The 78th Cannes Film Festival got underway Tuesday, kicking off two weeks of French Riviera frenzy. Here are five things to look for at this year’s Cannes:
Oscar season starts now
It might still be springtime, but, make no mistake, multiple Oscar campaigns will be launched in Cannes.
Recent Cannes editions have produced several best-picture winners, including Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” and this year’s winner, “Anora” by Sean Baker. The sway Cannes has on the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has only grown in recent years as the academy has expanded its overseas membership — many of them European voters who closely follow the buzz in Cannes.
At the Oscars in March, three Cannes entries — “Anora,” “Emilia Perez” and “The Substance” — were among the 10 best-picture nominees. Less heralded movies can also emerge. The Latvian animated charmer “Flow” premiered last year in Cannes before its upset win at the Oscars.
As ever, a wide-open Palme d’Or race
Before we get to the Academy Awards, though, Cannes will hand out its own prize, the Palme d’Or.
Deliberations by the jury (headed this year by Juliette Binoche ) are held entirely in private, so predicting the Palme is no easier than it was guessing the next pope. That doesn’t stop bookies from handicapping the race and plenty of guesswork up and down the Croisette.
This year’s competition lineup features two previous Palme winners in Julia Ducournau (who returns with “Alpha,” her follow-up to “Titane”) and Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (two-time winners, back this year with “The Young Mother’s Home”).
Some of the movies that could be in the mix include Lynne Ramsay’s “Die, My Love,” Jafar Panahi’s “A Simple Accident” and Mascha Schilinksi’s “Sound of Falling.” Or it could be Chie Hayakawa’s “Renoir,” Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” or Ari Aster’s “Eddington.” Or it could be … well, you get the idea.
Who will shine on the red carpet in Cannes?
Cannes has a power to burnish even the most established stars, and its red carpet will, for the next 10 days, host a nonstop parade of them. (And they will be clothed, as per Cannes’ latest etiquette protocol.)
Among those on tap are Tom Cruise with “Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning” on Wednesday; Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest,” with Denzel Washington; Wes Anderson’s “The Phoenician Scheme,” with a cast featuring Benicio Del Toro and Michael Cera; Ari Aster’s “Eddington,” with Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal and Emma Stone; and Oliver Hermanus’ “The History of Sound,” with Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor.
O’Connor also stars in Kelly Reichardt’s “The Mastermind,” scheduled as one of the festival’s last premieres.
How will the actors-turned-directors fare?
Three stars are coming to Cannes with their first features behind the camera: Scarlett Johansson (“Eleanor the Great”), Kristen Stewart (“The Chronology of Water”) and Harris Dickinson (“Urchin”). All are premiering in the Cannes sidebar Un Certain Regard, which means they won’t have quite the pressure of the competition lineup. But there’s no calm or easygoing section of Cannes, and each could emerge from the festival either minted as a filmmaker or humbled by critics.
Will the threat of tariffs dampen deal making?
While Cannes movie screens light up with films, deal making transpires along the Croisette. Cannes draws studios, producers and sales agents all on the hunt for acquisitions. But when U.S. President Donald Trump last week announced that he wants to enact tariffs on films made outside the U.S., it threw a giant wrench in the border-crossing dealmaking that Cannes specializes in. Yet with little detail on any possible tariffs and widespread doubt over its feasibility, the buying and selling of movies might not be slowed.
