Cannes’ Critics Week Unveils 2022 Lineup Under Ava Cahen’s New Leadership

variety.com:

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentCritics’ Week, the sidebar dedicated to first and second films running alongside the Cannes Film Festival, will be kicking off with Jesse Eisenberg’s feature debut “When You Finish Saving the World” and showcase four female-directed movies out of seven titles. “When You Finish Saving the World,” which is headlined by Julianne Moore and Finn Wolfhard, revolves around the relationship between a politically-engaged mother and her fame-obsessed teenage son, who is also a burgeoning musician.

The A24 movie is based on Eisenberg’s 2020 audio drama of the same name and was part of the Sundance 2022 selection. “We already adored Eisenberg as an actor and discovered him as a true auteur with this film that’s both tender and contemporary and exposes a generational gap between a mother and her son,” said Cahen, who replaced Charles Tesson as artistic director of Critics Week last August after serving on the selection committee for several years. “The independent American cinema landscape has been impacted by the health crisis, challenged by streamers, and while we favor world premieres at Critics’ Week, we felt that it since Sundance was held online, it would be an act of solidarity to shine a spotlight on this beautiful film on opening night,” said Cahen.

These include South Korean director Jung July with “Da-eum-so-hee” (“Next Sohee”), a gripping feminist crime starring Bae Doo-na, the famed actor whose played in films by Hirozaku Kore-eda, Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho.