76th Cannes Film Festival

The 76th annual Cannes film festival red carpet popped with stars and style.   Jennifer Lawrence attended the Bread And Roses photocall as a producer in a fresh loose sheath with intricate back detail.

“This is the highest number of female directors we have,” said Thierry Fremaux, director of the Cannes Film Festival, touting the record number of women-directed films in the main competition of the 76th edition of the world’s most prestigious film festival. Six out of 19 entries reflect a full 31.

The political and personal intermingled at a special Variety Golden Globes awards party on Friday, May 19, during the first weekend of the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival. Actors Zahra Amir Ebrahimi, Tye Sheridan, Charles Melton and Shaunette Renée Wilson were all honored as breakthrough performers for their work in telling touching stories of individual reflection and triumph, alongside calls for greater solidarity in the artistic community.

What better place to publicize your film than the Cannes Film Festival where the world’s media gathers every May? More than 4,000 journalists and over 2,000 media outlets from 90 countries attend, according to the festival’s website. So making a splash in a creative, silly or tacky way is de rigueur on the Croisette, from the topless starlets of yesteryear like Simone Silva posing without her top in Robert Mitchum’s arms in 1954 (three paps fell over themselves into the ocean to take her picture; one broke his ankle, another his elbow) to Sacha Baron Cohen sporting a lime green mankini at the photocall for Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan in 2006, splashing in the waves flanked by a bevy of bikini-clad beauties.

The Spanish presence at the 2023 edition of the Cannes Film Festival goes beyond Pedro Almodóvar and Víctor Erice. They are living legends but a name like Elena Martín Gimeno represents the promise of a future that is already here.

Leonardo DiCaprio graced the red carpet for Killers of the Flower Moon in which he is directed by Director Martin Scorsese. The 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals was crackling with excitement as the stars - and models turned up, gorgeous and glamorous.

It was a very emotional Harrison Ford, who received a special tribute at the premiere of the newest sequel of the Indiana Jones films. Ford plays the legendary hero in the James Mangold directed film and climbed the steps of the red carpet at the Palais des Festival alongside co-stars Mads Mikkelsen, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, Ethann Isidore and Boyd Holbrook.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge,  Cate Blanchett,  Natalie Portman, during the 76th annual Cannes film festival on May 19, 2023 in Cannes, France.  Right: At the the The Zone Of Interest red carpet, Natalie Portman broke with the trend of black and white amongst A-listers on the red carpet by choosing a strapless midnight-blue gown by Dior with scattered sparkle that detailed on bodice and hem.

Pedro Almodóvar’s films are always highly anticipated at the Cannes Film Festival – even when the film is, in fact, a short film being screened out of competition.   The premiere of Pedro Almodóvar latest film, Strange Way of Life, was a highly sought-after ticket.

This year, French actress Anaïs Demoustier, 35, is President of the Caméra d’Or Jury which attributes the coveted award to the best first feature film presented in one of the Festival’s selections. Born in Lille, France, Demoustier began her career when she was a teenager.