Cannes on Trial: Glamour, Power, and the Reckoning

Becca Hartwell: So get this, Cannes just wrapped and we have a lot to talk about. Miles: Welcome back, everybody. Star Witness is back, and Becca Hartwell, this one has been on my radar all week. Becca Hartwell: Mine too. So Cristian Mungiu wins his second Palme d'Or for Fjord, Park Chan-wook running one of the most genuinely international juries in years, Barbra Streisand getting an honorary Palme d'Or she couldn't even show up to collect. Reflect. The twenty twenty six festival delivered headlines. Miles: It really did, but here's the thing: the more you dig into Cannes, the more the pretty poster starts peeling. Becca Hartwell: Oh, you are going to love this episode because we are not just doing the winners list. Miles: Not even close. Becca Hartwell: We go all the way back. nineteen thirty eight. Leni Riefenstahl. The Nazi pressure that basically forced France to invent a whole new festival. That origin story is wild. Miles: And then fast forward to 2002, a Palme d'Or handed to a man who was a fugitive from a rape conviction, and then, wait for it, a 2009 petition demanding his release, signed by Weinstein, Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Tilda Swinton. Becca Hartwell: The list is not short. Miles: No, it is not. Becca Hartwell: We also get into 2025. Over 350... Fifty filmmakers signing an open letter in Libération condemning the Gaza situation on the eve of the festival. And Cannes' response to that versus how fast they moved on Polanski? Miles, the contrast is something. Miles: That's the whole episode, honestly—who does Cannes protect, and who does it ignore? Becca Hartwell: Okay, let's get into it. Hook and setup is first and we are starting with that Thelma and Louise poster. Miles: Buckle up. Becca Hartwell: Okay, so the 79th Cannes Film Festival just wrapped, May 12th through the 23rd, and before we get into a single frame of film, I need to talk about the poster. Miles: Yeah, that poster is doing a lot of work. Becca Hartwell: Geena Davis, Susan Sarandon, Thelma and Louise, black and white sitting in that open top Thunderbird on the official poster for the most prestigious film festival on the planet. on the planet. Miles: And Thelma's got a pistol tucked in her jeans, just, you know, casually. Becca Hartwell: Right. According to Wikipedia, Ridley Scott's film premiered at Cannes exactly 35 years ago, May 20th, 1991. So this is an anniversary tribute. Miles: Sure, but Cannes' own statement called them unforgettable fighters who shot her gender stereotypes. That's the festival describing itself. ELF THROUGH THE POSTER Becca Hartwell: And here's where I start squinting: you're branding yourself with feminist cinema icons while also being a festival with a, let's say, complicated record on women. Miles: And the poster says sisterhood. The history says something else. Becca Hartwell: Plot twist. Miles: Always. Becca Hartwell: So let's do the setup. According to Screen Daily, Park Chan-wook is jury president. first South Korean filmmaker to hold that chair. The jury includes Demi Moore, Chloé Zhao, Stellan Skarsgård. Miles: Demi Moore is back on the cross set after The Substance last year. That's a full circle moment. Becca Hartwell: No kidding. And then you've got three honorary Palmes d'Or. Peter Jackson on opening night, John Travolta, who showed up to premiere his directorial debut, and got surprised with one. Miles: Wow. Wait, they just... Sprung it on him? Becca Hartwell: Apparently," he said-and I'm quoting Variety here-"this is beyond the Oscar. Miles: Chan-wook Travolta directing a movie, crying at Cannes twenty twenty six continues to deliver. Becca Hartwell: And then Barbra Streisand at closing night couldn't attend due to a knee injury, so she sent a video. Miles: Okay, so strong jury, historic honorees, a feminist poster-on paper the vibes are immaculate. Becca Hartwell: On paper. Miles: Here's what I keep coming back to, though: the festival's own language around that poster, celebrating the road already covered without overlooking what still remains ahead. That phrasing is careful; it's almost an admission. Becca Hartwell: Yes, because if you fully covered the road, you don't need to say that. Miles: Exactly. Becca Hartwell: So Cannes opened with a feminist image and closed with a woman accepting. accepting a lifetime achievement award via Zoom because of a bad knee, and somewhere in between the actual track record. Miles: Which raises the real question. Becca Hartwell: How far back does the gap between the image and the record actually go? Because this festival didn't start yesterday. Short pause. Miles: Short pause. So here's the founding myth, right? Cannes exists because of a rigged award show. Becca Hartwell: Okay, spelled out like that? Miles: No, seriously. 1938, Venice. The jury was unanimous. An American film had it. And then, get this, under pressure from Hitler and Mussolini, Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia swoops in and wins the top prize. Becca Hartwell: The Nazi propaganda documentary? Miles: The Nazi propaganda documentary, France: The U.S., Britain—All Walked Out, a French diplomat named Philippe Erlanger rode the train home furious, and by the time he got to Paris, Cannes was basically already in his head. Becca Hartwell: So the entire festival's founding premise is cinema should be free from political corruption. That's the origin story. Miles: That's the brand promise, and it's a beautiful one. The problem is what they did with it. Becca Hartwell: Right. So fast forward to 2017, Netflix brings Okja and the Meyerowitz Stories to competition, two actually respected Miles: Good Becca Hartwell: films. Miles: films. Bong Joon-ho directed Okja, and the French exhibition lobby absolutely loses it. Becca Hartwell: Because Netflix wouldn't agree to a 36-month theatrical window before streaming. French law requires that. Miles: Right. It's about art. Becca Hartwell: So Cannes bans Netflix from competition? Starting 2018, the rule is dressed up as defending cinema, but Deadline reported the French Film Authority, the CNC, literally funds more than half of Cannes budget and has theater owners on the board. Miles: They fund the festival and sit on the board? Becca Hartwell: Yeah, so the people writing the art versus streaming rule are the same people whose business model depends on that 36-month window. Miles: And Netflix CEO Reed Hastings basically said it out Becca Hartwell: out loud, the establishment closing ranks against us—his exact words. Miles: Which is not wrong. Becca Hartwell: Here's what I keep coming back to, Becca Hartwell: the founding story is genuinely noble. Walk out of Venice to protest fascism, build something better. That's a real principle. Miles: And then you use that same principle to protect a box office cartel. Becca Hartwell: The contradiction is built in from the start, and it's the same pattern that shows up with the dress code. With MeToo response times? Miles: Which is exactly where we're going, because if this is how Cannes treats a streaming service, wait until you hear how they treated women on the red carpet. And that selective enforcement pattern hits women directly, starting with shoes. Becca Hartwell: Heelgate, the most on-the-nose scandal in festival history. Miles: Okay, so the year is 2015. The Hollywood Reporter and Screen Daily both confirmed a group of women, several with medical conditions, got turned away from the Croisette Red Carpet because their shoes didn't have high enough heels. Becca Hartwell: A film about women. directed by Todd Haynes, and they couldn't get in because of their feet?" Miles: Right. And Cannes's official response was basically, no such rule exists. Becca Hartwell: except the Ushers enforced it. So the rule didn't exist, but also it did. Miles: The rule that wasn't there, but they reminded staff about it anyway. Becca Hartwell: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Classic institutional non-denial. Miles: Fast forward three years, Me Too is everywhere. And Cannes's competition line-up has three female directors out of eighteen. Becca Hartwell: Three? Miles: Three! So Cate Blanchett, who was jury president that year, led eighty two women in a march up the Palais steps. The number wasn't random. Verity confirmed it represented every female director who had ever competed at Cannes. against eighteen hundred and sixty six men. Becca Hartwell: Eighty two verses eighteen sixty six. P s--That's the whole argument in two numbers. Miles: And Cons, to their credit, let the march happen. Becca Hartwell: Okay, I'll give them that; but here's where I push back a little. Letting a protest happen on your stairs is not the same as fixing the numbers that made the protest necessary. Miles: No, it's not. That march was eight years ago; Blanchett is back at the festival right now; and she told a moderator just this week Becca Hartwell: Wow. Miles: that Me too. Two, quote, got killed very quickly. Becca Hartwell: She's standing on those same stairs eight years later. Miles: And you know what the festival was mostly talking about in 2018, right next to the MeToo conversation? Becca Hartwell: The selfie ban. Miles: The selfie ban. Thierry Frémaux banned selfies on the red carpet. That got as many headlines as a gender equity march. Becca Hartwell: Which tells you exactly where the institution's attention was. Miles: The heels thing, the numbers, the selfie ban—miles, these aren't separate stories—they're one story about what the festival decides matters. Becca Hartwell: And honestly, the heels and the selfies almost look quaint once you get to who the festival was actually defending in writing, in a petition, with their name on it. Miles: That's the next chapter, and it involves a name everybody knows. So Miles ended the last stretch flagging the petition. Here's the thing: when you actually read what Cannes signed onto, there's no ambiguity about who they were protecting. Becca Hartwell: Right. Let me lay out the facts straight. In 1977, Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl. He fled the U.S. in 1978 before sentencing. Been a fugitive ever since. Miles: And Cannes gave him the Palme d'Or in 2002. Hugh, the Pianist, the "top prize," while he literally could not attend without getting arrested. Becca Hartwell: And the jury that year was presided by David Lynch, the Palme goes to Polanski, Harrison Ford accepts on his behalf, the whole room applauded. Miles: OK, so get this: then (two thousand nine) Polanski gets arrested in Zurich and over one hundred and sixty filmmakers sign a petition demanding his release. Yes; Scorsese, Woody Allen, Tilda Swinton, del Toro, Becca Hartwell: How? Miles: the list goes on. Becca Hartwell: Harvey Weinstein orchestrated the recruitment effort, which, in hindsight, is a detail that lands differently. Miles: To say the least. Becca Hartwell: And Cannes itself signed on-not individual French filmmakers, the Festival as an institution put its name on a document demanding Miles: Wow. Becca Hartwell: freedom for a convicted child rapist.... Miles: The petition called his arrest-and this is the language they used- used inadmissible, because a film festival is where artists should feel safe. Becca Hartwell: Safe-that word! Miles: I know; and, look, I get the European cultural argument: there's a long history of treating film festivals as a kind of protected territory; but signing that document is an active choice. Becca Hartwell: Here's where I land on this: Cannes was founded, we talked about this earlier, as a response to fascist propaganda winning people. Winning Prizes.--The founding myth is moral courage, and then the institution signed a petition defending a man who raped a thirteen year old. Miles: The call back writes itself. Becca Hartwell: Most of those signatories walked it back after MeToo; Emma Thompson, Natalie Portman-they removed their names, but Cannes never issued a formal retraction. Miles: Of course not! Becca Hartwell: And that's the pattern, right? The dress code denial, the representation numbers, now this. This, each one is a choice the institution made about who it protects. Miles: And the question going into twenty twenty five and twenty twenty six is whether anything actually changed, because a Palestinian filmmaker's subject was killed in connection with a Cannes selection and the festival's response was carefully worded. Becca Hartwell: Which is where this gets even heavier. Miles: And here's where the Polanski comparison hits hardest: in May, twenty twenty five, more than three hundred and fifty filmmakers signed an open letter published in Libération and Variety. The title was literally "In Cannes the Horror of Gaza Must Not Be Silenced. Becca Hartwell: Right, and this letter had a specific name attached to it: Fatma Hassona, a twenty five year old Palestinian photojournalist. Miles: So get this: The day after her documentary, directed by Sepideh Farsi, was announced as a Cannes selection, she was killed, an Israeli airstrike on her home in Gaza. Ten family members also killed in the same strike. Becca Hartwell: That's, I mean, that's not abstract. Her film gets into Cannes and the next morning she's gone. Miles: And Cannes response? They called the screening a way to, quote, Becca Hartwell: "honor her memory"; Director Farsi told AFP, saying the festival isn't political makes no sense. That's about as direct as it gets. Miles: So here's what I keep turning over: the two thousand nine Polanski petition—can co-signed that "fast, decisive, on the record, no hesitation. Becca Hartwell: For a convicted rapist. Miles: For a convicted rapist who fled the country and when a filmmaker's subject is killed the day after her Cannes announcement, the festival's institutional response is measured condolences and a tribute screening? Becca Hartwell: OK, to be fair, what would a formal statement actually do? Miles: More than nothing, Cannes screened Ukrainian documentaries and called it a reminder of commitment. They chose Ukraine, they just didn't choose this. Becca Hartwell: Um, yeah, and then there's the Juliette Binoche thing According to Deadline and France 24, Binoche was the 2025 jury president. At the opening press conference, when asked about the Gaza letter, she dodged the question completely, said—and I'm paraphrasing—"You'll understand later. Miles: Oh, very comforting. Becca Hartwell: She eventually signed, but the moment itself... The sitting jury president refusing to answer on camera? Miles: Yeah. Becca Hartwell: That's the festival's posture in one press conference. Miles: The Polanski petition got signed fast. This one took days; an institution itself still said nothing, officially. Becca Hartwell: apolitical" is a position; it just happens to protect some people more than others. Miles: Yeah, and the twenty twenty six festival inherited all of this, which is exactly what makes the verdict. But it's so complicated. Becca Hartwell: A new jury, a new poster, new optics, and a very old question about who this festival actually shows up for. And we're about to get into that. So here's where we land: Mungiu just won his second Palme d'Or for Fjord. Critics were split on it, and the jury gave it anyway, which honestly kind of is Cannes. Miles: Right. A device of film that generates argument wins the prize. That's not a bug. Becca Hartwell: And look, the 2026 jury is genuinely different. According to Screen Daily, Park Chan-wook is the first South Korean jury president in... In festival history you've got directors from Chile, Belgium, China, an actor from Ivory Coast. Miles: That's real movement. Becca Hartwell: It is. The Thelma and Louise poster. Ai Haidara hosting the opening ceremony. The honorary Palme to Streisand. The festival knows what optics are required. That's the word I keep coming back to. Required. Miles: And there's the thing. Knowing what's required is not the same as doing the work. Work. Becca Hartwell: Oh, here comes the Miles verdict! Miles: Look, I'll give them the jury, genuinely, but a festival that co-signed a petition calling Polanski's arrest inadmissible and never formally retracted it, that festival does Becca Hartwell: Wow. Miles: not get to run a feminist poster without someone pointing at the gap. Becca Hartwell: Okay, but here's my pushback. Prestige institutions move slowly. The 2018 march happened. The MeToo hotline came late. Now the jury composition is is actually changing. That's incremental, sure, but incremental beats frozen. Miles: Incremental is not the same as accountable. There's no reckoning, Becca Hartwell, just rebranding. Becca Hartwell: I'm on both sides a little bit. The contradictions are frustrating. But I'd argue they're sort of structural. Every prestige institution does this. Cannes isn't unique in using symbols to out- outpace substance. Miles: No, you're right. They're not unique. They're just the most visible. And that visibility matters because Becca Hartwell: Uh Miles: every Becca Hartwell: huh. Miles: filmmaker who wants a career has to go through that door. Becca Hartwell: So, final answer? Does the Thelma and Louise poster tell the truth? Miles: It tells an aspiration, not a history. Becca Hartwell: Yeah, Thelma and Louise drove off a cliff rather than go back. Maybe that's more fitting than the festival intended. Miles: And Mungiu's up there holding a Palme for a film about two sides both convinced they're right and nobody willing to actually listen. Becca Hartwell: All awards are contextual." That's a quote; he said it himself. Okay, so that's a wrap on Cannes 2024, and honestly, my brain is still processing. Miles: Same. A Thelma and Louise poster on the outside, a Polanski petition in the archive. That tension never fully resolved, did it? Becca Hartwell: Not even a little; and Mungiu walking away with his second Palme d'Or for "Fjord," a film the jury was apparently split on, feels very on brand for a festival that thrives on being contested. Miles: That's kind of the through line, right? Cannes keeps rebranding without ever fully reckoning—the poster is an aspiration, not a history. Becca Hartwell: Nodding. One sentence, take it home: the gap between what Cannes says it stands for and what And what the record actually shows is the story every single year. Miles: Well said. All right, if you want to tell us whose trial we're putting on next, drop it in the reviews or tag us at Star Witness Pod. Becca Hartwell: New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe so you don't miss the verdict. Miles: Thanks for riding along, everyone. See you next week.