PARIS, May 11 — The glitz and glamour of the Cannes film festival returns to the French Riviera on Tuesday.
Here is AFP’s selection of the issues, stars and films likely to dominate on and off the red carpet during the May 13-24 extravaganza:
More #MeToo
He’s never been a mainstay of the festival and has not made a film in three years but French cinema legend Gerard Depardieu is likely to be one of the biggest talking points on day one of the festival.
A judge in Paris is set to hand down a verdict on Tuesday in the first of two criminal trials involving the Cyrano de Bergerac and Green Card star over sexual assault allegations.
The problem of sexual violence in the film industry was the subject of a highly critical French parliamentary inquiry that published its findings last month.
Trump
As for almost every public event nowadays, from elections to art exhibitions, it’s hard to miss the outsized shadow of US President Donald Trump as he cranks up his “Make America Great Again” revolution.
The cinema industry is still reeling from Trump’s announcement last weekend of 100-per cent tariffs on foreign-made films, although no one is able to explain how they might be implemented.
French Culture Minister Rachida Dati said last week that the tariffs, if ever enacted, would lead to “the American industry being penalised, not ours”.
We have yet to see which of the big US stars at the festival will speak out against their president.
Robert De Niro will receive an honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year. — AFP pic
Hollywood stardust
Tom Cruise will attend the premiere of the last instalment of Mission: Impossible, while Robert De Niro will receive an honorary Palme d’Or, meaning two of Hollywood’s US biggest stars will be in town.
Cruise has made a point of avoiding politics throughout his career, while De Niro struggles to find words harsh enough to describe Trump, who he has branded “evil”.
Other US actors in attendance include Jennifer Lawrence, Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone and Denzel Washington, while Halle Berry and Jeremy Strong are on the jury.
Stars-turned-directors
As well as appearing in Wes Anderson’s latest film, The Phoenician Scheme, Scarlett Johansson is set to present her directorial debut Eleanor the Great in the secondary “Un Certain Regard” competition.
She will be up against fellow US actress-turned-director Kristen Stewart, who will also showcase her first film behind the camera, The Chronology of Water, in the same category.
Harris Dickinson, 28, who recently appeared as Nicole Kidman’s lover in Babygirl, completes a trio of stars-turned-directors at Cannes with his film Urchin.
Iranian filmmaker and activist Sepideh Farsi looks at a portrait of the Palestinian photographer Fatima Hassouna, during a photo session at her home in Paris on May 5, 2025. — AFP pic
Gaza
A day after Cannes announced that a documentary about Gaza photojournalist Fatima Hassouna was set to be screened at the parallel ACID festival, her home was bombed by the Israeli army, killing her and 10 relatives.
The outrage over her death has increased interest in the film Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk by Iranian director Sepideh Farsi.
Sepideh told AFP she had believed until the very end that Hassouna “would survive, that she would come (to Cannes), that the war would stop. But reality caught up with us.”
Palestinian twins Tarzan and Arab Nasser will showcase their latest film Once Upon a Time In Gaza, a tale of murder and friendship set in the war-torn territory, in the Un Certain Regard section.
The Palme d’Or Award on display during the Cannes Film Festival. A total of 22 films are competing for the coveted Palme d’Or for best film in a selection that includes some Cannes stalwarts as well as a new generation of directors. — Reuters pic
Main competition
A total of 22 films are competing for the coveted Palme d’Or for best film in a selection that includes some Cannes stalwarts as well as a new generation of directors.
Perennial favourites, brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, who already have two Palmes d’Or, return with their latest film Young Mothers about five young women in a maternity home in their native Belgium.
Motherhood looks set to be a recurring theme, while the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s is the backdrop for two in-competition films, Alpha by Julia Ducournau and Romeria by Carla Simon.
British actor Josh O’Connor will head up the red carpet for two contenders, The History of Sound by South Africa’s Oliver Hermanus and The Mastermind by Kelly Reichardt.
Two Iranian films, A Simple Accident by Jafar Panahi and Mother and Child by Saeed Roustaee, will also be closely scrutinised — in Cannes and by Iran’s censors.
Documentaries
Interest is likely to be high for a documentary about U2 frontman Bono, a film about George Orwell by Raoul Peck and one of the newest additions to the programme, The Six-Billion-Dollar Man about Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
The hotly awaited Assange documentary by Eugene Jarecki was pulled from the Sundance film festival in December in order to incorporate “significant recent and unexpected developments”. — AFP
