As the days between now and Cannes begin to tick away, more and more things are beginning to make their way out of the festival, and today brings some of the most intriguing news.

First, Cannes has announced that both Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof, two Iranian filmmakers currently imprisoned in their native country for six years and a 20 year ban from making films, will be debuting new films at this year’s festival.

First up, you have THIS IS NOT A FILM from the pair of Panahi and collaborator Mojitaba Mirtahmasb, and looks at a day in the life of Panahi as he waits to hear the verdict of an appeal against his sentence. While also looking at what it’s like to be an Iranian filmmaker, the film will be playing as an Official Selection.  In the Un Certain Regard side of things, Rasoulof will be bringing a film called GOOD BYE, and follows a young female lawyer who is looking to leave Iran by gaining a visa.

Both films were allegedly shot under “semi-clandestine conditions,” proving that while Iran may try their hardest to silence these auteurs, nothing will stop an artist from creating his or her work. Personally, these are far and away my most anticipated films of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, so here’s to hoping they will prove to be as superb as they truly should be.

In other Cannes news, clips for THIS MUST BE THE PLACE and WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN have hit, and they both look absolutely fantastic. 

We’ve seen a tad bit of footage from the THIS MUST BE THE PLACE, but this is our first clip featuring dialogue, and frankly, I’m still not at all sure as to what to expect. Lynne Ramsay’s KEVIN is much more up front about its style, and if you’ve seen something like RATCATCHER, what you see here shouldn’t be all that out of the blue. Overall, both films look absolutely fantastic.  Flix has the heads up on the KEVIN clip, with The Playlist hunting down the PLACE clip. Check them out there.