Cannes Film Festival off to 'fast and furious' start despite Hollywood's absence

The Fast and the Furious co-stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster soaked up applause at a special cast reunion at Cannes on the 25th anniversary of the original street-racing movie.

They were guests of honour at a raucous midnight screening of the first film in the Fast franchise, which Cannes director Thierry Fremaux said "had become a classic" and "left an enormous mark on the history of cinema".

The 11-movie series, which has grossed more than $7 billion dollars at the box office, is set to end with Fast Forever in 2028.

The actors paid an emotional tribute to late co-star Paul Walker, who died in a car crash in 2013. He was represented by his daughter, the actress and model Meadow Rain Walker, who shared a long hug with Diesel on the red carpet.

Cinema fans got another dose of high-octane action on opening night with the free beachside screening of the first of the Top Gun series, starring Tom Cruise. Cruise created red-carpet pandemonium when he presented the last installment of the franchise at the Cannes Festival in 2022.

Hollywood cold feet

But Fremaux, who made bringing big American films to Cannes an early priority of his two-decade tenure, has been left without a major Hollywood blockbuster premiere for the 2026 edition.

Cannes typically relies on US studios providing A-list excitement at the event, which otherwise focuses on independent, auteur cinema in its main competition.

But Hollywood majors such as Disney, Sony and Warner, as well as streaming giants Netflix and Amazon, have decided against launching films at Cannes this year.

Reasons for the studios' absence include cost-cutting, a growing preference for tightly controlled social media-led launches, and the risk that poor reviews from critics could doom a movie.

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'Old fat rebel' returns

Another cinema heavyweight from the other side of the globe added some mainstream buzz.

At 64, New Zealand director Peter Jackson says he still sees himself as the rebel who was kicked out of the Palais des Festivals for wearing shorts when he premiered his debut film, Bad Taste in 1987 – but now an "old, fat rebel". Actor Elijah Wood and director Peter Jackson, recipient of an honorary Palme d'Or, at the opening ceremony of the 79th Cannes Film Festival, 12 May 2026.

After accepting an honorary Palme d'Or at the opening ceremony, the Lord of the Rings director revealed on Wednesday that he is taking on cult classic – Tintin, created by the Belgian cartoonist Herge nearly a century ago.

He said it would be a sequel to Steven Spielberg's 2011 animated film The Adventures of Tintin, which he co-produced.

France in focus

Meanwhile, critics, journalists and jury members settled down to business as the main competition got underway on Wednesday with Nagi Notes by Japan's Koji Fukada – the tale of an artist living in a remote town, haunted by an earlier love affair, who gets back in touch with her sister-in-law.

Also focusing on a relationship between women was A Woman's Life by Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet, one of the five female directors in the running for the Palme d'Or.

Her second feature film is the story of a renowned but overworked surgeon, played by Léa Drucker, who prioritises her professional life above all else until she meets Frida (Mélanie Thierry), a young writer doing an internship. 

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Shown in the Out of Competition category, French production Forsaken by Vincent Garenq takes on a painful event from recent French history. It recreates the last 11 days in the life of teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded by an Islamist extremist in October 2020 for showing Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a class on free speech. 

French director Claire Denis, who won the festival's Grand Prix for Stars at Noon in 2022, was also celebrated on Wednesday with the Carrosse d'Or prize at the opening of the Directors' Fortnight section. The prize recognises her long career, which started 40 years ago with the film Chocolat (1988), shot in Cameroon and starring 2026 jury member Isaach de Bankolé.

On Thursday, critics will no doubt be keeping a close eye on Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's latest film Parallel Tales, shot entirely in Paris and in French. Isabelle Huppert plays a writer who spies on her neighbours across the street, with a supporting cast that includes Vincent Cassel, Virginia Efira and Pierre Niney.

(with AFP)