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Cannes Critics’ Week Unveils 2023 Poster Paying Tribute to 2022 Breakout ‘Aftersun’

Melanie Goodfellow
·2 min read

One of the early signs that the Cannes Film Festival is around the corner is the reveals of the poster for the Official Selection as well as those for the main parallel sections of Cannes Critics’ Week (Semaine de la Critique) and Directors’ Fortnight.

Cannes Critics’ Week is first out the door this year with a poster celebrating Charlotte Wells’s award-winning debut feature Aftersun.

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The drama won the section’s French Touch Prize in 2022 and then enjoyed a buzzy prize-winning run on the international festival circuit.

Co-star Paul Mescal went on to be Oscar-nominated for his performance, while Wells won the Bafta for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer.

Mescal starred opposite newcomer Frankie Corio as a single father who takes his young daughter on holiday to a Turkish resort in the 1990s. The poster features an image by the production’s stills photographer Sarah Makharine of the characters in an embrace.

Wells said she owed a debt of gratitude to Cannes Critics’ Week Artistic Director Ava Cahen and the rest of the selection team for selecting the film last year.

“While Aftersun‘s reception may make its selection last year easy to take for granted with hindsight, the truth is that the Semaine programming team took a huge chance on our film,” said the filmmaker.

“As I look at this year’s poster, at the image of Paul and Frankie taken by our photographer and collaborator Sarah Makharine, I feel immense pride — pride for what we felt in the Miramar Theatre when the credits rolled at 1pm on May 21st, catalyzing a remarkable year; pride for having had the chance to premiere my first feature film in the selection of La Semaine de la Critique.”

The 62nd edition of Cannes Critics’ Week, which is focused on first and second-time works, unfolds from May 17 to 25 this year.

In the backdrop, speculation continues to build around what has made the cut for both the Official Selection and parallel sections.

The Cannes Film Festival has yet to confirm the date of its traditional press conference in Paris announcing its line-up but it is expected to take place on either April 13 or 20. The selections for the parallel sections will follow a few days after.

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