‘Art seeks freedom, art includes diversity and so art is threatened! That’s why we are a threat to the autocrats and the fascists of this world, ”said the actor when receiving the Honorary Golden Palm
The began, on Tuesday (13), with the delivery of a hole of honorary gold to the actor, in a politicized climate, with an open letter of conviction to the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, which generated pressure on the jury. The 78th edition of the world’s most important film festival began at 7:15 pm (2:15 pm Brasília) with Robert de Niro’s career recognition award, an actor who has received two Oscar statuettes and, at 81, is one of the main critical voices in the cinema world against President Donald Trump. The award was delivered by Leonardo DiCaprio.
Hollywood actor Robert De Niro said that in the United States “we are fighting fiercely for democracy, which we have always given for a certain”, in a speech at the opening ceremony of the Cannes Festival. “Art is inclusive, unites people, as tonight, art seeks freedom, art includes diversity and so art is threatened! So we are a threat to autocrats and fascists of this world,” said the 81 -year -old actor when receiving the honorary gold palm for his prolific career.
Photojournalist Death
Prior to the opening ceremony, more than 380 personalities from the world of cinema published an open letter in which they denounced the war on, after the death in April, a Palestinian photojournalist who starred in a documentary that will be shown in Cannes.
“We, artists and actors/actresses of the cultural area, we cannot remain silent as a genocide happens in Gaza,” the text says. Signed by Pedro Almodóvar, Susan Sarandon, Richard Gere, Alfonso Cuarón, Javier Bardem and Costa-Gavras, among others, the letter recalls the tragedy of Fatima Hassouna, a photojournalist who died in an Israeli bombing in mid-April.
The death of Fatima and his family occurred a day after the announcement that the documentary “Put Your Soul on You Hand and Walk” (place your soul in hand and Caminhe, in free translation), directed by Iranian Sepideh Farsi and starring the journalist, was selected for accident, a parallel show of the festival.
“What is our profession, if not to learn from history, from engaged movies, if we are not present to protect the oppressed voices?” The signatories ask. “There has to be a concrete statement” on the part of the festival, asked the director of the documentary.
During a press conference just before the opening of the show, the Cannes jury, chaired by the French actress Juliette Binoche, struggled to relativize the subject. “The role of the festival is to select artists, stories and characters that show life in its most horrible and most beautiful aspect,” French writer Leo Slimani reacted, one of the jury’s members. “The festival is political when the artists are,” the event’s delegate was said at a press conference, Thierry Frémaux.
Twenty and movies vie for the Golden Palm
By coincidences of calendar, the opening of the show takes place on the same day of the sentence in Paris as the mediatized trial of French actor Gérard Depardieu, 76. Accused for years by several women of sexual assault and obscene behavior, Depardieu was sentenced in a first trial to 18 months in prison, with conditional suspension of the sentence. The court considered that it was proved that he sexually assaulted a decorator and a direction assistant during a shooting in 2021.
The actor announced through his lawyer that he will appeal the sentence. Binoche, who worked with Depardieu, opined during a press conference that the actor, considered a living legend of French cinema, “is not a monster, but a man” who was “desecrated” by this trial.
The sentence “forces us to reflect on the power that certain people have,” he added. From Wednesday, Croisette will give way to the glamor of world cinema, with the debut outside the eighth competitive show and probably last movie of the series “Mission Impossible”, once again starring star Tom Cruise.
In total, 22 films will compete in the Golden Palm, including seven women directed by women, equaling the record set in 2023. Brazil is part of the competitive show with “The Secret Agent”, by Kleber Mendonça Filho. Prior to the opening ceremony, Cannes will display three documentaries dedicated to the conflict in Ukraine.
This year, the festival’s organization hardened the Red Carpet Rules and announced that too bulky or revealing dresses will not be allowed, which forced the American actress Halle Berry, a jury member, to change the look she had planned for the opening of the show tonight. Nudity will be prohibited, the organizers remembered. Cannes jury, chaired by actress Juliette Binoche, will announce the Golden Palm winner on May 24.
*With information from AFP
Posted by Carolina Ferreira
