Cannes 2025: 380 celebrities sign letter condemning Gaza silence, film festival to open with tribute to Ukraine

As the Cannes Film Festival kicks off on Tuesday, everything seems set for a dazzling spectacle filled with a star-studded lineup, renowned filmmakers, and political drama.

The 78th Cannes Film Festival kicks off on Tuesday, with high expectations for what promises to be an exciting edition. The festival will take place from May 13 to May 24.

More than 350 members of the international film community, including well-known figures like Susan Sarandon, Javier Bardem, and Richard Gere, signed an open letter on the eve of the Cannes Film Festival criticising the general lack of discussion about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

The letter, titled "In Cannes, the horror in Gaza must not be silenced," was published Monday night by France's Libération newspaper. It was dedicated "For Fatem," in honour of 25-year-old Gaza artist and photojournalist Fatima Hassouna.

“She was a Palestinian freelance photojournalist. She was targeted by the Israeli army on 16 April, 2025, the day after it was announced that Sepideh Farsi’s film Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk, in which she was the star, had been selected in the ACID section of the Cannes Film Festival. She was about to get married. Since the terrible massacres of 7 October 2023, no foreign journalist has been authorised to enter the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army is targeting civilians. More than 200 journalists have been deliberately killed. Writers, filmmakers and artists are being brutally murdered," the letter read.

The letter, which was released soon after Hamas freed Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, was described as a goodwill gesture in advance of U.S. President Donald Trump's trip to the Middle East, which will not include Israel. In spite of this, 24 hostages are still thought to be alive and about 58 hostages are still missing in Gaza.

In addition to the initial signatories, the open letter was also endorsed by a range of renowned figures, including Pedro Almodóvar, Javier Bardem, Leïla Bekhti, Kaouther Ben Hania, David Cronenberg, Costa-Gavras, Julie Delpy, Alice Diop, Xavier Dolan, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Nicole Garcia, Jonathan Glazer, Alain Guiraudie, Annemarie Jacir, Yórgos Lánthimos, Nadav Lapid, Mike Leigh, Boris Lojkine, Kleber Mendonça, Viggo Mortensen, Laura Poitras, Ruben Östlund, Mark Ruffalo, and Ira Sachs.

As the Cannes Film Festival kicks off on Tuesday, everything seems set for a dazzling spectacle filled with a star-studded lineup, renowned filmmakers, and political drama. The festivities begin with the introduction of Juliette Binoche’s jury, a three-film tribute to Ukraine, and the opening night feature, Leave One Day, a French romance by Amélie Bonnin. During the opening ceremony, Robert De Niro will be honored with an honorary Palme d’Or, nearly five decades after Taxi Driver claimed Cannes' top prize.

Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest, Ari Aster's Eddington, and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning are just a few of the star-studded premieres that will take place in Cannes over the next twelve days. This year's festival is already creating a lot of buzz after a 2024 one that featured a number of Oscar contenders, including Emilia Perez, The Substance, Flow, and the best picture winner Anora.

This year, geopolitical themes are anticipated to be prominent, with a particular emphasis on Ukraine at the Cannes opening. Three documentaries about the conflict will be shown at the festival: Zelensky, Bernard-Henri Lévy's Notre Guerre, and 2000 Meters to Andriivka, a Frontline and Associated Press collaboration helmed by Mstyslav Chernov, the Oscar-winning director of 20 Days in Mariupol. According to the festival, "Ukraine Day" is a potent reminder of the dedication of writers, journalists, and artists to telling the tale of this terrible conflict at the centre of Europe.

Cannes will also honour cinema history with a centenary restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush, set to debut on Tuesday, adding a nostalgic touch to the festival's opening.