Jesse Eisenberg’s Directorial Debut, Starring Finn Wolfhard and Julianne Moore, to Open Cannes Critics’ Week

Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut, When You Finish Saving the World, will open this year’s Cannes Critics’ Week section, premiering May 18.

Julianne Moore and Finn Wolfhard co-star in the dramatic comedy about a politically-committed mother and her ambitious musician son, who craves social media fame. When You Finish Saving the World will have a special, non-competition screening in Cannes. The film opened this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

The Critics’ Week unveiled its full 2022 lineup on Wednesday, announcing the 11 feature films and 13 shorts that will make up its 61st edition. The seven films in competition this year are all from first-time filmmakers. Geographically, they range from the small Portuguese village that is the setting for Cristèle Alves Meira’s Alma Viva, to a night taxi in Tehran that is at the center of director Ali Behrad’s Imagine, to the Columbian rainforst of Andrés Ramírez Pulido’s La Jauría, to a beach resort for British tourists in Aftersun, from U.K. director Charlotte Wells, which features Normal People star Paul Mescal alongside newcomer Francesca Corio.

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Mikko Myllylahti, who co-wrote Juho Kuosmanen’s Finnish arthouse cross-over The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki — winner of the 2016 Un Certain Regard award — will premiere his directorial debut, The Woodcutter Story, in the Critics’ Week competition. The feature is described as “a shrewd, yet playful tragicomedy” about a woodcutter and his son who go fishing.

Other competition titles include the coming-of-age tale Summer Scars from first-time French director Simon Rieth and Belgian filmmaker Emmanuelle Nicot’s debut Love According to Dalva.

Critics’ Week will give special screenings to Sons of Ramses, a mystical film noir from Clément Cogitore, whose The Wakhan Front (aka Neither Heaven Nor Earth) won the Critics Week grand prize back in 2015. Céline Devaux, whose Sunday Lunch took the French César honor for best short film in 2016, will get a special screening presentation of her feature debut, Everybody Loves Jeanne, a romantic comedy that blends live action and animation.

Next Sohee, a feminist crime film from Korean director Jung July starring Bae Doo-na (The Host, Kingdom) will close the 61st edition of the Critics’ Week on May 26.