This year, the Cannes, placed under the presidency of the jury of Juliette Binoche, was marked by emotion, activism, and a major technical incident. On the closing day, an electrical sabotage plunged the city into darkness for several hours, interrupting the awards ceremony before the power was restored. A look back at this eventful film event:
The Jury of the 78th Cannes Film Festival, chaired by French actress Juliette Binoche (40-year career and more than 70 films), was composed of an eclectic assembly of personalities from cinema and culture: the American actress and director Halle Berry, the Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia, the Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher, the French-Moroccan writer Leila Slimani, the Congolese documentary maker Dieudo Hamadi, the South Korean director Hong Sangsoo, the Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reyes, and the American actor Jeremy strongTogether, they awarded the official prizes among the 22 films competing in the Competition.
From the very opening, a powerful political message was conveyed, with more than 350 creators, including Jonathan Glazer, Pedro Almodóvar, and Aki Kaurismäki, publicly denouncing the war in Gaza and paying tribute to photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, who was killed in April. Then the festival's magic unfolded, creating a trail of glamour and glitz with every step up the steps...
Awards and cinematic triumphs
Palme d'Or
Jafar Panahi wins the Palme d'Or with It Was Just an Accident, a revenge thriller filmed clandestinely in Iran. An ambassador of freedom, Panahi moved the audience to a standing ovation and called for freedom in Iran.
Director, screenwriter and editor Jafar Panahi, born on July 11, 1960 in Mianeh, Iran, is one of the most emblematic figures of the Iranian New Wave, known for his poetic and committed fiction. Trained at the Tehran Film School and assistant toAbbas Kiarostami, he won the Camera d'Or à Cannes in 1995 for The White Balloon, marking the beginning of a career closely linked to social criticism. Despite his talent, Panahi became a target of the Iranian regime: in 2010, he was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from filming or traveling, but managed to secretly shoot cult works such as This Is Not a Film, Taxi Tehran (Golden Bear in Berlin) and Well Bears, reinforcing his status as a courageous dissident.
Released in 2023 following a hunger strike, he returned triumphantly to Cannes a few days after the start of the festival with It Was Just an Accident, filmed clandestinely in Iran without official authorization – a powerful thriller about revenge and memory. This film earned him the Palme d’Or, receiving an eight-minute standing ovation; he thus became one of the few filmmakers to receive the highest distinctions at the three major festivals (Venice, Berlin, Cannes). An emblem of cinema as a form of resistance, Panahi today embodies the power of the image in the face of censorship, perseveres with a new project in Iran, and illustrates, through his career, the political and moral power of the 7th art.
Grand Prix
Sentimental Value, from Norwegian Joachim Trier, receives the Grand Prix, praised for its emotional depth and family authenticity.
Jury Prize
Tied between Oliver Lax for Sirat et Mascha Schilinski with Sound of Falling, two works highly appreciated for their visual and narrative strength.
Best Director and Actor
Kleber Mendonça Son for The Secret Agent takes the lead, while Wagner Moura, star of the same film, receives the Best Actor award.
Best Actress
Nadia Melliti, in The Little Sister (The Little Last One), was named Best Actress. Her role as a young woman of Algerian origin in search of identity captivated the judges.
Best Screenplay
Brothers Darden, Cannes regulars, scooped the screenplay prize with Young Mothers.
Golden Camera Trophy
Awarded to Hassan Hadi for The President's Cake, the first Iraqi winner, also awarded the Audience Prize at the Quinzaine.
Spotlight on the courts and parallel sections
I'm Glad You're Dead Now (Tawfeek Barhom) wins the Short Film Award
In Un Certain Regard, main prize at The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, directed by Diego Céspedes, and jury prize for A Poet.
the documentary Imago wins the Golden Eye, while the Queer Palm goes to The Little Sister.
Immersive work From Dust by Michel van der Aa is being honored in the VR competition.
An artistic and committed festival
The Cannes Film Festival, founded in 1946, has its roots in a highly political context. Conceived in the late 1930s as an artistic response to the fascist manipulations of the Venice Film Festival, particularly after the victory of a Nazi film in 1938, it was conceived as a sanctuary for freedom of creation and expression. Although its first edition, scheduled for 1939, was canceled due to the outbreak of World War II, the festival officially opened seven years later, in September 1946. Since then, based on the Croisette, it has become one of the most prestigious events in world cinema, renowned for its demanding selections, its talent discoveries, and its Palme d'Or, coveted as one of the highest honors in the seventh art. More than just a festival, Cannes is an international stage where cinema asserts itself as an art form and the conscience of the world.
Once again, Cannes 2025 showed its political and committed face: extending support for Gaza, challenging populist interference (notably through Robert De Niro's scathing words towards Trump), and asserting the presence of freedom of expression illustrated by Panahi and the filmmakers of Gaza.
Despite the power outages, the atmosphere remained vibrant—between the red carpet, strong statements, and resounding ovations. The emotions ranged from the emotion of Panahi to the aesthetic shock of Sentimental ValueA political, committed, bold and deeply cinephile edition, faithful to the spirit of the Cannes event.
The 2025 Festival concludes with a universal message: cinema, a powerful force of emotion and a tool of protest, remains a powerful light even in the shadows. The 2026 edition already promises to be exciting.
Patrick Koune
Photos: Marco Tassini for Luxe Infinity Magazine
