2025 Cannes Film Festival


The 78th annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 13 to 24 May 2025. French actress Juliette Binoche served as jury president for the main competition. Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for the thriller film It Was Just an Accident.
Hartland Villa designed the official double poster for the festival featuring actress Anouk Aimée and actor Jean-Louis Trintignant in the movie A Man and a Woman by Claude Lelouch, winner of the Palme d'Or at the 19th Cannes Film Festival. French actor Laurent Lafitte served as host for the opening and closing ceremonies.
During the festival, two Honorary Palme d'Ors were awarded: the first was awarded to Robert De Niro during the festival's opening ceremony, and the second was awarded on short notice to Denzel Washington before the world premiere of Highest 2 Lowest.
One day after the announcement of the ACID official selection, Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, one of the main subjects of the documentary film Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk by Sepideh Farsi, was killed along with ten members of her family in an Israeli airstrike on their home in Gaza City on 16 April 2025. The festival released an official statement expressing condolences and criticising the ongoing war and violence in Gaza. On the festival's opening day, more than 350 directors, actors and producers including, Jonathan Glazer, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Víctor Erice, Hafsia Herzi, Aki Kaurismäki, Nadav Lapid, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Pedro Almodóvar, David Cronenberg and Ruben Östlund signed a letter condemning the killing of Hassouna and denounced the ongoing genocide in Gaza, stating: "We cannot remain silent while genocide is taking place in Gaza".
On the festival's final day, 24 May 2025, a power outage caused by arson disrupted the morning screenings sessions.
The festival opened with the French comedy film Leave One Day by Amélie Bonnin.

Juries

Main Competition

In Competition

The following films were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or:

''Un Certain Regard''

The following films were selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section:

Out of Competition

The following films were selected to be screened out of competition:

Cannes Premiere

The following films were selected to be screened in the Cannes Premiere section:

Special Screenings

The following films were selected to be screened in the Special Screenings section:

Short Films Competition

Selected from 4,781 films, 9 are fiction short films and 2 animated short films. The following short films were selected to compete for the Short Film Palme d'Or:

''Cinéfondation''

The Cinéfondation section focuses on films made by students at film schools. The Cannes Film Festival allocates a €15,000 grant for the winner of the First Prize, €11,250 for the winner of the Second Prize and €7,500 for the winner of the Third Prize. 13 live-action and 3 animated films from 2,700 submitted by film schools all over the world were selected:

Cannes Classics

A restored 4K version of Charlie Chaplin's classic silent comedy The Gold Rush opened the Cannes Classics section, celebrating the 100 years of its release, while a restored 4K version of Stanley Kubrick classic epic Barry Lyndon closed the section on May 23. The following films were selected to be screened:

''Cinéma de la Plage''

The Cinéma de la Plage section line-up includes classics films, commemorations and world premieres of new productions at the Cannes' Plage Macé. The following films were selected to be screened:

Immersive Competition

For the second year Immersive Competition, nine immersive works were selected for the competition, while seven productions will be featured as out of the competition. All the works at the exhibition will explore the evolution of the medium and drawing parallels between virtual reality, virtual production, cinema and collective storytelling. The following films were selected to be screened:

Parallel sections

Critics' Week ()

The Critics' Week is a parallel selection dedicated to first and second films. Laura Wandel's second feature film Adam's Interest opened the section on 14 May, while Momoko Seto's Dandelion's Odyssey closed the section. The following films were selected to be screened in competition:

Directors' Fortnight ()

For the second year, in partnership with Fondation Chantal Akerman, the Audience Award was given by popular vote, alongside €7,500 to the director of the winning feature. The following films were selected to be screened in the Directors' Fortnight section:

ACID

The following films were selected to be screened in the ACID section, consisting of six fiction features and 3 documentaries:

Three films for Ukraine

On 13 May, the day of the festival's Opening Ceremony, the Cannes Mayor's Office in participation with France Télévisions and Brut media, promoted the screening of three documentaries about the War in Ukraine, addressing the ongoing violence in the country:
File:Jafar Panahi at 2025 Cannes Film Festival Photocall.jpg|thumb|262x262px|Jafar Panahi, Palme d'Or winner

Official Awards

With the exception of German-produced Sound of Falling, all main competition awards corresponded to French produced or co-produced pictures.

In Competition

  • Palme d'Or: It Was Just an Accident by Jafar Panahi
  • Grand Prix: Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier
  • Jury Prize:
  • * Sirāt by Oliver Laxe
  • * Sound of Falling by Mascha Schilinski
  • Best Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho for The Secret Agent
  • Best Actress: Nadia Melliti for The Little Sister
  • Best Actor: Wagner Moura for The Secret Agent
  • Best Screenplay: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for Young Mothers
  • Prix Spécial: Resurrection by Bi Gan

    Un Certain Regard

  • Un Certain Regard Prize: The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo by Diego Céspedes
  • Jury Prize: A Poet by Simón Mesa Soto
  • Best Director: Tarzan and Arab Nasser for Once Upon a Time in Gaza
  • Best Actor: Frank Dillane for Urchin
  • Best Actress: Cleo Diára for I Only Rest in the Storm
  • Best Screenplay: Harry Lighton for ''Pillion''

    Honorary Palme d'Or

  • Robert De Niro
  • Denzel Washington

    Caméra d'Or

  • Caméra d'Or: The President's Cake by Hasan Hadi
  • * Special Mention: My Father's Shadow by Akinola Davies Jr.

    Short Films Competition

  • Short Film Palme d'Or: I'm Glad You're Dead Now by Tawfeek Barhom
  • * Special Mention: Ali by Adnan Al Rajeev

    Cinéfondation

  • First Prize: First Summer by Heo Gayoung
  • Second Prize: 12 Moments Before the Flag-Raising Ceremony by Qu Zhizheng
  • Third Prize:
  • * Ginger Boy by Miki Tanaka
  • * Winter in March by Natalia Mirzoyan

    Immersive Competition

  • From Dust by Michel van der Aa

    Independent Awards

FIPRESCI Prize

  • In Competition: The Secret Agent by Kleber Mendonça Filho
  • Un Certain Regard: Urchin by Harris Dickinson
  • Parallel section : Dandelion's Odyssey by Momoko Seto