What to Expect at The 79th Cannes Film Festival

The 79th Cannes Film Festival centres on prestigious film screenings. That is the official mission. Yet, for the 40,000 accredited attendees — and the thousands more who descend on the French Riviera without a screening pass — the week offers a second, equally rich cultural experience built on fashion and the vibrant lifestyle of the Mediterranean coast. South Korean director Park Chan-wook serves as Jury President, leading a panel that includes Demi Moore and Chloé Zhao to award the Palme d’Or. The festival showcases 22 competition films, high-profile premieres, Cannes Classics and a renewed Immersive Competition. Jury Members include Demi Moore, Ruth Negga, Laura Wandel, Chloé Zhao, Diego Céspedes, Isaach De Bankolé, Paul Laverty, and Stellan Skarsgård.

Monia Chokri, Quebe-based actress, director and screenwriter will be part of the five-member jury at the festival. Image: Vincent Storaro.

Alongside the main Competition, the festival awards the Caméra d’Or for best first feature film. Quebec actress, director and screenwriter Monia Chokri presides over the five-member jury. The winner will be announced at the closing ceremony on May 23. Previous winners include The White Ribbon (2009) and The Florida Project (2017) — films that launched directors into international careers.

Cinema remains the stated purpose. Yet the cultural footprint of Cannes extends far beyond the Palais. It lives in the red-carpet protocol, the superyacht harbours and the daily rhythms of the Riviera itself — all of which operate as a second, unprogrammed festival running parallel to the first.

The Films That Matter

Adam Driver (left) and James Gray. Image: Worldofreel.com

This year’s competition is anchored by James Gray’s Paper Tiger, a New York-set crime drama starring Adam Driver, Miles Teller and Scarlett Johansson. The film marks Gray’s sixth entry in competition at Cannes. Other titles to watch include Victorian Psycho, a gothic horror-thriller starring Maika Monroe and Jason Isaacs, will screen in Un Certain Regard. A Girl’s Story marks the feature directing debut of Judith Godrèche. Ulysse, a family drama from Laetitia Masson, will close the same section.

The festival will award two honorary Palmes d’Or. Peter Jackson receives his on opening night, 12 May. Barbra Streisand receives hers at the closing ceremony on 23 May. Jackson, the New Zealand director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, has never competed at Cannes. The honour recognises his 1988 debut Bad Taste, which secured distribution at the Cannes Marché du Film, and his 2001 presentation of Fellowship of the Ring footage at the festival — a screening that helped convert sceptics into a global audience of billions.

EGOT winner Barbra Streisand will be honoured for her decades-long work. Image: Variety.

Streisand, one of only 22 EGOT winners, receives the honour for her six-decade career as a singer, actor, writer, producer and director. The festival notes her 1983 film Yentl, which made her the first woman to write, direct, produce and star in a major Hollywood studio film, and cites the “uncompromising pursuit of her freedom” as the reason for the award. For the casual observer, these names may not register. But the pattern matters. Cannes remains the premier global marketplace for art-house and prestige cinema. A Palme d’Or win transforms a director’s career. A strong premiere can sell out a film’s entire international distribution in a single week. The exclusive screenings are the engine.

The Red Carpet: Fashion as Currency

The red carpet event will bring together the brightest talents in the film industry. Image: Mathilde Petit / FDC

Attending a gala screening at the Palais requires eveningwear. Tuxedos for men. A dress of appropriate length for women, with no train, according to the 2025 rules. For a first-time attendee without a stylist on retainer, the cost is prohibitive. Evening gowns from Cannes-approved designers start at several thousand euros. Tuxedo rentals in Cannes during the festival surge to five times the normal rate.

Bella Hadid in Saint Laurent at Cannes 2025. Image: Stephane Cardinale (Corbis, Getty Images)

The fashion houses will be at their busiest. Schiaparelli, Armani Privé and Dior maintain permanent suites in Cannes hotels during the festival, dressing talent within hours of a request. An archival Cannes look — Bella Hadid’s 2016 Alexandre Vauthier gown with the thigh-high slit, or Lupita Nyong’o’s 2015 pearl-covered Gucci dress — can define a career. The red carpet is not a runway, it becomes a border crossing. The dress code functions as a filter, separating the accredited from the anointed, the press from the principal, the guest from the talent.

The Yacht Economy

The scenic Vieux Port will be a hive of activity at Cannes 79th. Image: marc849

During the festival, the Vieux Port becomes the most coveted mooring spot in the Mediterranean, located just steps from the Palais. A superyacht during Cannes week will offer a mobile office, a press conference room, and a private dinner venue rolled into one.

Port Pierre Canto offers quieter anchorage for those seeking space. The Bay of Cannes provides greater privacy, with tenders shuttling guests to and from main events. The festival marks the beginning of the Mediterranean charter season. Demand is exceptionally high, thus early planning is essential.

For the audience at home, the yachts are not aspirational content; they are essential. The distribution deal that brings the next Palme d’Or winner to a local art-house cinema two years from now may well be signed on an aft deck overlooking the Lérins Islands.

What the Badge Actually Means

Interestingly, the Marché du Film, the world’s largest film market, runs alongside the festival from May 12 to 20, using the same Palais des Festivals spaces and the same accreditation system. Approximately 15,000 professionals from 140 countries attend. Accreditation determines everything: which screenings are accessible, which parties are reachable, and which areas of the Palais are off-limits.

The 79th Cannes Film Festival brings together cinema and fashion, art and lifestyle, the serious business of film and the seasonal pleasure of the French Riviera. In practice, they have never been apart. In practice, they have never been apart. The red carpet is not a distraction from the screenings. It is where the industry presents itself to the world. The yachts in the Vieux Port are not a symbol of excess. They are where distribution deals are signed, often over the same rosé served at the beach clubs. The dress code is not an arbitrary hurdle. It is a reminder that Cannes has always treated glamour as a form of respect — for the films, for the setting, for the film buffs watching from home.

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