De Niro condemns Trump as ‘America’s philistine president’ at Cannes opening

Much of the cinema world, including Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio and Quentin Tarantino, have descended on the Cannes Film Festival as the 78th edition of the French Riviera extravaganza got under way.

Over the next 12 days, Cannes will play host to major premieres including 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 US 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 turned to Mr Trump, who recently said he wanted to enact a tariff on films made outside the US.

“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.”

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 microphone and walked off stage. On Wednesday, he will pay tribute to western filmmaker George Sherman.

Also in attendance was Sean Baker, the Anora director and last year’s Palme d’Or winner.

The ceremony capped a busy day 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.

Last year’s festival produced a number of eventual Oscar contenders, including Emilia Perez, The Substance, Flow and the best picture winner Anora.

Asked on Monday if he was feeling the pressure this time around, festival director Thierry Fremaux said the only kind of pressure he believes in is in beer.

Cannes launched the same day Gerard Depardieu, one of France’s most famous actors, was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a 2021 film set.

In one of France’s most prominent MeToo cases, the 76-year-old – who has long been a regular presence at Cannes – was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence.

Talking about Mr Trump’s call for tariffs on movies made overseas, Binoche said: “I don’t know what to say, really, about that. We can see that he’s fighting and trying in many different ways to save America and save his ass.”

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. He referenced that film, which led to his first Oscar nomination, in his comments about the US president on 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 new protocols on attire for the Cannes 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.”

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

Twenty-two films will vie for Cannes’ top prize, the Palme d’Or, to be presented on May 24. They 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 the 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 co-production 2000 Metres to Andriivka, by 20 Days In Mariupol Oscar-winner Mstyslav Chernov.

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”.