mistaken delivery in Mumbai’s famously efficient lunchbox delivery system connects a young housewife to a stranger in the dusk of his life. They build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox. Gradually, this fantasy threatens to overwhelm their reality.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2017) – May 19

Steven, an eminent cardiothoracic surgeon, is married to Anna, an ophthalmologist. They live a healthy family life with their two children.
 Their lives take a darker turn when Martin, a fatherless youth who Steven has covertly taken under his wing, insinuates himself further into the family’s life.

The Blackout (Abel Ferrara, 1997) – May 20

Dumped by his girlfriend (Béatrice Dalle) because of his excesses with alcohol and drugs, Matty (Matthew Modine), a Hollywood actor sick and tired of his life, spends a wild night with his friend Mickey (Dennis Hopper), remembering absolutely nothing the next day. Then nightmares start.

Woman at War (Benedikt Erlingsson, 2018) – May 21

Fifty-year-old Halla seemingly leads a quiet existence. However, she is actually a radical eco-activist who has declared a one-woman-war on the local aluminum industry. In the midst of her environmental crusade, Halla receives the surprising news that her application to adopt a child was approved.

The Skin (Liliana Cavani, 1981) – May 22

The wartime experiences of Curzio Malaparte, who served as the American Commanding General’s Italian liaison during the American liberation of Naples.

Hyenas (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1992) – May 23

Dramaan Drameh is a respected, convivial shopkeeper in the tiny village of Colobane. But a forgotten act of cruelty committed thirty years in his past comes back to haunt him when the young girl he impregnated and abandoned returns seeking revenge.

Padre padrone (Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani, 1977) – May 24

The true story of the life of Gavino Ledda, the son of a Sardinian shepherd, and how he managed to escape his harsh, almost barbaric existence by slowly educating himself, despite violent opposition from his brutal father.

The Potemkinists (Radu Jude, 2022) – May 25 | MUBI EXCLUSIVE

In 1905, the sailors on the battleship Potemkin are given political asylum in Romania – an act of defiance against Russia. In 2021, a sculptor wants to create an artwork inspired by the event.

Unclenching the Fists (Kira Kovalenko, 2021) – May 26 | MUBI EXCLUSIVE

Ada is stuck. Living in a dead-end industrial town in the North Ossetia section of Russia, she is caught in the tight grip of the men in her life. But when her older brother returns home and her domineering father suddenly falls ill, Ada finally sees a possible path to independence.

Little Joe (Jessica Hausner, 2019) – May 27

Single mother Alice is a dedicated plant breeder at a corporation engaged in developing new species. She has engineered a special crimson flower: if kept at the ideal temperature and spoken to regularly, it makes its owner happy. Against company policy, Alice takes one home for her teenage son, Joe.