What to Expect at The 79th Cannes Film Festival

The 79th Cannes Film Festival centres on prestigious film screenings. That is the official mission. Yet, for the 40,000 accredited attendees — and the thousands more who descend on the French Riviera without a screening pass — the week offers a second, equally rich cultural experience built on fashion and the vibrant lifestyle of the Mediterranean coast. South Korean director Park Chan-wook serves as Jury President, leading a panel that includes Demi Moore and Chloé Zhao to award the Palme d’Or. The festival showcases 22 competition films, high-profile premieres, Cannes Classics and a renewed Immersive Competition. Jury Members include Demi Moore, Ruth Negga, Laura Wandel, Chloé Zhao, Diego Céspedes, Isaach De Bankolé, Paul Laverty, and Stellan Skarsgård.

Alongside the main Competition, the festival awards the Caméra d’Or for best first feature film. Quebec actress, director and screenwriter Monia Chokri presides over the five-member jury. The winner will be announced at the closing ceremony on May 23. Previous winners include The White Ribbon (2009) and The Florida Project (2017) — films that launched directors into international careers.

Cinema remains the stated purpose. Yet the cultural footprint of Cannes extends far beyond the Palais. It lives in the red-carpet protocol, the superyacht harbours and the daily rhythms of the Riviera itself — all of which operate as a second, unprogrammed festival running parallel to the first.

The Films That Matter

This year’s competition is anchored by James Gray’s Paper Tiger, a New York-set crime drama starring Adam Driver, Miles Teller and Scarlett Johansson. The film marks Gray’s sixth entry in competition at Cannes. Other titles to watch include Victorian Psycho, a gothic horror-thriller starring Maika Monroe and Jason Isaacs, will screen in Un Certain Regard. A Girl’s Story marks the feature directing debut of Judith Godrèche. Ulysse, a family drama from Laetitia Masson, will close the same section.

The festival will award two honorary Palmes d’Or. Peter Jackson receives his on opening night, 12 May. Barbra Streisand receives hers at the closing ceremony on 23 May. Jackson, the New Zealand director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, has never competed at Cannes. The honour recognises his 1988 debut Bad Taste, which secured distribution at the Cannes Marché du Film, and his 2001 presentation of Fellowship of the Ring footage at the festival — a screening that helped convert sceptics into a global audience of billions.

Streisand, one of only 22 EGOT winners, receives the honour for her six-decade career as a singer, actor, writer, producer and director. The festival notes her 1983 film Yentl, which made her the first woman to write, direct, produce and star in a major Hollywood studio film, and cites the “uncompromising pursuit of her freedom” as the reason for the award. For the casual observer, these names may not register. But the pattern matters. Cannes remains the premier global marketplace for art-house and prestige cinema. A Palme d’Or win transforms a director’s career. A strong premiere can sell out a film’s entire international distribution in a single week. The exclusive screenings are the engine.

The Red Carpet: Fashion as Currency

Attending a gal

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