The 78th Cannes Film Festival is opening with expectations running high for what could be a banner edition.
All of the ingredients - an absurd number of stars, top-tier filmmakers, political intrigue - seem to be lined up for the French Riviera spectacular, which begins on Tuesday.
Over the next 12 days, Cannes will play host to megawatt premieres including those of Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest and Ari Aster’s Eddington.
Things get under way with the unveiling of Juliette Binoche’s jury, a three-film tribute to Ukraine and the opening night film, Amelie Bonnin’s French romance Leave One Day.
At the festival’s opening ceremony, Robert De Niro will receive an honorary Palme d’Or, 49 years after Taxi Driver won Cannes' top prize.
Cannes is coming off a 2024 festival that produced a number of eventual Oscar contenders, including Emilia Perez, The Substance, Flow and the best picture winner, Anora.
The 2025 Cannes Film Festival, the premier international cinematic gathering, is unspooling following US President Donald Trump’s call for tariffs on movies made overseas.
While festival director Thierry Fremaux expressed sympathy to the cause of strengthening local movie production, he said it was too soon to comment on the still-unformed plans.
Cannes will follow up Tuesday’s festivities with the return on Wednesday of Tom Cruise to Cannes.
Three years after he brought Top Gun: Maverick to the festival, he is back with the latest Mission: Impossible movie.
Twenty-two films will vie for Cannes’ top prize, the Palme d’Or.
Those films include Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, Lynne Ramsay’s Die, My Love, Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, Oliver Hermanus’ The History of Sound, Julia Ducournau’s Alpha and Jafar Panahi’s A Simple Accident.
Binoche will lead the jury that pick Palme d’Or winner, along with jurors including Halle Berry and Jeremy Strong.
The festival closes on May 24.
Geopolitics are likely to play a starring role at Cannes, which is beginning by screening three 2025 Ukraine documentaries: Zelensky, Bernard-Henri Levy’s Notre Guerre and The Associated Press-Frontline co-production 2000 Meters to Andriivka, by 20 Days in Mariupol Oscar-winner Mstyslav Chernov.
"This ‘Ukraine Day’ is a reminder of the commitment of artists, authors and journalists to tell the story of this conflict in the heart of Europe," the festival said in a statement.
Cannes will also celebrate its opening by turning to an old favourite.
A restoration of Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush will be shown on Tuesday, timed to the film's centenary.
