A new David Bowie doc, as well as a Jerry Lee Lewis film helmed by the Coen Brothers’ Ethan Coen, are among the films set to screen at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
Moonage Daydream was directed by Brett Morgen (best known for the Kurt Cobain doc, Montage of Heck) and is the first Bowie doc to have the approval of the late musician’s estate. The film is described as both a concert documentary and an “experimental cinematic odyssey” that will track Bowie’s life and career, delving into his work as a musician, but also his multidisciplinary approach to his craft.
Morgen was given access to the Bowie archives to make Moonage Daydream, and the film will even use archival audio to let Bowie narrate the film. Additionally, the project will boast never-before-seen performance footage, as well as 48 musical tracks, mixed from the original audio stems (longtime Bowie collaborator, Tony Visconti, aided the film’s sound design team as well).
Following its Cannes premiere, Moonage Daydream will get an international release before arriving on HBO and HBO Max in spring 2023. (While Moonage Daydream will premiere at the festival, it’s not part of this year’s official competition.)
Meanwhile, Coen’s doc, Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind, will air at Cannes as a “special screening.” There’s little info about the film out there at the moment, though it is notably the first film Coen has directed without his brother Joel (Joel Coen made his solo directorial debut last year with The Tragedy of Macbeth).
Outside an out-of-competition screening of Baz Luhrmann’s new Elvis Presley biopic, there aren’t any other big music films headed to Cannes, though there are obviously plenty of other big films. Potential blockbusters getting the out-of-competition treatment include George Miller’s fantasy epic Three Thousand Years of Longing, starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton, as well as the long-awaited Top Gun sequel, Top Gun Maverick. Among the movies in this year’s official competition are David Cronenberg’s first film in almost 10 years, Crimes of the Future, Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave, Claire Denis’ The Stars at Noon, and Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up.