Canadian directors to compete at Cannes: Cronenberg, Egoyan, Dolan

Canadian film has achieved a record at the Cannes Film Festival.

For the first time, three Canadian films will vie for the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The films—by some of Canada's best-known auteurs: David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan, and Xavier Dolan—will compete against 15 other selections.

Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars, which stars Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson, John Cusack, and Mia Wasikowska, is a ghost story that also serves as a critique of L.A.'s celebrity obsession.

Egoyan's psychological thriller The Captive, starring Ryan Reynolds, Scott Speedman, and Rosario Dawson, delves into how the kidnapping of a young girl at a highway diner destroys the relationships of all those involved. Egoyan previously competed in the Palme d'Or competition with Adoration. The Captive will be Egoyan's eighth film at the festival.

Dolan's Mommy, starring Anne Dorval, Antoine Olivier Pilon, and Suzanne Clément, is set in an alternate reality version of Canada, in which a law allows distressed parents to leave troubled children with the hospital system. The story follows a widow, raising her violent ADHD son, who turns to a mysterious neighbour who offers to help but becomes intensely intwined in their lives. The 25-year-old Dolan has premiered four of his five films at Cannes and has competed in the Un Certain Regard program.

Meanwhile in other news about Canadian content at Cannes, Canadian-born star Ryan Gosling will also make his directorial debut with Lost River in the Un Certain Regard program.