Thursday, May 21Thursday, May 21The 79th Cannes Film Festival officially opened on Tuesday, 12 May 2026, marking the start of a high-profile celebration of cinema on the French Riviera. The opening ceremony was co-hosted by Jane Fonda and Chinese actress Gong Li, who presented the event, while New Zealand director Peter Jackson received an honorary Palme d’Or for his career, notably for *The Lord of the Rings* trilogy. The ceremony was led by French comedian Eye Haïdara, adding a touch of humor to the glamorous occasion .
The festival’s opening night also highlighted career comebacks and reinventions, with Demi Moore (*The Substance*) and John Travolta among the stars making notable returns. Jane Fonda, a longtime Cannes icon, was celebrated as a symbol of the festival’s ability to revive careers and showcase enduring talent . The red carpet saw a mix of fashion statements, with Joan Collins making waves in a bold outfit, while other attendees received mixed reviews for their style choices .
Beyond the glamour, the festival’s opening day was marked by political and industry tensions. Paul Laverty, a juror at Cannes, publicly denounced Hollywood’s boycott of actors who have spoken out against the Gaza war, framing it as a suppression of free expression . Meanwhile, 600 figures from the French film industry published an open letter condemning the growing influence of conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré, owner of Canal+, warning that his control over media and film financing threatens creative freedom. The controversy overshadowed the festival’s opening, with critics arguing that Bolloré’s far-right leanings are reshaping French cinema .
The festival also featured a strong international presence, with Greece making a notable impact through new films and emerging directors participating in both the official selection and parallel market events. The opening film was La Venus Electrique, a French production, setting the tone for a diverse lineup .
The Cannes Film Festival remains a unique blend of artistic celebration and industry commerce, described by veteran commentator Agnès Poirier as a "beautiful, grueling circus" that has retained its status as the "mecca of cinema" for nearly eight decades. Despite criticisms of its commercialization, the festival continues to attract filmmakers, critics, and stars, drawn by its unmatched prestige and cultural significance . The 2026 edition runs until 23 May.
> Background: **Cannes 2026 opens with glamour politics and global cinema debates** — *9 hours ago*
Cannes is a beautiful, gruelling circus. I wouldnt quit it for anything | Agnès Poirier The festival is a celebration of cinema and a frantic trade show all at once. After 25 years, I cant help but go backNothing prepares you for the shock that is the Cannes film festival: the adrenaline, the fatigue, the elation and the emotion, but also the hunger, the anger, the magic and the ridicule. For young cinephiles, and for almost everybody who works in the film industry, it is the mecca of cinema and has been so for nearly eight decades. Anyone going for the first time this week, as I did 25 years ago, should not listen to the old grognards – Cannes battle-worn veterans – who will lament that the festival has become an abominable circus and swear this year will be their last. It is a circus, and you can bet they will be back for as long as their knees can take it. For there is nothing quite like it.Born to counteract Benito Mussolinis Venice film festival, its first edition was planned for September 1939, but Adolf Hitler had other plans. The previous year, under pressure from Berlin and Rome, the Venice film festivals top prize, the Coppa Mussolini, was handed to Leni Riefenstahls propaganda film Olympia, prompting the French, British and American delegates to walk out. Hence Cannes, conceived as the festival of the free world. More than 80 years later, for all its sins, it has remained faithful to that founding promise.Agnès Poirier is a political commentator, writer and critic for the British, American and European press Continue reading...
theguardian · 8 days ago
Greece Makes Strong Presence at Cannes Film Festival 2026 With New Films and Rising Directors Greece is set to make a strong showing at the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, with filmmakers, producers, and industry representatives participating across several sections of the festival and its parallel market events. The festival opened on Tuesday night on the French Riviera with the world premiere of La Venus Electrique by French […]
greek reporter · 8 days ago
Peter Jackson honoured, Demi Moore on AI: inside Cannes opening day The 79th Cannes Film Festival is officially underway, and France 24 is live from the Croisette for its very first Cannes 2026 special. Join Culture Editor Eve Jackson and Film Critic Emma Jones as they break down the biggest moments from opening night: the honorary Palme dOr presented to Peter Jackson, the arrival of Hollywood stars on the red carpet, and the films already creating buzz on the Croisette.
france24 · 8 days ago
Cannes juror denounces Hollywood boycott of actors for Gaza war views 2026 Cannes Film Festival juror Paul Laverty denounced Hollywood for boycotting actors whove opposed the Gaza war.
aljazeera · 8 days ago
Zapper Bolloré: Publishing protest spreads to French cinema at Cannes On the opening day of the Cannes Film Festival, 600 leading figures from the film industry have published an opinion piece condemning the growing influence of the conservative billionaire on the industry, from Canal+ to Grasset, and warning of a threat to creative freedom.
euronews · 8 days ago
Il festival delle seconde vite: da Demi Moore a John Travolta le star che sono rinate a Cannes Nella serata inaugurale a La Croisette si celebrano grandi ritorni: lattrice di The Substance, Peter Jackson premio alla carriera e Jane Fonda simbolo di un festival che continua a reinventare carriere
corriere · 8 days ago
American actor Jane Fonda and Chinese star Gong Li open 2026 Cannes Film Festival The 2026 Cannes Film Festival began on Tuesday with actors Jane Fonda and Gong Li presenting the opening ceremony, and New Zealands Peter Jackson, who directed the Lord of the Rings trilogy, receiving an honorary Palme dOr award for his career.
france24 · 8 days ago
Cannes 2026: il festival al via con Jane Fonda e Gong Li. Frodo premia Peter Jackson Al via la serata inaugurale condotta dalla comica francese di origine Eye Haïdara
corriere · 8 days ago
Cannes 2026: apre il festival con Jane Fonda e Gong Li. Premiato Peter Jackson da Frodo Wood Al via la serata inaugurale condotta dalla comica francese di origine Eye Haïdara
corriere · 8 days ago
Red carpet Cannes 2026: promossi e bocciati. Le onde di Joan Collins, spuntano Romolo e Remo La prima Montée des Marches del settantanovesimo festival di Cannes che parte stasera e andrà avanti fino al 23 maggio
corriere · 8 days ago
Cannes 2026: la cerimonia di apertura del festival con Jane Fonda e Joan Collins Al via la serata inaugurale condotta dalla comica francese di origine Eye Haïdara
corriere · 8 days ago
French media tycoon Vincent Bolloré casts shadow over Cannes opening As the 79th Cannes Film Festival opens on the Croisette, politics is competing with glamour for attention. Hundreds of figures from the French film industry have signed an open letter warning about what they describe as the growing influence of the far right within French cinema and media. At the centre of the controversy is French billionaire and media tycoon Vincent Bolloré, owner of Canal+, the powerful television group that plays a major role in financing French films.
france24 · 8 days ago
Show me the tummy! Tom Cruise doesnt need sleep, help or clothes in Mission: Impossible The Hollywood icon defies age and Arctic climes to save the world in the epic messianic spectacle The Final Reckoning. But why wont he bare his soul?Tom Cruise spends about 30 of the final Mission: Impossible movie in his knickers. It being a very long film, thats a lot of time spent looking at his body, glossy and gnarled and expensive as a walnut armoire, possibly in high-definition Imax and, even if not, certainly as big as a bus.In The Final Reckoning, Cruise unbuttons to wallop goons (twice), wriggle from the Arctic seabed towards the waves, hop on a treadmill and take a long hot shower in front of the crew of a strikingly camp US military submarine. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 1 year ago
Men run away from vulnerability: The Weeknd on blinding success, panic attacks and why The Idol was half-baked Abel Tesfaye is arguably the worlds biggest pop star – so why is he thinking of wrapping up the Weeknd? As he releases soul-baring film Hurry Up Tomorrow, he charts his path through drugs, heartbreak and abandonmentWalking out to perform in front of 80,000 people and finding that your voice has gone: its the type of stress dream you have the night before a big work presentation. But for Abel Tesfaye, AKA the Weeknd, it happened for real at Los Angeles SoFi Stadium in 2022. I ran backstage to find my vocal coach: I cant sing, its not coming out, he says. And what I found out later on is that I was having a panic attack. It wasnt a physical injury. It was more up here – he gestures to his head – than it was here – his throat.The concert, which had to be called off and rescheduled, was the final night of a US stadium tour happening while Tesfaye was also wrapping up his painfully gestated – and eventually widely lampooned – TV series The Idol, which he starred in, co-wrote and co-produced. As production overran, he fitted in shoots around his tour; his own home was the main filming location. He began experiencing sleep paralysis. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 1 year ago
Hurry Up Tomorrow review – The Weeknds meta-thriller plays like a music video Visually effective yet narratively meandering, the stars moody psycho-thriller-cum-therapy-session is a missed opportunityRegrets? The Weeknd has a few. In Hurry Up Tomorrow, a celluloid roman-à-clef pegged to his sixth studio album, the Grammy-winning multi-hyphenate puzzles through the consequences of hooking up with a deranged groupie who forces him to reckon with his rock star flings. But its viewers who will probably be feeling rueful over nearly two hours lost in the end.Though technically a thriller, Tomorrow takes inspiration from a real-life moment of weakness: the Weeknd – born Abel Tesfaye – losing his voice while filming The Idol TV series in between a global stadium tour. As with most of his artistic efforts, the Weeknd makes the job of distinguishing his sincere reflections from his satirical self-observations impossibly hard on audiences and smirks when they dont get the joke. Recall his dizzying Super Bowl half-time show and face-bandage stunt he pulled to promote the After Hours album. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 1 year ago
Cannes bars actor from premiere over sexual assault allegations The Cannes Film Festival barred French actor Théo Navarro-Mussy from attending the premiere of the competition entry Case 137, in whats believed to be a first for the…
japantoday · about 1 year ago
Arts24 in Cannes: The red carpet that rules the world From star-studded glamour to hard-hitting drama, Day 3 of the Cannes Film Festival delivers it all. On todays show with Eve Jackson, we dive into the spectacle of the red carpet – a global symbol of fame, fashion and prestige. But how did it become such a powerful icon? Stella Elgersma takes a closer look.
france24 · about 1 year ago
Ukraine in the spotlight at Cannes Film Festival This years Cannes film festival is giving geopolitics a starring role, most notably, the ongoing war in Ukraine. Three documentaries were screened on the day of the opening ceremony, as well as Sergei Loznitsas latest film The Prosecutor being part of the official selection. FRANCE 24s Jennifer Ben Brahim looks at how the world of cinema is tackling this three-year conflict.
france24 · about 1 year ago
Cannes Film Festival 2025: Is This an Early Front-runner for the Palme dOr? Sound of Falling, which tracks four German girls over the course of a century, drew early raves. But it might not go the distance.
new york times · about 1 year ago
Dossier 137 review – tense gilets-jaunes thriller divides cops loyalties over police brutality Cannes film festival A taut, charged procedural from Dominik Moll follows a conflicted officer investigating violence to a teenage protesterDominik Molls Dossier 137 is a serious, focused, if slightly programmatic movie about police brutality in France; there are docu-dramatic storytelling reflexes and a determined procedural tread. The movie takes its cue from the horrifying real-life cases of gilets-jaunes protesters in Frances 2019 demonstrations who suffered near fatal injuries due to the polices trigger-happy use of the LBD gun: the lanceur de balle de défense or flash ball gun which (deafeningly) fires vicious rubber bullets.Stéphanie, played by Léa Drucker, is a conscientious police officer in the IGPN, the Inspection Générale de la Police Nationale, effectively the Internal Affairs bureau, investigating horrific head injuries suffered by a teen protester, which could only be caused by the cops flash-ball weapons. She is divorced from a cop, Jérémy (Stanislas Merhar) who along with his new girlfriend – also in the police – is gloweringly resentful of what he sees as her bureaus disloyal undermining of the police, and the way she is questioning the corners they (supposedly) have to cut to keep France safe, especially after the Bataclan attacks. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 1 year ago
Palme dOr Projections: Has Cannes Found Its Early Front-runner? Sound of Falling, which tracks four German girls over the course of a century, drew early raves. But it might not go the distance.
new york times · about 1 year ago
Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa decries nightmare of Putin-Trump alliance | Cannes film festival #EU #Europe #Ukraine
mastodon bot · about 1 year ago
Cannes 2025: Nudity ban causes a stir on the red carpet Cannes has rolled out a new dress code banning full nudity and oversized gowns, shaking up red carpet fashion and sparking debate. Culture editor Eve Jackson has the latest, as stars like Halle Berry reveal theyve had to rethink their looks. The move comes after years of sheer, nipple-baring outfits. FRANCE 24s Stella Elgersma hit the Croisette to see how festival-goers are reacting.
france24 · about 1 year ago
Six films to watch this week French crowd-pleaser The Marching Band is a lesson for Hollywood; Good One is a near-flawless debut about a Catskills camping trip; Hallow Road delivers thrills in the confines of a car journey; documentary Deaf President Now! looks back on university protests; The Uninvited is an edgy drama set in a glitzy Hollywood party; The Wedding Banquet updates Ang Lees 1993 movie about a sham marriage — reviews by Danny Leigh
financial times · about 1 year ago
Walking Tall and three-time James Bond star Joe Don Baker dies aged 89 Joe Don Baker leaves behind him a lasting legacy of screen roles on the big and small screen, including the cult film Walking Tall and three James Bond films in the 1980s and 90s - the first of which earned him the honorary distinction of being the first American Bond villain.
euronews · about 1 year ago
Morris the alligator, known for Happy Gilmore and other films, dies around age 80 Famous reptile had a memorable scene in the 1996 comedy with Adam Sandler, along with other movies and TV showsMorris, a famous alligator known for his appearances in movies and TV shows, most notably the 1996 comedy Happy Gilmore, has died at around 80 years old at the Colorado Gator Farm.Adam Sandler, star of Happy Gilmore, posted a tribute to Morris in an X post on Wednesday, recalling the reptiles diva-like behavior on set. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 1 year ago
The 20 best US remakes of foreign language films – ranked! As Spike Lees neo-noir crime thriller Highest 2 Lowest debuts at Cannes film festival, we index the most ravishing Hollywood redos of all timeJeff (Kiefer Sutherland) obsesses over the fate of his missing girlfriend in George Sluizers American remake of his own 1988 Franco-Dutch psychochiller. Is it as devastating as the original? Absolutely not! But Jeff Bridges has never been creepier, and at least the dumb Hollywood ending wont give you nightmares. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 1 year ago
Joe Don Baker, tough-guy actor from Walking Tall and Bond films, dies aged 89 The prolific performer played varied roles – from arms dealer to baseball star – and made the rare switch from Bond villain to Bond good guyTough-guy actor Joe Don Baker, a prolific performer in movies as varied as GoldenEye, Cape Fear and Mud, as well as the BBC TV series Edge of Darkness, has died aged 89.Born in 1936, Baker grew up in small town Texas, and studied business administration at North Texas State College. After a period in the army, Baker moved to New York and joined the Actors Studio in the early 1960s, where he was a contemporary of Rip Torn. Baker made his Broadway debut in 1963 with the Actors Studio company, appearing in Marathon 33, about the dance marathons of the Great Depression, and made his film debut in an uncredited role in 1967 in Cool Hand Luke. He also appeared in numerous TV series, including the pilot episode of a western show called Lancer in 1968, the making of which was fictionalised by Quentin Tarantino in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, with Leonardo DiCaprios Rick Dalton in Bakers role. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 1 year ago
Actor banned from Cannes red carpet after accusations of rape Theo Navarro-Mussy has a secondary role as a police officer in the film Dossier 137 by Dominik Moll which is to premiere on ThursdayThe Cannes film festival said it had banned an actor in a prominent French film from the red carpet on Thursday because of sexual assault allegations against him.Theo Navarro-Mussy has a secondary role as a police officer in the film Dossier 137 by Dominik Moll which is to premiere on Thursday in the festivals main competition. According to French magazine Télérama, which broke the news, Navarro-Mussy was accused of rape by three former partners in 2018, 2019, and 2020, but the case was dropped last month for lack of evidence. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 1 year ago
Dutch movie Rietland receiving rave reviews at Cannes Film Festival The first reviews for the Dutch movie Rietland at the Cannes Film Festival have been praiseful.
nltimes.nl · about 1 year ago