The 78th Cannes Festival opens within a week under the impact of 100% tariffs on foreign cinema in the United States, an announcement by President Donald Trump that promises to cause reactions in the most important contest of the seventh art.
Accustomed to political controversies, Cannes is at the same time the world showcase of American cinema, either Hollywood or independent.
Cannes is the place where stars disembark, future box office successes are released and promised directors are presented to world criticism.
The “Mission Impossible” team, led by Tom Cruise, will show its eighth and perhaps last delivery in a special gala, out of competition.
The contest will also honor the star Robert de Niro (81 years) with a palm to all its trajectory.
De Niro, a well -known critic of President Trump, will maintain a talk that promises to be full of anecdotes, and Nicole Kidman will receive the women in Motion award in a parallel event, dedicated to women in the world of cinema.
– Spanish and Brazilian cinema –
To date are 21 films in competition, of which seven are led by women, the same figure as in 2023, when the record was broken in the history of the sample.
Among the selected feature films, are “Romería”, by the Spanish Carla Simón (golden bear in Berlin in 2022) and “Sirat”, by the Spanish Oliver Laxe. It is the first time since 2009 that Cannes select two Spaniards to compete for the palm.
On the Latin American side, the Brazilian Kleber Mendonça Filho contest with “secret agent”, a thriller set in 1977, during the military dictatorship.
This tape can remind Walter Salles movie “I’m still here”, box office and Óscar for Best Foreign film this year.
Brazil is on the other hand the guest of honor of the film market, which is celebrated in parallel to the festival (May 13-24).
The Golden Palm concur veteran as the Belgian brothers Dardenne, with a new social drama like those that have already led them to get two maximum awards in the past.
There will also be space for terror, by the hand of the American Ari Aster (“Eddington”) or for family dramas such as “Sound of Falling”, by the German Mascha Schilinski.
– García Bernal as “Magallanes” –
In parallel sections other Latin American proposals highlight.
A certain look welcomes the Chilean “The mysterious look of Flamenco”, Diego Céspedes, as well as “A poet”, of the Colombian Simón Mesa Soto, awarded the golden palm for the best short film in 2014.
A section without awards but that is a good showcase is Cannes Première, where a film Filipina about the explorer Magallanes, played by Mexican Gael García Bernal, and the Chilean film, “La Ola”, by Sebastián Lelio, stand out.
The criticism week, a section dedicated to new talents, integrates “city without sleep”, the first feature film Guillermo Galoe.
Beyond the controversies around the commercial war, Cannes is a forum accustomed to hosting dissonant voices.
“A simple accident”, by Iranian Jafar Panahi, is a film that is little known due to the tensions of the filmmaker with the Ayatolás regime. Panahi is retained in his country.
For hazards of the calendar, the festival begins on May 13 just the same day that a court must give its verdict on the first trial for alleged sexual aggressions during a filming of the French star Gérard Depardieu.
Cannes already received with circumspection last month a hard French parliamentary report on sexual violence in the world of culture. The organizers of the Festival promised to redouble surveillance.
Another emotional moment will be the premiere of the documentary “Once Upon a Time in Gaza”. One of its protagonists, a Palestinian photojournalist, died in mid -April because of an Israeli air attack.
The jury of the contest is chaired by French actress Juliette Binoche. The Golden Palm will be announced on Saturday, May 24.
JZ/ES/MEB
