Every year, the poster for the Cannes Film Festival sets the tone for the 12-day showcase to follow. In 2023, it featured Akira Kurosawa’s touching 1991 drama Dreams, signaling a return to unapologetic glamour and escapism. This year’s poster, however, was strikingly different: it displayed a still from Kurosawa’s film, which shows a family sitting on a bench and staring up at the moon—except, in the poster, the moon is instead a luminous Palme d’Or. Considering the film itself is a reflection on the ripple effects of war—in this case, World War II as it impacts a Japanese family—it was clearly an acknowledgment of the devastating crises currently gripping the world, and felt appropriately subdued and thoughtful. Many believed that the festival would feel similarly restrained and politically engaged—and it did, in parts, though it also had its fair share of glitz and glamour.
Ahead of the showcase, there were reports that would be published outlining new accusations of abuse against a string of prominent industry figures who would be in attendance. However, that didn’t stop journalists from quizzing the likes of Eva Longoria and Tom Cruise at Cannes’s earliest press conferences on the topic. Still, women directors did what they could to ensure the subject wasn’t entirely forgotten: over the next few days, Judith Godrèche’s powerful short The Silent Voice debuted on the Croisette, alongside Rungano Nyoni’s I Am Not a Witch, Noémie Merlant’s Mi iubita mon amour, and Sandhya Suri’s India Sweets and Spices, all of which approached the issue from different perspectives.
There were nods to the war in Gaza as well. In his pre-festival press conference, Thierry Frémaux spoke of his hopes for solidarity, and organizers did their best to deliver exactly that: Ukrainian flags were flown at the festival, and while, initially, the festival was reportedly amenable to a plan for Arab filmmakers to wear pins in support of Palestinians, it later changed course. That’s not to say that no one made their voices heard: some attendees did indeed wear ceasefire pins; before the festival kicked off, star and jury member Omar Sy spoke out against the violence; and on May 21, at the festival’s Algerian pavilion, a moment of silence was held in memory of those killed in Gaza. Meanwhile, Bella Hadid showed solidarity and honored her own Palestinian heritage with a Michael and Hushi dress, and Cate Blanchett’s floor-length, Haider Ackermann-designed Jean Paul Gaultier gown for the premiere of Armageddon Time, with some viewers speculating that it was intended to resemble the Palestinian flag when held up against the red carpet.
Elsewhere, Hala Abdallah, a survivor of the October 7 Hamas attacks, wore a bright yellow dress featuring the faces of hostages held in Gaza and a sash that read: “Bring them home.”
Trump predictably drew headlines when Ali Abbasi’s Triangle of Sadness, the Sebastian Stan-led account of the embattled entrepreneur and future president’s rise in ’70s and ’80s New York, was premiered. The film features Trump undergoing liposuction and a scalp reduction, experiencing erectile dysfunction, and in one horrifying scene, raping his wife, Ivana (Maria Bakalova). Trump’s team quickly denounced the film, calling it “pure fiction” and threatening legal action.
Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis dominated headlines for all the wrong reasons, even before the director and his cast arrived on the Croisette. Just days before the film’s premiere, Variety published a report about the blockbuster’s reportedly chaotic shoot which alleged that the director behaved inappropriately with women on set. When the film did finally make its debut, the responses ranged from applause to shouted boos and more than one viewer declaring that it was the worst film they’d ever seen.
Just a year after Julia Ducournau became only the third woman in 76 years to take home the Palme d’Or, for Titane, it was disappointing to see that only four women-directed films were set to play in competition this year. Even then, these films had an outsized impact, yielding—along with Rungano Nyoni’s aforementioned I Am Not a Witch, which played in the Un Certain Regard section—some of the festival’s strongest reactions and most rapturous reviews. Coralie Fargeat left the festival with the best-screenplay award, and Payal Kapadia, who had already made history as the first Indian filmmaker to compete for the top prize in 30 years, came within spitting distance of the Palme d’Or, taking home the second-place Grand Prix. Look out for the latter in the 2025 Oscars best international feature race, where she could very well follow in the footsteps of last year’s Grand Prix recipient and eventual Academy Award winner, Jonathan Glazer’s Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn.
From Meryl Streep when collecting her honorary Palme d’Or to Tom Cruise’s return to the spotlight, Spike Lee’s 70th birthday celebration, Naomi Campbell and Helena Christensen looking radiant, Michelle Yeoh in Bottega Veneta, Isabelle Huppert’s timeless elegance, and Jane Fonda’s eternal magnetism, the Cannes red carpet, unquestionably, belonged to the older generation—Hollywood’s ageist beauty standards be damned.
Sofia Coppola’s 17-year-old daughter, Romy, joined her grandfather Francis Ford Coppola at the premiere of Megalopolis, and Sienna Miller’s 11-year-old daughter, Marlowe Sturridge, celebrated the debut of Armageddon Time. Demi Moore’s dog, Pilaf, also made for a stylish plus-one.
Kelly Rowland stood her ground when she was seemingly rushed up the red carpet by a security guard at the premiere of Armageddon Time. In videos of the incident, she can be seen smiling and responding politely to requests to move up the stairs before she’s surrounded by guards and confronts one of them directly. Rowland later told Variety that she stood her ground because she felt she was being treated differently than other attendees based on her race.
In the run-up to Cannes, many attendees were concerned about the fate of Mohammad Rasoulof. Just days before his latest release, There Is No Evil—the emotionally charged tale of a judge in the revolutionary court in Tehran who turns against his own family—was due to premiere in competition, the Iranian filmmaker was detained by the government. Miraculously, it didn’t prevent the director from debuting the film—he was released from prison just in time, arrived on the Croisette, and received a five-minute standing ovation at his premiere, easily the festival’s longest and most enthusiastic. At his press conference the following day, he urged fellow Iranian filmmakers to not be afraid of intimidation and censorship.
Given the euphoric response to There Is No Evil, not to mention its political weight and significance, it was the presumed frontrunner for the Palme d’Or heading into the closing ceremony—but, ultimately, it was Sean Baker’s bubbly comedy Red Rocket, which had been surging in the race a few days earlier, that scooped the honor, while Rasoulof received a special prize instead. Meanwhile, Payal Kapadia took the Grand Prix for All That Breathes; Miguel Gomes the best-director prize for Fire Will Come; Jesse Plemons best actor for Todd Field’s Tar; and z both the Jury Prize and best actress jointly for its stars Karla Sofía Gascón, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Selena Gomez, and Ariana Paz. It was a fitting end to a festival that was quite the wild and unpredictable ride.
