Stars strive to dispel tariff gloom at Cannes Film Festival

Movie legends from Tom Cruise to Denzel Washington will gather in Cannes this week for the 78th incarnation of its film festival as the industry tries to shake off worries over dwindling audiences and threatened US tariffs.

Cruise will launch what is touted as the last in his Mission: Impossible franchise, and scores of others will be hoping to follow the path that last year's top prize winner Anora took to Oscar glory.

Alongside them, Robert De Niro will receive a lifetime achievement award and star actors Scarlett Johansson, Kristen Stewart and Harris Dickinson will all try their hands as directors with films competing in the smaller categories.

A week ago, US President Donald Trump shook the global film industry by announcing a 100% tariff on movies produced outside the country, a statement that left many studio executives alarmed and baffled about when the levies might be applied or how they might come into force.

In Cannes, the worries have dominated back room conversations, but made no dent on the frontline announcements.

“Nobody wants to be talking about tariffs and Trump here,” said Scott Roxborough, European bureau chief for The Hollywood Reporter.

“In the industry, everybody's going to be talking about it.”

The festival kicked off on Tuesday night. The decisions of its jury, chaired by France's Juliette Binoche with Monster's Ball star Halle Berry with her on the panel, will be closely watched.

Anora, the winner of Cannes' top prize the Palme d'Or in 2024, went on to take home five Oscars. Cannes' top film in 2023, Anatomy of a Fall, later won one Academy Award. Its pick in 2019, Parasite, memorably became the first non-English-language film to win the best picture Oscar.

This year, US director Wes Anderson will launch his new movie The Phoenician Scheme, which will be competing against independent films including Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value and Julia Ducournau's Alpha.

Films screening outside the competition include Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning and Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest starring Denzel Washington.

Hollywood's travails might not be centre stage, but world politics has made it into the programme.

Three films about the war in Ukraine will be shown as part of a “Ukraine Day” event.

All screenings are sold out for Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk, which follows 25-year-old Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona, who was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza in April, one day after it was announced the documentary had been chosen for the festival's Acid programme.

Reuters