Robert De Niro is expected at Tuesday’s opening ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival, during which the 81-year-old is to receive an honorary Palm d’Or for his life’s work – much of it having graced the event over the last 50 years.
“I have such close feelings for Festival de Cannes,” De Niro said when his award was announced last month.
“Especially now when there’s so much in the world pulling us apart, Cannes brings us together — storytellers, filmmakers, fans, and friends. It’s like coming home.”
The opening ceremony will be followed by a screening of “Partir un jour” (“Leave One Day”) by French director Amélie Bonnin, telling the story of a woman who leaves her hometown to build a life of her own but must return for a family emergency.
22 films vie for the Palme d’Or
Running until May 24, Cannes is considered the paramount film festival in the world alongside the Venice Film Biennale.
A total of 22 films will compete for the Palme d’Or top prize this year, including Lynne Ramsay’s “Die, My Love” with Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, and “Eddington” by Ari Aster, with Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Austin Butler and Joaquin Phoenix.
German director Mascha Schilinski’s historical drama “Looking into the Sun” is also among the line-up.
Outside of the main competition, the directorial debuts of Kristen Stewart (“The Chronology of Water”) and Scarlett Johansson (“Eleanor the Great”) will be shown in the Un Certain Regard section, which showcases unusual styles and non-traditional stories.
There are also numerous star-studded premieres, such as “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” with Tom Cruise, “Amrum” by Fatih Akin with Diane Kruger, and “Highest 2 Lowest” by Spike Lee with Denzel Washington.
On Tuesday, three films addressing the war in Ukraine will be shown as a special programme.
Among them, “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” the new documentary by Oscar-winning Ukrainian journalist and filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov, follows the fortunes of a group of Ukrainian soldiers.