The Cannes Film Festival returns for its 76th edition with a familiar rhythm: a fierce Palme d’Or competition headlined by today’s big names, tempered by the absence of some veteran provocateurs and the visible encore of Hollywood star power on the red carpet. The star presence is undeniable—Leonardo DiCaprio, Scarlett Johansson, Harrison Ford, and Natalie Portman command attention—while Johnny Depp’s cameo adds a talking point amid the opening ceremony film Jeanne Du Barry.
New selections promise conversation in the days ahead as the festival unveils ten titles that stand out for various reasons.
Among the most anticipated is Martin Scorsese’s much-discussed return to Cannes with Jo, What a Night! a project inspired by the 1985 Best Director win and adapted from journalist David Grann’s 2017 nonfiction work The Killers of the Moon. The story, centered on oil, money, and a string of murders, follows the investigation into the Osage murders in Oklahoma. Its ensemble includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Jesse Plemons, Robert De Niro, and Brendan Fraser, who recently won an Oscar.
Another spotlight is on a concise feature from Pedro Almodóvar, an English-language project described by insiders as intensely personal. Co-starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal, the film marks Almodóvar’s second English-language venture after The Human Voice. Costume design by Saint Laurent and associate production involvement from Anthony Vaccarello add to the film’s high-fashion aura and prestige as Cannes unpacks its creative ambitions.
One title stands apart as a rare non-Spielberg-directed entry from James Mangold, famed for Logan. The project teases the fifth and final chapter in a beloved franchise, weaving nostalgia around the life of a famed archaeologist. The narrative promises high-energy action: 1960s raids, the space race, and fictionalized Nazi science used by both sides, with a sequence of daring stunts including plane jumps and subway chases that keep the momentum brisk.
Rohrwacher returns to Cannes after previous celebrated works and Oscar nomination for a short film. Her latest feature envisions a drama set in the 1980s that explores tomb robbers, an archaeologist, and a life caught between past and present. The director frames it as a meditation on memory, death, and the enduring pull of what lies beneath the surface, a cinematic inquiry born during a period of global upheaval.
Scarlett Johansson, in a directorial shift away from her sci‑fi iconography, presents a project that juxtaposes historical trauma with intimate family life. The film centers on an Auschwitz commandant and his wife as they cultivate a fragile domestic ideal beside the notorious camp. Drawing on Martin Amis’s 2014 novel, the production adopts a distinctive visual approach that contrasts brutal history with a seemingly quiet domesticity, inviting viewers to reflect on how past horrors echo into the present.
A film shot in the Madrid area, specifically Chinchón, brings a science-fiction premise into a festival frame: an astronomy convention is interrupted by what appears to be an alien encounter. The project teases a tone reminiscent of a certain director’s signature, hinting at a larger universe waiting to unfold. The cast reads like a who’s who of contemporary cinema, including Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Bryan Cranston, Liv Schreiber, Tilda Swinton, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, and Steve Carell, while missing Bill Murray due to schedule constraints related to recent global events.
Haynes, known for intimate, character-driven work, returns with a project featuring Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman in an exploration of a scandalous romance and its consequences. The narrative follows a woman and a much younger lover, years after a public scandal, as a late-in-life creative project reveals what the couple has learned and what their reminiscences do to the present. The film reportedly blends memory, desire, and the pressures of family life into a provocative drama.
The festival also welcomes the return of a bold French provocateur who charts the unpredictable path of filmmaking itself. The latest effort is described as a candid, humorous look at the life of a filmmaker who treats his aunt’s country house as a makeshift studio. The project appears to fuse elements from the director’s most distinctive works, weaving together comedy with meta-reflection on the creative process and artistic memory.
Erice, a pillar of Spanish cinema, reappears at Cannes with a project that expands on themes of disappearance, identity, and memory. Two landmark films defined his career, and this new entry comes decades after his last major feature. It stages a contemplative detective-like inquiry, weaving together a narrative about a famous actor’s vanishing with broader meditations on existence and the self. The screenplay sits between past and present, inviting viewers to consider how history shapes who we are.
Lastly, a second English-language collaboration from Hausner explores a provocative social idea through a tense, morally charged scenario. It follows a young teacher who forms a dangerous bond with five students, a relationship that triggers troubling consequences once the teacher invites the group into a risky classroom experiment. The film probes the limits of influence, responsibility, and the slippery edge between care and control.
As the festival unfolds, Cannes 2025 positions itself as a forum where established cinema meets new voices, where high-profile premieres coexist with introspective, filmmaker-driven inquiries. The conversations will likely center on how these works speak to the present moment while continuing to honor the festival’s storied history and its role in shaping global cinema debates.