Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov returns to Cannes once again this year with Limonov: The Ballad starring Ben Whishaw, for which we can share a first-look image from above.
The film’s synopsis reads: A revolutionary militant, a thug, an underground writer, a butler to a millionaire in Manhattan. But also a switchblade-waving poet, a lover of beautiful women, a warmonger, a political agitator, and a novelist who wrote of his greatness. Eduard Limonov’s life story is a journey through Russia, America, and Europe during the second half of the 20th century.
The film was written by Pawel Pawlikowski, Ben Hopkins, and Serebrennikov, based on the novel ‘Limonov’ by Emmanuel Carrère, published in the US by Macmillan Publishers and in France by POL.
Producers are Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa for Wildside, a Fremantle Company, Dimitri Rassam for Chapter 2, a Mediawan Company, Ilya Stewart for Hype Studios and coproduced by Ardavan Safaee for Pathé and Nathalie García and Manuel Tera for Fremantle España. Pawlikowski is an exec producer.
Serebrennikov landed in the Cannes competition this morning alongside Ali Abbasi, who brings The Apprentice, a feature pic about the early life of Donald Trump. Andrea Arnold returns with Bird, starring Barry Keoghan, and Jacques Audiard’s latest, Emilia Perez, a musical with Selena Gomez will also debut in competition.
Elsewhere, American filmmaker Sean Baker brings Anora to the Croisette. Poor Things filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos will launch Kinds of Kindness, his latest collab with Emma Stone. David Cronenberg returns with The Shrouds, and Paul Schrader will debut Oh Canada starring Jacob Elordi, Uma Thurman, and Richard Gere. The Cannes Film Festival runs May 14-25.