Stars descend as Cannes Film Festival opens without Hollywood backing

PARIS (Reuters): Celebrities from Demi Moore to “The Lord of the Rings” star Elijah Wood headed up the red carpet for the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, where the impact of AI and the absence of Hollywood studios are major talking points.

The annual film extravaganza on the French Riviera was declared open by American cinema veteran Jane Fonda and Chinese star Gong Li at a star-studded ceremony attended by “Black Panther” actor Isaach De Bankole and “Spider-Man” James Franco.

Fonda, a vocal critic of US President Donald Trump and long-standing anti-war and women’s rights campaigner, urged the industry to create films that serve as “an act of resistance”.

“We tell the stories… that bring empathy to the marginalised, stories that allow us to feel across difference, stories that let us see that there is an alternative future that is possible,” she said.

Wood,  who starred as Frodo Baggins in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, was reunited with director Peter Jackson on stage as he handed the New Zealand filmmaker an honorary Palme d’Or award for his epic career.

Jackson was typically self-deprecating as he accepted the award to a prolonged standing ovation, saying it was a “stunning surprise, miraculous… I am not a Palme d’Or sort of guy”.

Off-screen events

In the main Cannes competition, which begins Wednesday, a total of 22 films are vying for the prestigious Palme d’Or prize for best film, which was won last year by Iranian movie “It Was Just an Accident” by Jafar Panahi.

The competition features a handful of historical dramas pondering the impact of authoritarianism and fascism, as well as others from arthouse heavy hitters such as Spain’s Pedro Almodovar, Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda or Romania’s Cristian Mungiu.

As usual in the build up to the festival, off-screen events have dominated the conversation, from the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs, Hollywood’s decision to ghost the event, to the under-representation of women directors.

Irish-Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty, one of the nine-person Palme d’Or jury, took a shot at Hollywood in a press conference just hours before the opening ceremony.

“Isn’t it fascinating to see Susan Sarandon, Javier Bardem and Mark Ruffalo blacklisted because of their views in opposing the murder of women and children in Gaza?” Laverty said in reference to the stars who have publicly opposed Israel’s war in Gaza.

“Shame on Hollywood, people who do that,” the Scottish-born writer added.

For years, activists have pushed European festivals to condemn Israel’s war in Gaza, which left tens of thousands dead and devastated the territory – calls that have been resisted.

AI fears

Cannes director Thierry Fremaux came out strongly against AI and its effect on the industry, however, where job losses are mounting.

“What is certain… is that here in Cannes, we stand with the artists, we stand with the screenwriters and we stand with everyone in these professions, with actors and voice actors alike,” he told reporters on Monday.

Nonetheless, the festival said Monday that it had signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with social media giant and AI technology investor Meta.

Mark Zuckerberg’s group is at the heart of a brewing controversy about the latest film from Oscar-winning “Traffic” director Steven Soderbergh, which will premiere in Cannes.

Soderbergh partnered with Meta to obtain AI-generated video of late Beatles songwriter John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono for his documentary “John Lennon: The Last Interview”.

‘Come back’

Soderbergh is a rare Hollywood directing heavyweight in Cannes this year, with others such as Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan – hoped for by organisers – failing to appear on the programme.

The world’s biggest film festival typically relies on Hollywood to provide a dose of mass-market entertainment alongside its programme of arthouse cinema.

But no major US studio agreed to launch a blockbuster this year, or at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, raising questions about why giants such as Universal, Disney or Warner are dodging European events.

“I really hope that the studios come back,” Fremaux said Monday, attributing their absence to scheduling issues and industry turmoil.

He stressed that American cinema was well represented, with “Paper Tiger” by James Gray starring Adam Driver, as well as “The Man I Love” by Ira Sachs featuring Rami Malek, in the main competition.