Cannes or can't, tariffs terrify

Express Tribune

13-05-2025

The 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, which takes place from May 13-24, was shaping up to be the hottest one in years, with the creme de la creme of Hollywood and international movie-making set to descend on the French Riviera for two weeks of cinema celebration, as reported by DW.
Leave it to Donald Trump to spoil the party.
The US president's announcement on May 4 that he planned to "make Hollywood great again" by imposing 100% tariffs on "foreign-made films" and punishing US studios that go abroad to shoot their movies has pulled Cannes-bound filmmakers and cinema fans into a global trade war.
Exactly what the president wants to do remains unclear. Actor Jon Voight, one of Trump's "special ambassadors" to the entertainment industry, has unveiled a plan with a stack of proposals. These include tax incentives for films that shoot in the US, a new "cultural test" requiring them to contribute to American culture, and fines for those that shoot American stories abroad.
For those in the film industry, Trump's proposed tariffs could disrupt their business, making it harder - or impossible - to get certain independent films made.
"Everyone is talking about [the tariff], no one knows what it will mean, how it will affect the business, if it will make it harder to make movies," says Pia Patatian, president of Cloud9 Studios, a US-based independent production company.
Global shoots
Many of the biggest, most hotly anticipated American films heading to Cannes are exactly the sort of "foreign-made" productions that Trump is targeting with his tariff threat.
Tom Cruise will bring the action to the festival promenade with Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning, the eighth, and supposedly last, of the Mission Impossible films, which will play out of competition.
Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme, the latest slice of quirky, symmetrical whimsy from the director of Grand Budapest Hotel, was shot on soundstages in Studio Babelsberg, outside Berlin.
"Nouvelle Vague," a look at the making of Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 classic "Breathless," by American indie film legend Richard Linklater was shot entirely in Paris and - quelle horreur! - in French.
Eddington, the new film from genre master Ari Aster ("Hereditary," "Midsommar"), was at least made in the US. But the film's COVID-era plot line, which sees a MAGA-style sheriff, played by Joachim Phoenix, square off against the local mayor, played by Pedro Pascal, could prove triggering for the current POTUS.
Festival lineup
If attendees can manage to put Trump out of their minds, the 78th Cannes has plenty to offer.
American indie director Kelly Reichardt, who returns to the Cannes competition with "The Mastermind," an art-heist drama set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War.
Dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi, finally released from prison and no longer under a travel ban, will also have his latest drama, "Un Simple Accident" (A simple accident) in the running. And Julia Ducournau, who won the Palme d'Or in 2021 with her explosive and divisive body horror movie Titane, is back at the Cannes competition with "Alpha," a 1980s-set shocker that follows a young girl who is rejected by her classmates after it is rumored she has been infected with a new disease.
Germany's Mascha Schilinski will premiere her second feature, Sound of Falling, in competition. The drama follows four women from four different eras whose lives are eerily intertwined.
Out of competition, Spike Lee is back, teaming up again with Denzel Washington on Highest 2 Lowest, a reimagination of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 Japanese classic High and Low. Fatih Akin and Diane Kruger return with Amrum.
Scarlett Johansson will present her directorial debut, Eleanor the Great in the Un Certain Regard section alongside Harris Dickinson's Urchin.
Ukrainian war documentary Militantropos will premiere at the Director's Fortnight. Spanish-language musical The Wave, and historical drama The Disappearance of Josef Mengele will be a part of Cannes Premiere, a non-competitive gala section.