At Cannes opening, Robert De Niro calls Trump ‘America’s philistine president’

The Palais des festivals ahead of the 78th international film festival in Cannes, southern France, Sunday, May 11, 2025. The Cannes film festival runs from May 13 until May 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

CANNES, France — Much of the cinema world, including Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio and Quentin Tarantino, descended on the Cannes Film Festival as the French Riviera extravaganza got its 78th edition underway Tuesday.

Expectations are running high for a potentially banner Cannes. All of the ingredients -- loads of stars, top-tier filmmakers, political intrigue -- seem to be lined up. Over the next 12 days, Cannes will play host to megawatt premieres including those of “Mission: Impossible -- The Final Reckoning,” Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest” and Ari Aster’s “Eddington.”

DiCaprio skirted the red carpet but drew a standing ovation when he presented De Niro with an honorary Palme d’Or. The moment, which brought together two of Martin Scorsese’s most regular stars, came 49 years after “Taxi Driver” was crowned with the Palme d’Or.

DiCaprio praised De Niro as “the archetype” actor, while also praising the 81-year-old performer -- a fierce critic of U.S. President Donald Trump -- for “fighting for our democracy.” When the crowd rose to its feet for a lengthy ovation for De Niro, DiCaprio handed him the Palme. “Thanks, kiddo,” said De Niro.

After thanking the festival, De Niro quickly turned to speaking about Trump, who recently said he wants to enact a tariff on films made outside the country.

“Art is the truth. Art embraces diversity. And that’s why art is a threat to the autocrats and the fascists of the world,” said De Niro. “America’s philistine president has had himself appointed head of one of America’s premier cultural institutions. He has cut funding and support to the arts, humanities and education. And now he announced a 100% tariff on films made outside the United States. You can’t put a price on connectivity.”

A busy opening day

The opening ceremony, which preceded the premiere of Amelie Bonnin’s French romance “Leave One Day,” was attended by Tarantino, who emerged to grandly declare the festival open, and then promptly dropped the mic and walked off stage. On Wednesday, Tarantino will pay tribute to Western filmmaker George Sherman. Also in attendance: Sean Baker, the “Anora” director and last year’s Palme d’Or winner.

The ceremony capped a busy day at Cannes that included a three-film salute to Ukraine, the introduction of the jury that will decide the Palme d’Or, headed by Juliette Binoche, and the debut of a restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s “The Gold Rush” for its 100th anniversary.

Cannes is coming off a 2024 festival that produced a number of eventual Oscar contenders, including “Emilia Perez,” “The Substance,” “Flow” and the best picture winner, “Anora. ” Asked Monday if he’s feeling the pressure this time around, festival director Thierry Fremaux said the only kind of pressure he believes in is in beer. (Beer on tap in France is “biere a la pression.”)

Cannes launched the same day Gerard Depardieu, one of France’s most famous actors, was found guilty of having sexually assaulted two women on a 2021 film set. In one of France’s most prominent .MeToo cases, Depardieu was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence. The 76-year-old has long been a regular presence at Cannes.

The introduction of Binoche’s jury

This year’s Cannes Film Festival, the premier international cinematic gathering, is also unspooling following Trump’s call for tariffs on movies made overseas. Confusion over the still-unformed plans characterized most responses.

“I don’t know what to say, really, about that,” Binoche told reporters Tuesday. “We can see that he’s fighting and trying in many different ways to save America and save his ass.”

Along with Binoche, the other eight jurors include Halle Berry and Jeremy Strong, who was unable to attend Cannes last year for the premiere of his Trump film “The Apprentice.” Strong referenced that film, which led to his first Oscar nomination, in his comments on the American president Tuesday.

“Truth is under assault,” said Strong. “Specifically at this temple of film, the role of film is increasingly critical because it can combat those forces in the entropy of truth, and can communicate truths, individual truths, human truths, societal truths, and affirm and celebrate our shared humanity.”

Berry, responding to Cannes’ new protocols on attire for the red carpet, said she had “an amazing dress” with a long train for the opening ceremony but wore something else instead. Cannes has outlawed nudity and dresses with long trains for its evening premieres at the Palais.

“I had to make a pivot,” said Berry. “But the nudity part, I do think is probably also a good rule.”

A starry lineup, with geopolitics playing a co-starring role

Cannes will follow up Tuesday’s festivities with the return Wednesday of Tom Cruise. Three years after he brought “Top Gun: Maverick” to the festival, he’s back with the latest “Mission: Impossible” movie.

Twenty-two films will vie for Cannes’ top prize, the Palme d’Or, to be presented May 24. Those films include Wes Anderson’s “The Phoenician Scheme,” Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague,” Lynne Ramsay’s “Die, My Love,” Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value,” Kelly Reichardt’s “The Mastermind,” Oliver Hermanus’ “The History of Sound,” Julia Ducournau’s “Alpha” and Jafar Panahi’s “A Simple Accident.”

In Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, three prominent actors are making their directorial debuts: Harris Dickinson (“Urchin”), Kristen Stewart (“The Chronology of Water”) and Scarlett Johansson (“Eleanor the Great”).

Geopolitics are likely to play a starring role at Cannes, which began by screening three 2025 Ukraine documentaries: “Zelensky,” Bernard-Henri Levy’s “Notre Guerre” and The Associated Press-Frontline coproduction “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” by “20 Days in Mariupol” Oscar winner Mstyslav Chernov.

“This `Ukraine Day’ is a reminder of the commitment of artists, authors and journalists to tell the story of this conflict in the heart of Europe,” the festival said in a statement.

On Tuesday, more than 350 filmmakers, actors and others in the film industry -- including Richard Gere, Pedro Almodovar, Javier Bardem, Viggo Mortensen and Mark Ruffalo, published an open letter in the French newspaper Liberation and in Variety calling on cinema institutions to more forcefully respond to what they called “genocide in Gaza.”

ACID, a Cannes parallel section, includes the documentary “Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk.” It’s about Fatma Hassona, a 25-year-old Palestinian photojournalist who was killed the day after the selection of the documentary was announced in April.

“Why is it that cinema, a breeding ground for socially committed works, seems to be so indifferent to the horror of reality and the oppression suffered by our sisters and brothers?” the letter read.

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Article written by Jake Coyle, The Associated Press

Jake Coyle has covered the Cannes Film Festival since 2012. To prepare for this year, he practiced eating crepes on the run and interviewed filmmakers on three continents who are in competition for Cannes’ top honour, the Palme d’Or.