The Cannes Film Festival said Thursday that Asghar Farhadi’s psychological thriller “Everybody Knows” will play in competition as well as open the 71st edition of the event.

“Everybody Knows,” starring Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Ricardo Darin, will mark the second opening film in recent memory that is neither in English nor in French, following Pedro Almodóvar’s “Bad Education” in 2004. The last movie which opened the festival and competed was Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom” in 2012.

Written by Farhadi and shot entirely in Spanish, “Everybody Knows” follows the journey of Laura (played by Cruz), who travels with her family from Buenos Aires to her native village in Spain for a celebration. An unexpected event changes the characters’ lives. The family, its ties and the moral choices imposed on them lie at the heart of the plot.

Iranian director Farhadi achieved worldwide critical acclaim in 2011 with “A Separation,” which garnered the Golden Bear at Berlin and went on to win Golden Globe, César and Oscar awards for best foreign film. Farhadi later fielded two films in competition on the Croisette, “The Salesman” in 2016 and “The Past” in 2013. “Everybody Knows” is his first film in the prestigious opening-night slot.

http://variety.com/2018/film/global/asghar-farhadis-everybody-knows-to-open-and-compete-at-cannes-film-festival-1202744664/