The Cannes film festival kicks off on the French Riviera on Tuesday, May 13, with organizers facing pressure to take a stance on Israel's siege of Gaza after a letter from hundreds of top cinema figures denouncing "genocide" in the Palestinian territory. More than 380 film insiders, including Schindler's List actor Ralph Fiennes and four former Cannes-winning directors, said they were "ashamed" of their industry's "passivity."
"We cannot remain silent while genocide is taking place in Gaza," reads the letter initiated by several pro-Palestinian activist groups and published in the French newspaper Libération and US magazine Variety.
The signatories – which include Hollywood stars Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon as well as acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar and former Cannes winners Ruben Ostlund, Mike Leigh and Costa-Gavras – also denounced the death of Gazan photojournalist Fatima Hassouna. Hassouna, 25, is the subject of a documentary that will premiere in Cannes on Thursday by exiled Iranian director Sepideh Farsi, titled Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk.
Hassouna was killed along with 10 relatives in an Israeli air strike on her family home in northern Gaza last month, the day after the documentary was announced as part of the ACID Cannes selection. Farsi called on Cannes Festival organizers to denounce Israel's ongoing bombardment and siege of the Palestinian territory. "There needs to be a real statement," she told Agence France-Presse.
This year's Cannes jury president, Juliette Binoche, was initially said by organizers to have signed the petition, but her name was not on the final published list. Speaking to reporters, she said, "You'll maybe understand it a little later," hinting that she or the festival might make some sort of a statement at the opening ceremony that starts at 7:15 pm.
Other notable signatories of the Gaza petition include Jonathan Glazer, the British director of Jewish origin who won an Oscar for his 2023 Auschwitz drama The Zone of Interest, as well as US star Mark Ruffalo and Spanish actor Javier Bardem.
Other off-screen news in France also risked overshadowing the opening ceremony on Tuesday, which will see Robert De Niro receive an honorary Palme d'Or award from fellow actor and occasional co-star Leonardo DiCaprio.
In a court decision followed by the entire film world, legendary French actor Gérard Depardieu was convicted Tuesday of sexual harassment in a Paris court and handed an 18-month suspended prison sentence. The 76-year-old, who has acted in more than 200 films and television series, is the highest-profile figure caught up in France's response to the #MeToo movement against sexual violence.
Binoche said Depardieu had "lost his aura" and "when someone loses their aura like he is at the moment, it makes you think about the power of a certain person, who creates power." Cannes Festival director Thierry Frémaux declined to give his view on the case at a press conference on Monday. Frémaux will be hoping the festival's film selections take greater prominence in the coming days, though politics and the outside world often dominate the conversation in Cannes.
The inaugural film on Tuesday is the musical drama Partir un jour (Leave One Day) by newcomer French director Amélie Bonnin, who will become the first debut director to be granted the prestigious opening slot.
New red carpet rules, prohibiting "total nudity" and limiting the length of the trains on dresses, are also set to come into force. Oscar-winning Hollywood star Halle Berry, who is on the nine-member jury judging the main competition this year, said she had been tripped up by the train restrictions and had had to change outfits. "The nudity part is probably also a good rule," she told reporters.
While independent cinema forms the core of the Cannes festival, organizers have also handed over part of the program this year, as usual, to major Hollywood blockbusters. Tom Cruise is set to return to the Riviera for the premiere of the latest instalment of his Mission: Impossible franchise on Wednesday, three years after attending the festival for Top Gun: Maverick.
After US President Donald Trump threatened to implement 100% tariffs on movies "produced in foreign lands," Frémaux talked up the prominence of US-made films in Cannes. "American cinema remains great cinema. The United States remains a great country of cinema," he said. Binoche said she understood that Trump was "trying in many, many different ways to save America, and save his ass."
Movies from directors Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Ari Aster and Kelly Reichardt are competing for the top Palme d'Or award in the main competition.