Cannes Festival promises escapism in Hollywood-lite edition

The Cannes Film Festival unveiled its roster of films for this year’s edition on Thursday packed with historical dramas, “gentleness” and even football, but with big Hollywood studios notable in their absence. Festival director Thierry Fremaux unveiled 21 films in competition for the main Palme d’Or prize, featuring former winners, newcomers and strong showings from Spain and Japan. Frontrunners for the top prize will include Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda with AI-themed “Sheep in the Box”, Cristian Mungiu from Romania with “Fjord”, and Russian auteur Andrey Zvyagintsev, whose film “Minotaur” focuses on wealthy Russians confronted with conscription.

Spanish veteran and Cannes favourite Pedro Almodovar will appear for the seventh time with his “Amarga Navidad” (“Bitter Christmas”), while exiled Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi will represent Iran with “Histoires Paralleles” (“Parallel Tales”). Commenting on the selection for the May 12-23 festival, Fremaux said many Western films would be a form of escapism from the grim reality of current affairs, with a focus on “gentleness, songs, nature”, while others were “bringing history into the present”.

Introducing the French film “Quelques Mots d’Amour” (“A Few Love Words”) by Rudi Rosenberg, he quipped: “You see? We all need some love and gentleness.” Around 2,500 films were submitted for selection in total, which Fremaux said underlined the vitality of the cinema industry, which is struggling with viewers switching to streaming and home entertainment.

Out of competition, there will be a surprising amount of football at the high temple of French cinema, with documentaries about legendary forward Eric Cantona and the notorious England-Argentina 1986 World Cup match featuring Diego Maradona. American A-listers will be less prominent than usual, although Woody Harrelson and Kristen Stewart are set to star in the Paris-set “Full Phil” by French director Quentin Dupieux. “The United States will be represented. The (Hollywood) studios a bit less,” Fremaux said, while recalling the world premieres of “Top Gun: Maverick” and the last edition of “Mission: Impossible” in previous editions. Tom Cruise arrived on the red carpet by helicopter in 2022 as eight French fighter jets flew overhead.

Some industry insiders have speculated that Hollywood majors are spurning European festivals as platforms for their film premieres, preferring their own social media-led launches as less risky options.

Plane-mad US movie legend John Travolta will bring some serious stardust to Cannes when he presents his directorial debut, “Propeller One-Way Night Coach”, about a young boy’s journey in the “golden age of aviation”. Hollywood and Broadway legend Barbra Streisand will also be on Cannes’ famed waterfront to receive the festival’s Honorary Palme d’Or, as will New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson, best known for “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. American director Steven Soderbergh will present a documentary on John Lennon, titled “The Last Interview”.

Last year’s Cannes, like other European festivals in Berlin and Venice in previous years, was the scene of fierce wrangling about whether the industry and organisers should take a stronger stand on Israel’s devastation of Gaza. Hundreds of film figures, including “Schindler’s List” actor Ralph Fiennes and Richard Gere, denounced “genocide” in the territory in an open letter released on the eve of the event.

The Berlin Film Festival in February found itself at the centre of a storm after jury president Wim Wenders, when asked about the German government’s support for Israel, replied: “We cannot really enter the field of politics.”

“People often say that Cannes is political when the films are political, when the filmmakers are political,” Fremaux said on Thursday, saying that in his view art was “very often political”. The festival itself needed to remain neutral and “does not take political positions”, he added.

Agence France-Presse