From politics to power cuts, romance to road trips, ghosts, gods and dogs... this year's Cannes Film Festival offered something for everyone, on and off the screen.
Although the Cannes Film Festival has officially wrapped, with a suitably emotional ceremony on Saturday evening, for the festival films it's just the beginning, as they emerge on screens around the world in the coming months and years.
Here are a just a few of the highlights from two weeks on the Croisette...
Rose-coloured glasses
The audience at the closing ceremony was treated to a surprise performance when actor John C. Reilly came on stage to present the best screenplay award to the Dardenne brothers for Jeunes Mères (Young Mothers) – and was joined by a guitarist to sing La Vie en Rose, made famous by Edith Piaf.
The American actor paid tribute to the writers who “turn words into love songs” as the song goes, and reminded the audience that, while it's important to focus on issues, it's also good to see the world "through rose-coloured glasses" from time to time.
Cannes 2025 ends on a high as director Jafar Panahi claims the Palme d'Or
French veteran filmmaker Claude Lelouche also presented a prize – that of best director, to Brazil's Kleber Mendonca Filho for The Secret Agent – telling the audience that being a director was "the best job in the world".
Dazzling debuts
The 2025 list of prizewinners included debutants across the categories, bringing a mix of themes and styles to the table.
The moving Nigerian film My Father’s Shadow (in the Un Certain Regard category) by Akinola Davies Jr got a special mention from the jury of the Caméra D’Or debut film prize category.
The film brings the city of Lagos into sharp focus in the midst of the political crisis of the 1993 elections. But the real action is the interaction between a father and his two sons, who he must protect at any cost.
Jury president Alice Rohrwacher praised its sensitivity in bringing a personal story to the screen.
Postcard from Cannes #2: A tender tale of women surviving migration in Tunis
Also remarkable was Nadia Melliti, who won best actress for her debut role in La Petite Dernière (Little Sister).
Her star turn as Fatima, the youngest in a family of Algerian immigrants in France who balances her duty to her family with discovering her homosexuality won the jury’s hearts.
Melliti, who is studying for a sports degree and had never acted before, was visibly moved as she received her award from the hands of veteran star Daniel Auteuil.
She thanked her mum – and her “film mum” director Hafsia Herzi. “Thank you Hafsia for this audacious film, for the courage, for your confidence in me,” she said.
The power to unite
It was satisfying to see Sirat – the thrilling desert road movie by Oliver Laxe – awarded the shared Jury Prize with The Sound of Falling by German director Mascha Schilinski.
Sirat packs a punch from the start, with its opening notes of techno reverberating off the rock walls of the Moroccan desert – enough to wake the gods, as indeed it does.
Postcard from Cannes #5: Zooming in on talented cinematographers
The film is a shock to the system (in a good way), leaving you on the edge of your seat and unable to look away, as the story unfolds of people facing moments of truth in a crisis, against a backdrop of unseen threats.
The French-Spanish director credited cinema with the power to unite people across cultural and religious divides.
“We made you from different tribes so that you would go out and get to know each other,” he said, quoting a line from the Koran.
“The Cannes Festival is all about that – bringing together different cultures in a game of mirrors which is all about looking at each other as if it were for the first time.”
In a surprise move, the jury awarded a special prize to futuristic Chinese film Resurrection (Kuang Ye Shi Dai) by Bi Gan – "a marvel", according to jury president Juliette Binoche. With breathtaking visuals, the film brings together monsters and dreams in an unusual love story spanning the 20th century.
Blackout
Cannes was plunged into "darkness" (albeit on a bright sunny day) by a power outage or five hours on Saturday, disrupting the running of essential espresso machines – and some competition re-run projections. But the Palais des Festivals cranked up the generators, allowing people to squeeze in three more screenings before the closing ceremony bonanza.
Don’t tell anyone but some journalists were seen sneaking off for swim at the beach, before order was restored at 3pm and fridges and phone chargers rumbled back to life.
Cannes power outage won’t dim the glamour of film festival finale
At the annual Palme Dog, which rewards canines on the silver screen, a record five awards were handed out in the event's 25th year.
The top prize went to Panda, the Icelandic sheep dog from The Love that Remains (Cannes Première section), for a truly heartwarming performance.
