Famous Film Festival Returns to Cannes for 75th Anniversary

Even with a war going on in nearby Ukraine, movie stars and famous filmmakers are back in the southern French city of Cannes for the 75th anniversary of the film festival.

The 11-day event started on Tuesday and continues until May 28. It was canceled in 2020. And it was held last year in July under pandemic-related restrictions¹.

This year, the parties are back, and two big movies will be shown, one with Tom Cruise² and another with Tom Hanks.

Cruise is back in Cannes for the showing of his movie Top Gun Maverick³ based on the 1980s film, Top Gun. And Tom Hanks is in a movie about the life of singer Elvis Presley.

The Presley film was directed by Australian Baz Luhrmann, who is known for Romeo and Juliet and The Great Gatsby along with Moulin Rouge⁴ and Australia. And director David Cronenberg returns with Crimes of the Future starring Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Stewart and Lea Seydoux.

Scott Roxborough leads European coverage⁵ for The Hollywood Reporter. He called the group of films "one of the best Cannes lineups in years."

Another American actor and director, Forest Whitaker, will be in Cannes to receive one of the festival's top awards, known as the Palme D'or, for his life's work in the film business.

Festival director Thierry Fremaux told reporters, "It's tradition to have our American friends" in France. He noted⁶ that the Cannes Festival started as a partnership⁷ between France and Hollywood in 1939 but was delayed due to World War II. The first year of the festival was in 1946.

While China will not have films at the event, other Asian countries will be represented. Actor Lee Jung-jae, who became famous last year for his performance in Squid Game, is in a new film called Hunt. Filmmakers Park Chan-wook of South Korea and Hirokazu Kore-eda of Japan are also showing their new movies.

The festival opened on Tuesday with Final Cut, a movie about zombies. French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius first called it Z like Z. But he changed the name because the letter Z is being used by Russian soldiers in the war in Ukraine.

Russian films were not permitted at the festival.

Two films with connections to Ukraine will be shown. One is called Mariupolis 2 by Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravicius. He was killed during the bombing of Mariupol by Russian forces almost one month ago while working on the movie. The other is Butterfly Vision by Ukrainian director Maksim Nakonechnyi. It is about a woman who comes home to Ukraine after being released in a prisoner exchange.

Fremaux, the festival director, said "we will never stop thinking about what is happening in Ukraine," even if the event is celebrating movies for a short time.

Words in This Story

festival– n. an organized series of performances over a short period of time

lineup – n. a sequence of events or performances

zombie – n. a made up being that can move even after being dead often mentioned in scary books and movies

1 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

2 cruise   

v.巡航，航游，缓慢巡行；n.海上航游

参考例句：

• They went on a cruise to Tenerife.他们乘船去特纳利夫岛。
• She wants to cruise the canals of France in a barge.她想乘驳船游览法国的运河。

3 maverick   

adj.特立独行的；不遵守传统的；n.持异议者，自行其是者

参考例句：

• He's a maverick.He has his own way of thinking about things.他是个特异独行的人。对事情有自己的看法。
• You're a maverick and you'll try anything.你是个爱自行其是的人，样样事情都要尝试一下。

4 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

5 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。