Every year, around this time, the world’s most decorated and well-known actors, filmmakers, screenwriters and cinema world descend upon the resort town of Cannes in the southeastern French Riviera to attend one of the industry’s most prestigious annual events.
The Cannes Film Festival opened on Tuesday hosting its 78th edition. Over the next 12 days, the festival will play host to major premieres, including Tom Cruise’s 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning', Spike Lee’s 'Highest 2 Lowest' and Ari Aster’s 'Eddington'.
Much of Hollywood’s A-listers are in attendance. Robert De Niro, Quentin Tarantino, Juliette Binoche were some of the stars stepping out on the red carpet for the opening ceremony.
Leonardo DiCaprio, who was also in attendance, skipped the red carpet, but drew a standing ovation as he presented De Niro with an honorary Palme d’Or. The pair have shared the big screen on three occasions, in a partnership beginning all the way back in 1993.
DiCaprio and De Niro first worked together on Michael Caton-Jones’ 'This Boy’s Life'. They collaborated once more a few years later in Jerry Zaks’ “Marvin’s Room” in 1996. It was more than a quarter century before the two shared the screen once more, reuniting in 2023 for Martin Scorsese’s 'Killers of the Flower Moon'.
De Niro 'the archetype actor'
DiCaprio praised De Niro as “the archetype actor”, commending the 81-year-old — a staunch critic of US President Donald Trump — for his efforts in “fighting for our democracy”.
As the audience stood in prolonged applause for De Niro, DiCaprio presented him with the Palme d’Or, to which De Niro replied "Thanks, kiddo.”
Following his expression of gratitude towards the festival, De Niro promptly shifted the conversation to Trump, who has recently announced his intention to impose a tariff on films produced outside the United States.
“Art is the truth. Art embraces diversity. And that's why art is a threat to the autocrats and the fascists of the world,” said De Niro.
“America's philistine president has had himself appointed head of one of America's premier cultural institutions. He has cut funding and support to the arts, humanities and education. And now he announced a 100% tariff on films made outside the United States. You can't put a price on connectivity.”
A busy opening day
The inaugural ceremony that took place before the debut of Amélie Bonnin’s French romantic film 'Leave One Day' was graced by Tarantino, who made a dramatic entrance to officially declare the festival open before leaving the stage in a theatrical manner.
On Wednesday, Tarantino is set to honour Western filmmaker George Sherman. Additionally, Sean Baker, the director of 'Anora' and last year's Palme d'Or recipient, was also present.
The ceremony concluded a hectic day at Cannes, which featured a tribute of three films to Ukraine and the premiere of a restored version of Charlie Chaplin's “The Gold Rush” in celebration of its centenary.
Cannes beginning coincided with the announcement of Gérard Depardieu's – one of France’s most well-known actors – conviction for sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021.
In a prominent #MeToo case in France, Depardieu received an 18-month suspended prison sentence. The 76-year-old actor has been a familiar figure at the Cannes Film Festival for many years.
The jury formed for this year’s festival, headed by Juliette Binoche, will decide on the Palme d’Or.
Other members include Halle Berry, Jeremy Strong, Hong Sang-soo, Alba Rohrwacher, Dieudo Hamadi, Payal Kapadia, Leïla Slimani and Carlos Reygadas.
A total of 22 films are competing for Cannes’ top prize, the Palme d’Or, to be presented on Saturday May 24. Those films include Wes Anderson’s 'The Phoenician Scheme', Richard Linklater’s 'Nouvelle Vague', Lynne Ramsay’s 'Die, My Love', Joachim Trier’s 'Sentimental Value', Kelly Reichardt’s 'The Mastermind', Oliver Hermanus’ 'The History of Sound', Julia Ducournau’s 'Alpha' and Jafar Panahi’s 'A Simple Accident'.
