Overview
- Pedro Almodóvar spoke at the Cannes press conference on Wednesday, May 20, saying filmmakers have a “moral duty” to speak out and calling figures like President Donald Trump “monsters.”
- The director was seen wearing a 'Free Palestine' pin and explicitly referenced Israel’s prime minister and Russia’s president while warning that silence and fear are signs of democratic erosion.
- Earlier in the festival about 600 industry figures published a letter in Libération criticizing Vincent Bolloré’s growing control of French film production, distribution and exhibition.
- Canal+ chief Maxine Saada has been reported to say the network would refuse to work with artists who signed the Libération letter, a remark that artists fear amounts to de facto blacklisting.
- The dispute has kept Almodóvar’s film Bitter Christmas in competition under a political spotlight and raised broader questions about how concentrated media ownership could affect creative freedom and careers.