- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
- Lebanon doctors tell of horror after pager blasts
- McIlroy eyes Wentworth glory after Irish Open collapse
- Italy seen overtaking France as world's largest wine producer
- Hezbollah vows vengeance on Israel for pager blasts
- Brook expects unified England after McCullum's white-ball takeover
- Kamindu Mendis century rescues Sri Lanka against New Zealand
- Two dead in botched armed raid on Russian retailer's office
- UK train drivers back govt pay deal to end strikes
- Man who copied French rapist says he deserves to punished
- Eriksen will wait to settle Man Utd future
- Former England striker Carroll signs for fourth-tier Bordeaux
- Van Dijk hails Liverpool's 'calm' response in win over AC Milan
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ |
Cannes film fest returns with comebacks, strikes, Trump and MeToo
The Cannes Film Festival starts Tuesday with an action-packed script including the comeback of Hollywood icons, fears of a strike, a Donald Trump biopic and the shadow of MeToo accusations.
The return of "The Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola with his decades-in-the-making epic "Megalopolis" is the most anticipated of this year's entries for the top prize Palme d'Or.
It is one of 22 films competing for the affections of a jury led by "Barbie" director Greta Gerwig, which will announce its verdict on May 25.
Those walking the red carpet include actors Richard Gere, Demi Moore and Kevin Costner, all present in new films. Three-time Oscar-winner Meryl Streep and "Star Wars" creator George Lucas will also receive honorary awards.
And the latest from George Miller's "Mad Max" universe, "Furiosa", starring Anya Taylor-Joy, will also get its world premiere on Wednesday.
But there are darker plotlines at the 77th edition of the festival.
France's film industry is in the midst of a belated MeToo reckoning, with a string of accusations against its biggest star, Gerard Depardieu, and rumours in the run-up to Cannes of more accusations to come against high-profile figures.
Actor Judith Godreche, who has accused two directors of assaulting her when she was a teenager, is presenting a short film, "Moi Aussi" (Me Too) aimed at encouraging more women to come forward.
Meanwhile, one of the directors in competition, Iran's award-winning Mohammad Rasoulof, has just been jailed in his home country on security charges days before he was due to present "The Seed of the Sacred Fig".
And a group of festival employees have called for a strike over pay and conditions that could cause disruption at the event.
- Trump, Coppola, Stone -
Among the entries for the Palme d'Or is "The Apprentice", a biopic of Trump's formative years from Iranian-born director Ali Abbasi. It stars Sebastian Stan, known for playing the Winter Soldier in Marvel films.
And "Emilia Perez" has quite the synopsis: a musical about a Mexican cartel boss undergoing a sex change to escape the authorities, directed by France's own Golden Palm winner Jacques Audiard. Pop superstar Selena Gomez appears in a supporting role.
But the hot ticket is undoubtedly Coppola's "Megalopolis" on Thursday. A Roman epic set in modern-day New York, it stars Adam Driver as a visionary architect seeking to rebuild the crumbling city.
There is a growing sense of anticipation over whether the 85-year-old director can match his masterpieces of the 1970s, when he twice won the Palme d'Or for "Apocalypse Now" and "The Conversation".
Elsewhere, Emma Stone reunites with director Yorgos Lanthimos, fresh from their Oscar triumph with "Poor Things", for "Kinds of Kindness".
It co-stars up-and-coming actor Margaret Qualley, daughter of Andie McDowell, who also features in Demi Moore's unlikely comeback, slasher-horror "The Substance".
Film fans are also excited for new works from body-horror maestro David Cronenberg ("The Shrouds"), Italy's Paolo Sorrentino ("Parthenope") and Oliver Stone ("Lula", a documentary about Brazil's president).
Playing out of competition, Costner returns to his favourite genre, the Western, with the epic "Horizon, an American Saga".
And one of China's biggest-ever productions, "She's Got No Name", features megastar Ziyi Zhang tackling the highly sensitive topic of women's rights.
Legendary Japanese animators Studio Ghibli -- makers of "Spirited Away", "My Neighbour Totoro" and "Howl's Moving Castle" -- will receive an honorary Palme d'Or, the first offered to a group.
P.Queiroz--PC