Everything you should know about this year's Cannes Film Festival
Euronews Culture discusses the recent Cannes lineup and what to expect from this year's festival amid a bombshell report on sexual abuse within the film industry.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/04/11/everything-you-should-know-about-this-years-cannes-film-festival
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Euronews Culture discusses the recent Cannes lineup and what to expect from this year's festival amid a bombshell report on sexual abuse within the film industry.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/04/11/everything-you-should-know-about-this-years-cannes-film-festival
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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00:00David, the sun shines out. The stars also at the same time are coming out. For many people,
00:18Cannes represents the start of the cinema season. Is that the case?
00:22It is and it isn't. I mean, technically, the start of the cinema season for the year is Berlin,
00:27but it has to be said that Cannes has been siphoning a little bit of Venice's thunder when it comes to being the kingmaker for awards.
00:37So two years ago, there was Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest, and last year was a banner year when it comes to The Apprentice,
00:44The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Amelia Perez, The Substance, and of course Honora, which won the Palme d'Or last year.
00:51All of these films debuted in Cannes, and they went on to win major awards, and in the case of Honora, five Oscars,
00:59including Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Film. So yes, Cannes sets the cinematic agenda for the rest of the year.
01:08I think that is now a fact.
01:10So this year, you know, the announcement's just been made. What are you most looking forward to? What are you excited about?
01:14Quite a bit. It's looking like it's going to be a very bold, big, and beautiful year.
01:20We've got the new Kelly Reinhardt coming.
01:23We have the new Joaquin Trier, who is teaming up again with Renata and Siva.
01:27The two of them work together on The Worst Person in the World, and she won Best Actress in Cannes for that film.
01:33So that film is called Sentimental Value.
01:35Then there's the new Ari Aster with Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone is also in this one.
01:42Also, Oliver Herman's The History of Sound, which will star Josh O'Connor and Paul Mescal in a gay musical.
01:51So that one's going to break the internet.
01:52I mean, one I'm particularly looking forward to is the new film by Juliette de Cornu,
01:56the French filmmaker who gave us Grave and Titane.
01:59Titane, which won the Palma d'Or, and it is breathtakingly good, mind-meltingly violent.
02:05So there are a lot of really, really great films.
02:07And that's not without mentioning the fact that Tom Cruise is going to be there for the eighth Mission Impossible film.
02:13That'll be out of competition.
02:15Potentially the final one.
02:17The director, Christopher McQuarrie, said that this could potentially be the final one.
02:21And it's worth mentioning that in the Un Certains Regards sidebar, there's Scarlett Johansson and Harris Dickinson,
02:30two actors who are making their directorial debut.
02:32So that'll be something to look forward to as well.
02:35OK, now Cannes, as you mentioned, many prominent filmmakers, they're female filmmakers.
02:40How does Cannes stand up compared to the others and also for this edition in terms of representation?
02:45It's a very good question.
02:47Usually Berlin tends to lead the way in this thing.
02:50And film festivals like Cannes, Berlin and Venice signed a few years ago a pledge 50-50 by 2020.
02:59That's not been the case.
03:00But this year there are six female filmmakers in competition out of 19.
03:05Now, it's worth keeping in mind Thierry Frémont, when he made the announcement,
03:09said that 2,909 films had been submitted to Cannes.
03:15So people talking about the death of cinema really don't know what they're talking about.
03:1919 films in competition, six directed by women.
03:22Now, this is important, and I'll quote Coralie Farger, the director of The Substance, who we talked to last year,
03:32who said that she was in favour of quotas.
03:34Because if you see the data in a very pragmatic way, there is still a discrepancy when it comes to representation.
03:43And hopefully one day we will reach a point where, you know, whether a film is directed by a man or a woman, it shouldn't matter.
03:49And it has to be said that still, in today's landscape, in the film industry,
03:55there aren't the same opportunities afforded to certain filmmakers, depending on their gender.
04:01Perhaps there's something in the timing this week.
04:03We've had this big, massive announcement at the same time as, you know,
04:07just coming hot off the heels of that French parliamentary committee,
04:10looking into sex abuse within the cinema and the French film industry.
04:16You know, what can we read into that timing?
04:18Right. I mean, the timing is fortuitous, potentially planned.
04:23So there was this bombshell report.
04:26It is six months in the making, over 100 hearings, over 400 interviews.
04:33And this committee report about violence in culture in general, but cinema and the film industry,
04:40has basically said that the sexist and sexual abuse is systemic.
04:47It is endemic, it is endemic, and it is persistent.
04:51And through this report, it says that essentially film festivals and the industry in general need to do better.
04:58Sandrine Rousseau, who is the chairwoman of this committee report,
05:02has directly addressed Cannes in saying that things need to change.
05:07To quote her directly, that Cannes needs to be the place to change attitudes.
05:12She says that Cannes has the responsibility to say,
05:14we hear you, we believe you, we support you, and we no longer want this structured in this way.
05:21So it'll be very interesting to see how Cannes addresses this in a meaningful way,
05:26to change mindsets, to change attitudes, and certainly to lead the way.
05:31Now, this is not going to happen overnight, obviously,
05:34but a report as vital as this, and as damning, is not something that can be ignored.
05:39So this 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will obviously focus on art,
05:45on the films in and of themselves, which shouldn't be overshadowed by this report.
05:50But it will be one of the major talking points of this year's festival, and necessarily so.
05:54Indeed, and we will be on the Quasette as well to give our audience more on that,
05:59as well as some of the films that we can see on the silver screen.
06:02So for now, David Morricone, thank you very much.