Europeans must become a “shield” against three “monsters”, according to celebrated Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar.
The three ghouls he mentions? Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin.
Almodóvar made this remark today at a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, where he is presenting his latest film Amarga Navidad (Bitter Christmas) in Competition.
"As Europeans, we are obliged to become a kind of shield against these monsters like Trump, Netanyahu, or the Russian," said the director of classics like Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother) and Hable Con Ella (Talk To Her), who also wore a “Free Palestine” pin on his jacket lapel.
“We are obliged to do so because here, we respect international law,” he added.
The director is an outspoken critic of Israel's war in Gaza, and previously urged Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to cut all diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel over the war in Gaza.
His remarks today echo those of Spanish star Javier Bardem, who was also in Cannes this year to promote his new film, Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s drama The Beloved.
The film deals with toxic masculinity, and the 57-year-old actor told Reuters: "The idea of this masculinity that is aggressive, that it has to be also showcasing his power over others, that's something that resonates with me, because that's the generation that I grew up with.” He added: "And it's wrong. And the fact that in this movie we're talking about it... tells us that there's more awareness about it, as something that we have to denounce, we have to put it away."
He broadened the conversation at a Cannes press conference, during which the actor said that "male toxic behaviour" extends to world leaders including Trump, Putin and Netanyahu. He argued that such aggression and rivalry fuel conflicts.
Almodóvar, who is in the running for this year’s Palme d’Or, previously won Best Director in Cannes in 1999 for All About My Mother. He won 2024’s Golden Lion in Venice for The Room Next Door.
Bitter Christmas focuses on a director who is out of ideas and decides to steal stories from others. The tragicomedy premiered yesterday on the Croisette and is released theatrically in Spain and France today. Its European rollout continues this month.
