Has Cannes gone all political on us? The French film festival, which used to pride itself, sometimes to a fault, in being the apolitical “cinema for cinema’s sake” festival, appears to be storming the barricades.
The 78th Festival featured one of the most political opening ceremonies in living memory. In his speech accepting an honorary Palme d’Or, Robert De Niro lambasted U.S. President Donald Trump, labelling him “America’s Philistine president” and rallying the audience to “act now…without violence, but with great passion and determination” to defend democracy. “It’s time for everyone who cares about liberty to organize, to protest, and when there are elections, vote. Vote. Tonight, and for the next 11 days, we show our strength and commitment by celebrating art in this glorious festival. Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.”
Ceremony host, French actor Laurent Lafitte, gave a similarly passionate and highly political speech, calling on actors to use their public platform to make real-world change. He name-checked the likes of James Stewart, Josephine Baker, Marlene Dietrich, Adèle Haenel, and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky (whom Lafitte called an actor turned war leader), as artists who have had a positive influence on issues like climate change, equity, racism, immigration, gay rights and more.
Cannes President, the Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche, continued in a similar vein, saying artists had a duty to call out the abuses of war, climate disruption, misogyny, and the “demons of our barbarities.”
The political tone was set on the eve of the festival, when more than 350 world film figures, including Richard Gere, Javier Bardem, Mark Ruffalo and Susan Sarandon, published an open letter on the website of France’s Libération newspaper condemning what they called the “silence and indifference” of the global film community towards the deadly impact of Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza. The letter was addressed “For Fatem” in memory of the 25-year-old Gaza artist and photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, the subject of Sepideh Farsi’s documentary Put Your Soul On Your Hands and Walk, which debuted in Cannes Thursday night. Fatima was killed on April 16 in an Israeli airstrike on her home in northern Gaza, alongside 10 members of her family.
Two-time Palme d’Or winners Ken Loach and Paul Laverty shared the letter on social media and called on the international film community in Cannes to advocate for peace.
“For a few short days, the world’s attention rests on Cannes as film-makers from many countries try their best to make sense of what is happening around them,” their post read. “Cannes has a tradition of engagement in the affairs of the day, and some still have vivid memories of the events of 1968,” recalling the last time a Cannes film festival seemed as politically-charged as this year.
On the war in Ukraine, Cannes made it position clear, dedicating the festival’s opening day, May 13, to the Ukrainian people in their ongoing fight against the Russian invasion. The festival screened three documentaries, outside its official selection, that look at one of key figures in the conflict — Zelensky, which follows the life of Ukraine’s wartime president Volodymyr Zelensky — and on life on the front line. 2000 Meters to Andriivka, from Oscar-winning director Mstyslav Chernov (20 Days in Mariupol), sees the director embedded with a Ukrainian platoon as they inch forward trying to liberate the strategic village of Andriivka. Bernard-Henri Lévy and Marc Roussel’s Notre Guerre, was filmed on the Pokrovsk and Soumy fronts in eastern Ukraine between February and April this year.
The #MeToo movement, which has been given short shrift at festivals past — there was not a peep from the festival when Johnny Depp, who had faced accusations of domestic violence, walked the red carpet in 2023 for the opening night film Jeanne du Barry — is front and center in Cannes this year. On the same day as Cannes’ opening night, French star Gérard Depardieu was handed an 18-month suspended sentence for sexual assault and Binoche credited #MeToo with the watershed moment in the French industry’s reckoning with institutional abuse.
In an unprecedented move, the festival banned Théo Navarro-Mussy from walking the red carpet Thursday night for Dominik Moll’s competition film Dossier 137, because the French actor faces accusations of rape and sexual assault. Three former partners have accused Navarro-Mussy of “rape, physical and psychological violence.” A court dismissed the original criminal complaint, but the alleged victims have said they plan to file a civil case.
Cannes general delegate Thierry Frémaux defended the ban, saying the festival needed to ensure that the “safety, integrity, and dignity” of all people involved in the films it screens.
It should be noted that the allegations against Navarro-Mussy are not connected to Dossier 137 and predate the shooting of the film.
Given all this newfound activism, it seemed incongruous that, ahead of the festival, Cannes organizers issued stricter internal guidelines, asking their own staff to maintain “political neutrality” in their interactions with guests and on social media. The directive, a new addition to standard protocol, comes as labor activists from the unofficial union of festival temporary workers, Sous Les Écrans La Dèche, staged protests on opening night over working conditions.
Some also see a discrepancy between calls for Liberté, Égalité and Fraternité and its red carpet fashion police. Festival officials confirmed that this year it has banned full nudity and “voluminous outfits” from its gala, especially dresses with a large train, that “hinder the flow of traffic of guests and complicate seating in the theater.” A fest spokesperson clarified that the dress code is not meant to regulate attire “per se,” but that it did get refreshed to reflect certain rules “that have long been in effect.”
But it was an oddly conservative measure from a festival that, at least this year, appears to be conjuring the sprit of ’68.
