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Cannes: THR’s Chief Film Critic’s Top 10 Must-See Competition Titles

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All of a Sudden
Japan’s Ryusuke Hamaguchi dazzled Cannes in 2021 with his symphonic meditation on grief, regret and human connection, Drive My Car, which went on to receive four Oscar nominations, winning for best international film. His French-language debut casts Virginie Efira as the director of a nursing home in the Paris suburbs, who adopts the compassion-based “Humanitude” treatment method with her patients despite discord among her team. Her life changes when she meets a terminally ill Japanese playwright played by Tao Okamoto. The two women develop a spiritual bond as they fight together to overcome systemic constraints and transform the care facility into a symbol of resistance.

‘All of a Sudden’

Cannes Film Festival

Coward
After kickstarting his career with Girl and Close, two intimate contemporary queer stories that both took home awards from Cannes, Lukas Dhont tackles his first period drama and his most ambitious project to date. Described by the Belgian director as “a film about love and death, creation and destruction,” it’s set on the frontlines of World War I. A newly arrived soldier eager to prove his valor meets a comrade who decides to lift the company’s spirits by putting on a theatrical show behind the trenches. In an atmosphere of violence and brutality, the two men find ways to escape, even if only momentarily. Newcomers Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne head the cast.

‘Coward’

Cannes Film Festival

Fatherland
In what is becoming a major year for Sandra Hüller — a blockbuster hit with Project Hail Mary; a Berlin best actress win for her gender-switch role in Rose; Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Tom Cruise-led Digger coming in the fall — the brilliant German actress joins Hanns Zischler and August Diehl in Polish director Paweł Pawlikowski’s continuing exploration of post-WWII Europe. Following Ida and Cold War, and again shot in richly textured black and white, the new drama accompanies Thomas Mann and his daughter on a road trip across a Germany in ruins, marking the Nobel Prize-winning author’s first time back in the Fatherland since fleeing to safety in the U.S. during the war. 

‘Fatherland’

Cannes Film Festival

Fjord
One of the major figures to come out of the Romanian New Wave of the mid-2000s, Christian Mungiu won the Palme d’Or in 2007 for his breathless abortion drama, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days. His new film promises to be another provocative piece of social realism in the director’s customarily rigorous style. Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve play a Romanian-Norwegian couple who relocate with their kids to the mother’s birthplace in remote Norway. They form close friendships with a neighboring family but face severe scrutiny and legal entanglement when suspicions of child abuse arise. Mungiu reportedly drew inspiration from real-life stories relating to Norway’s controversial child protection system and its family investigations.

Hope
Ten years after launching his cult horror hit The Wailing in Cannes, Na Hong-jin returns with this large-scale science fiction thriller, reportedly the most expensive Korean film ever made. It’s set in the remote village of Hope Harbor, near the Demilitarized Zone, where alarmed locals alert the outpost police chief to sightings of a tiger on the outskirts of town. As the village erupts into full-scale panic, the emergency evolves into a darker mystery, forcing the cop to confront a seemingly impossible reality. Alongside the Korean principals, Taylor Russell, Cameron Britton, Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender also appear.

Paper Tiger
It’s a sore point among many admirers of James Gray’s work that despite five previous competition entries, the writer-director has never won a major award in Cannes. Perhaps his sixth contender will change that. Miles Teller, Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver star in the gritty 1980s-set drama about two brothers chasing the American Dream, who find their mutual loyalties tested as they navigate a dangerous world of corruption and violence, leading to the terrorization of their family by the Russian mob. While not strictly a sequel, the film is a continuation of sorts to Gray’s last competition entry, the maddeningly under-appreciated 2022 drama Armageddon Time.

Parallel Tales
Two-time Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi assembles a deluxe cast for his second French-language film (following 2013’s The Past), including Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney, Adam Bessa and Catherine Deneuve. Loosely based on the sixth chapter of Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Dekalog series, which was extended to feature length as A Short Film About Love, the film is set in Paris and follows a novelist seeking inspiration for her new book. She begins spying on her neighbors across the street, which has enexpected consequences when fiction draws from real life but also starts to influence reality. 

‘Parallel Tales’

Cannes Film Festival

Sheep in the Box
A Palme d’Or winner in 2018 for Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda returns to the competition with an idiosyncratic take on the relationship between humanity and AI in this sci-fi-adjacent drama. The Japanese auteur reflects on parenthood and childhood, loss and grief, the meaning of life and death through the story of a couple mourning the loss of their son when a mysterious package arrives, inviting them to participate in a new program designed to resurrect deceased loved ones as robotic clones. While the wife embraces their animatronic offspring, her husband keeps a wary distance, unconvinced that the android has any connection to their boy. 

The Unknown
Arthur Harari shared an original screenplay Oscar in 2024 with director and co-writer Justine Triet for Anatomy of a Fall. His new film casts Niels Schneider as a man nearing 40, who keeps his life and his pursuits as a photographer to himself. When he’s reluctantly dragged by friends to a wild party, he is unable to take his eyes off a woman in the crowd, eventually following her. A few hours later, he wakes up in the body of the unknown woman. That role is played by the busy Léa Seydoux, who also stars in Marie Kreutzer’s competition entry, Gentle Monster.

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‘Icebreaker’ TV Show Adaptation News & Updates: Everything We Know

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Another hockey book adaptation has entered the chat.

Netflix is currently building out its cast for the series adaptation of Hannah Grace’s Icebreaker book that kicks off the Maple Hill series. This in addition to their show The Sticks that is also currently in the works.

For everything we know about Netflix’s Icebreaker book adaptation so far, read on.

When will Netflix’s Icebreaker series adaptation come out?

A release date has not yet been set. The show has begun to assemble its cast.

Who will lead the Icebreaker show at Netflix?

Daisy Jelley (Poser, How To Have Sex) will portray Anastasia “Stassie” Allen, and Connor Simos (Subversion) will portray Nate Hawkins in the college hockey drama series.

Who else is in the cast of Netflix’s Icebreaker adaptation?

Gabriel Tierney (Rivals, Enola Holmes 2), Auliʻi Cravalho (Moana), newcomer and professional athlete Peter Berry, Chaneil Kular (Best of the Best, Sex Education), Devin Craig (Sex Lives of College Girls, Maize) and Aidan Shaw (We Were Liars, Heated Rivalry, Finding Her Edge) have joined the ensemble cast.

Tierney will play Aaron; Cravalho will portray Lola; Berry is Robbie; Kular will play JJ; Craig will portray Henry and Shaw is Russ.

What is Hannah Grace’s Icebreaker book about?

Stassie is a transfer athlete gunning for Olympic gold. Nate is the campus star chasing the NHL. When an accident forces their teams to share one rink, Anastasia Allen and Nate Hawkins collide—and discipline gives way to obsession, because the only thing more dangerous than wanting to win is wanting each other.

Who else is behind Netflix’s Icebreaker series?

Jade Halley Bartlett (Road House, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Miller’s Girl) created and executive produced the series. Amanda Lasher (Gossip Girl, The Bold Type, Togetherness) serves as showrunner, writer and excutive producer. Grace also executive produces along with Alex Cooper, Matt Kaplan and Mina Lefevre for Cooper’s Unwell Productions.

RELATED: ‘The Sticks’: Scott Bakula, Logan Marshall-Green & More Cast Confirmed; First Look At Netflix YA Hockey Drama Starring Michelle Monaghan

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Cindy Holland Leaving Paramount Ahead Of WBD Merger

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One of the biggest executive questions about Paramount following its pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery — who will lead streaming — may have been answered.

Cindy Holland is leaving Paramount where she was Chairman of Direct-To-Consumer since the Skydance-Paramount merger having served as an advisor to Skydance CEO David Ellison prior to that. She announced her departure in a company memo, which you can read below.

The move leaves HBO’s Casey Bloys as the likely streaming head of the combined Paramount-WBD.

“Cindy is one of the most exceptional executives in our industry — a force of nature whose impact on Paramount over the past year has been significant,” Paramount CEO David Ellison said. “Under her leadership, P+ reached new heights, Pluto TV underwent its most significant transformation in a decade, and we strengthened our content and sports portfolio – all while the business exceeded the ambitious goals we set. Just as importantly, she built an exceptional team and a strong foundation for the future. Cindy has been a trusted partner to me and so many others, and I couldn’t be more grateful for her leadership, her relentless drive and everything she’s done for our company.”

Here is Holland’s memo:

When I joined David’s team in January 2025, we proceeded to set three goals: i) advise on the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition, ii) integrate and transform Paramount+ & revive Pluto TV, and iii) build an unparalleled team in this industry. In just over 12 months, I’m proud to say we accomplished all three and it’s been a joy to work closely with all of you.
Together with the Product team, we drove significant strategic and organizational change across DTC — building a new foundation for growth on both services, while investing in greater depth and breadth of programming and delivering strong revenue, profit, and subscriber growth for the division.
As David readies for the next phase of his vision, we’ve discussed my role and the future of the combined businesses. David is optimizing for HBO stability as we move into this next chapter, and I fully support that. I know this team has the leadership and expertise to manage through the transition and the next phase of the company, and to this end today will mark my last day here.
As I reflect on my time here and all that we’ve built together in this short time, what stands out most to me is this team. I have never been more proud of a group of people. What we’ve accomplished together is remarkable — landing quarter after quarter while navigating extraordinary uncertainty and change with resilience, focus and ambition. We grew Paramount+ to an all-time subscriber high, delivered the best retention in the service’s history, and drove double-digit growth in both engagement and revenue. We built an extraordinary content pipeline, greenlighting more than 40 new and returning series and setting all-time records with Landman, the most-watched series in Paramount+ history, and Dutton Ranch, the service’s biggest original series debut ever. We transformed live sports into a powerful streaming growth engine, securing landmark agreements with UFC and Zuffa Boxing and expanding our WNBA and UEFA Champions League rights – with UFC Freedom 250 becoming the largest-ever audience for an exclusive live event on Paramount+ and UFC 329 setting a new platform record for peak concurrent streams for an exclusive live event. And we undertook Pluto TV’s biggest product transformation in a decade, dramatically increasing registered viewing and VOD consumption while delivering strong financial performance across the business. These are extraordinary accomplishments – but what makes me proudest is how we achieved them: together, with an unwavering commitment to our audiences, our creative partners and one another.
I joined Paramount because I believe in these businesses, and because I believe wholeheartedly that the combination of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery serves the best interests of artists and audiences worldwide. I’m looking forward to seeing what you all accomplish together in this next, momentous chapter.
Cindy

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New ‘South Park’ Takes On Data Centers And The Billionaires Who Build Them

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While President Trump was holding a press conference at the White House this morning and extolling the AI-related work of Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, a promo for tomorrow night’s South Park episode dropped. It was less salutary.

Here’s the logline for Episode 6 of Season 29: “Butters is unhappy with the data centers that the billionaires are building in our backyards.”

The clip opens with an X-Pest exterminator guy ringing the doorbell at Butters’ home.

“I understand you’ve got some billionaires in your back yard,” he says.

“Yeah, there’s more of these stupid billionaires every day!” replies Butters.

The first image from the episode (see it above) shows Butters in what appears to be his back yard with the X-Pest exterminator guy, who has strapped on his tank of poison and has his sprayer wand at the ready.

The topic of data centers is a hot one across the country and especially in Hollywood, where unions and workers worry about job displacement and writers and directors express concern over what it might do to their art.

Among the biggest players in the data center land rush is, of course, Oracle CEO and Paramount-WBD deal financier Larry Ellison. South Park airs on Comedy Central, which is owned by Paramount. As in the past, the show’s creators are seemingly not afraid to bite the hand that feeds them.

Mark Ruffalo and others have decried the introduction of “really profoundly scary technology” into Hollywood and how AI might impact media outlets soon to be owned by Ellison and his son David.

“Larry is a classic Oligarch,” wrote Ruffalo. “They are crushing workers and consolidating the wealth of the world for their own power and concentrated dominance.”

Paramount, for its part, responded by accusing Ruffalo of using “antisemitic tropes” in his argument, especially when linking the Ellisons’ studio acquisition to Oracle’s work with the Israeli military.

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