The China Mail - Cannes Festival under pressure to take stance on Gaza war

More than 380 film insiders including "Schindler's List" actor Ralph Fiennes and four former Cannes-winning directors said they were "ashamed" of their industry's "passivity".

"We cannot remain silent while genocide is taking place in Gaza," read the letter initiated by several pro-Palestinian activist groups and published in French newspaper Liberation and US magazine Variety.

The signatories -- which include Hollywood stars Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon as well as acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar and former Cannes winners Ruben Ostlund, Mike Leigh and Costa-Gavras -- decried the death of Gazan photojournalist Fatima Hassouna.

Hassouna, 25, is the subject of a documentary which will premiere in Cannes on Thursday by exiled Iranian director Sepideh Farsi, titled "Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk".

Hassouna was killed along with 10 relatives in an Israeli air strike on her family home in northern Gaza last month, the day after the documentary was announced as part of the ACID Cannes selection.

Farsi called on Cannes Festival organisers to denounce Israel's ongoing bombardment and siege of the Palestinian territory which faces a "critical risk of famine", according to a recent UN report.

"There needs to be a real statement," she told AFP.

This year's Cannes jury president Juliette Binoche was initially said by organisers to have signed the petition but her spokeswoman told AFP that she had not endorsed it.

She is set to speak at a press conference at 1230 GMT along with fellow jury members.

Other notable signatories of the open letter include Jonathan Glazer, the British director of Jewish origin who won an Oscar for his 2023 Auschwitz drama "The Zone of Interest", as well as US star Mark Ruffalo and Spanish actor Javier Bardem.

- War programming -

Other off-screen news in France also risked overshadowing the red-carpet action in Cannes on Tuesday, which will begin at 1715 GMT with an opening ceremony headlined by Robert De Niro.

In a court decision followed by the entire film world, legendary French actor Gerard Depardieu was convicted Tuesday in a Paris court of sexual harassment and handed an 18-month suspended prison sentence.

The 76-year-old, who has acted in more than 200 films and television series, is the highest-profile figure caught up in France's response to the #MeToo movement against sexual violence.

Cannes Festival director Thierry Fremaux declined to comment on the case at a press conference on Monday.

Fremaux will be hoping the festival's film selections take greater prominence in the following days, although politics and the outside world often dominate the conversation in Cannes.

"I have a habit of saying that the festival is political because artists are," he told journalists.

De Niro is set to receive an honorary Palme d'Or award at the opening ceremony from 1715 GMT.

The inaugural film is "Leave One Day" by newcomer French director Amelie Bonnin, who will become the first debut director to be granted the prestigious opening slot.

Three documentary films showing the devastation of Russia's war on Ukraine are also set to be screened on Tuesday as part of a "Ukraine Day" of programming.

- Cruise in town -

While independent cinema forms the core of the Cannes festival, organisers also hand over part of the programme to major Hollywood studios to promote their blockbusters.

Tom Cruise is set to return to the Riviera for the premiere of the latest instalment of his "Mission: Impossible" franchise on Wednesday, three years after he lit up the festival while promoting "Top Gun: Maverick".

After US President Donald Trump threatened to implement 100-percent tariffs on movies "produced in foreign lands", Fremaux talked up the prominence of US-made films in Cannes.

Movies from directors Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Ari Aster and Kelly Reichardt are competing for the top Palme d'Or award in the main competition of 22 movies.

"American cinema remains great cinema. The United States remains a great country of cinema," he said.

The festival will also see a series of high-profile debut films from actors-turned-directors, including "Eleanor the Great" from Scarlett Johansson and "The Chronology of Water" by Kristen Stewart.

Organisers on Monday denied reports that they had banned provocative near-nude dresses from the red carpet.

However, "full nudity on the red carpet" has been formally outlawed, "in keeping with French law".

R.Lin--ThChM