FESTIVAL DE CANNES

Referencing an array of iconic figures— James Stewart, Jean Gabin, Josephine Baker, Marlene Dietrich, Richard Gere, Isabelle Adjani, Taraneh Alidoosti, Rock Hudson, Adèle Haenel, and Volodymyr Zelensky— Laurent Lafitte called on us to emulate their boldness“ 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.’” Standing beneath the emblematic embrace featured on this year’ s official poster, he reflected further:“ We always wonder if cinema can change the world. But if we’ re asking it for more inclusivity, more representation, more parity, then clearly it can change the world.

And sometimes, it only takes telling the story of a man and a woman to reach the sublime and the universal.” The evening’ s master of ceremonies then welcomed to the stage the distinguished nine members of this year’ s Feature Film Jury: Halle Berry, Payal Kapadia, Alba Rohrwacher, Leïla Slimani, Dieudo Hamadi, Hong Sangsoo, Carlos Reygadas, Jeremy Strong, and presiding over them all— Juliette Binoche, who, as it was fondly noted,“ was born an actress in this very room.”

The French actress spoke with a sensitivity finely attuned to the unrest stirring across the globe— urging us to nurture gentleness and trust, to come together, to dispel ignorance, to release fear and ishness, to shift our course, and in the face of pride, to reclaim hum all regions of the world,” she added,“ artists are fighting every day a that resistance into art. On April 16 at dawn, in Gaza, 25-year-old nalist Fatima Hassouna and ten of her loved ones were killed by a struck their home. She had written:‘ Death passed through me.