Cannes, May 14 (UNI) The 78th Festival de Cannes opened its grand doors on Tuesday evening at the Grand Théâtre Lumière, a ceremony that was as much a celebration of cinema as it was a mirror to the world’s conscience.
Master of ceremonies French actor Laurent Lafitte opened with a moving homage to the late Belgian actress Émilie Dequenne, who luminous presence once graced the Festival’s stage. “She was born at the Festival de Cannes. Her humble, powerful grace will be missed.”
Citing James Stewart, Jean Gabin, Josephine Baker, Marlene Dietrich, Richard Gere, Isabelle Adjani, Taraneh Alidoosti, Rock Hudson, Adèle Haenel and Volodymyr Zelensky, Laurent Lafitte urged us to follow their courage “through our words, our choices, and our refusals, so that we may live up to Frank Capra’s words: ‘Only the daring should make films.”
This year’s Feature Film Jury- comprising Halle Berry, Payal Kapadia, Alba Rohrwacher, Leïla Slimani, Dieudo Hamadi, Hong Sangsoo, Carlos Reygadas and Jeremy Strong, and their President: Juliette Binoche, was welcomed on stage in a moving segment that reaffirmed the Festival’s commitment to inclusivity and global representation.
Binoche, with quiet strength, delivered a speech that echoed far beyond the festival walls. The French actress delivered words attuned to the rumblings of the world, inviting us to nurture gentleness and trust, to come together, to heal ignorance, to shed fear and selfishness, to change course, and in the face of pride, to reclaim humility.
“In all regions of the world,” she added, “artists are fighting every day and turning that resistance into art. On April 16 at dawn, in Gaza, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna and ten of her loved ones were killed by a missile that struck their home. She had written: ‘Death passed through me. The shooter’s bullet pierced me, and I became an angel.’ The day before her death, she learned that the film she appeared in had been selected here, at the Festival de Cannes. Fatima should have been with us tonight. Art endures. It is the powerful witness of our lives and our dreams—and we, the audience, embrace it. May the Festival de Cannes, where everything can shift, contribute to this!”
The ceremony then segued into a spectral homage to the late David Lynch, a paragon of cinematic surrealist. French-Canadian artist Mylène Farmer graced the stage with an unreleased track dedicated to Lynch, an elegiac lullaby that floated through the auditorium like a whispered to the cosmos.
The highlight of the evening came with the arrival of Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio, who received a thunderous standing ovation. He presented the Honorary Palme d’Or to legendary actor Robert De Niro, praising his artistic legacy and his fearless collaborative with Martin Scorsese.
De Niro, dignified and resolute, used the occasion to champion the defence of democracy and artistic liberty.
The ceremony ended on a high note as director Quentin Tarantino burst onto the stage and roared, “IT’S MY HONOUR TO DECLARE THE 78TH FESTIVAL OPEN!!!”
In keeping with Cannes’ growing emphasis on accessibility, the ceremony and opening film, “Partir un jour (Leave One Day), the directorial debut of Amélie Bonnin, were simultaneously screened across 382 cinemas in 90 French departments. Initiated by the Festival de Cannes alongside France Télévision, the Fédération Nationale des Cinémas Français and the CNC, this initiative also enjoys the friendly support of the AFCAE.
