Cinema, Politics and War

The shadow of war and politics — in the Middle East, in Ukraine, under the pressure of an increasingly threatening geopolitics — weighed heavily on the closing ceremony of the Festival's 79th edition. The most remarked-upon political address was that of Andrei Zvyagintsev, whose film Minotaur, a portrait of the Russian invasion of Ukraine seen through the disintegration of a family, was awarded the Grand Prix. The Russian director, living in exile in France, spoke directly to President Vladimir Putin: "Stop this farce. The entire world is waiting for the massacre to end, with millions of men facing each other on either side of the front line, dreaming of nothing but an end to a war that has lost its appeal on both warring sides." His words carried the distant echo of the address that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had delivered from that same stage on 17 May 2022.

From meta-fiction to the abyss, there is often only one step — and it was a step the 2026 Cannes Film Festival took by selecting, from among the twenty-two films in competition, six works devoted to war. That cinema, an art form attuned to the pulse of the world, should exert such political force is nothing new. But the complexity of this year's Cannes narrative lies in two competing tensions: on one side, the diversity of perspectives approaching war through historical fidelity and artistic achievement in capturing horror and violence; on the other, the risk that all of this amounts to no more than a glance, with neither tendency necessarily forming a coherent whole in the face of the same reality.

The distance was considerable, both aesthetically and philosophically, between Notre salut by Emmanuel Marre — which traces, through the itinerary of a modest employee under Pétain and in all circumstances, the spirit of collaboration — and Moulin by László Nemes, which exalts the testimony of the Resistance fighter Jean Moulin, tortured to death by Klaus Barbie. Fatherland, meanwhile, chooses a third path, pointing to the moral and civilisational catastrophe of the Second World War through Thomas Mann's return to Germany in 1949.

It is within this same divide that the presence of actress Julianne Moore at the Festival takes on its meaning, having come during the first week of this 79th edition to receive the Women in Motion award — a distinction that has, over the years, notably honoured Jane Fonda, Viola Davis and Michelle Yeoh. Todd Haynes’s muse expressed clearly defined political positions, recounting how, since childhood, she has lost herself in her libraries, which have become refuges, finding in them a human understanding of the world and those who shape it, whether their fate is tragic or not. Within the sometimes superficial bubble of Los Angeles, Moore strives, with the help of her communications teams, to lend depth to subjects that often remain abstract, even as everything depends on a clear if stifling vision.

That same logic brought her the ultimate recognition, the Oscar for Best Actress for Still Alice (2014). "It is the weight of history, and this dream factory that I am proud to contribute to, through commitment against the bearing of arms and against the social chaos in which we live — a chaos that saddens and frightens me within a generally unbalanced geopolitical context," she says. Moore is known for her closeness to the Democrats, while having kept her distance from the most recent political cycle, appearing less frequently alongside Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. She accordingly chose to limit her exposure to the press, preferring, while others gave themselves over to red carpets and premieres, a form of strategic withdrawal from films laden with explosions and bombs, in light of a current world situation she finds "incredibly artificial."

It is worth noting the incongruity of the Best Screenplay prize going to Notre salut, a powerful and authentic work on collaboration, all the more so given that director Emmanuel Marre acknowledged that many of its scenes had been improvised. The Jury Prize went to Das geträumte Abenteuer by Valeska Grisebach, a film that divided opinions sharply. The apex was the Best Director prize, which honoured two directors jointly for The Black Ball, a film that traces Spanish history across a century, weaving together the Franco era and homosexuality.

In parallel, the world of cinema is distancing itself from more radical voices, following declarations by Maxime Saada, CEO of Canal+. French cinema exhibitors, producers and distributors have expressed their concern at a growing radicalisation of cinematic expression as the presidential election approaches. A petition entitled "Do not turn toward Bolloré" had circulated at the Festival's opening, gathering more than six hundred signatures from cinema professionals. In it they protest against what they perceive as the Breton businessman's grip on the seventh art and his monopolistic ambitions, particularly with regard to cinema financing.

With the exception of Adèle Haenel, who has not shot a film in six years, Juliette Binoche, Anna Mouglalis and Swann Arlaud, the vast majority of signatories remain little known within the professional world — some viewing the petition as more of a political front than a professional one — since no one had observed any homogenisation of films or any fascistic grip on the collective imagination through Canal+, including in the left-wing organisations that Bolloré had already dismantled. Many producers nonetheless maintain: "One day, perhaps, we will have to worry about Vincent Bolloré's influence on cinema, the erosion of intellectual and artistic power, and the endgame for cultural progressivism." Whatever the case, and regardless of whether film narratives bear any relation to far-right ideology, the UGC cinemas were not bought by Vincent Bolloré for ideological reasons, but by Maxime Saada, Chairman of Canal+, for industrial ones. "It is a massacre, and it will only get worse," says one distributor — and this Festival may be the last before the far right comes to power, from the perspective of those who defend independence, creativity and democracy.

On the cinematic front, everyone may soon be asked to choose their side, between right and left, between solidarity with the human tragedies of the Middle East or refusal to carry them. But more fundamentally still, while French filmmakers battle over Bolloré, the internet giants — YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, Disney, Netflix, Meta — are weaving a web that allows them to consolidate their hold over images. This will not be without consequences for the economics of cinema, nor for the diversity of aesthetics, as artificial intelligence makes its way into the world of film, as GAFA companies fund films and series, and as Amazon, at the helm of Prime Video, multiplies its wealth. These same giants simultaneously dominate the advertising market. The "Creator Economy Summit," recently established by the Festival and held for the first time this year, saw the emergence of a new generation of digital creators building vast audiences on platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and TikTok — developing, financing and distributing stories with a speed that is now directing them toward long-form narrative and cinema production.

This first encounter between two profoundly different worlds — filmmakers and influencers — made it possible to address the major challenges spanning distribution, production, writing, talent management and the fluidity of content diffusion. No GAFAM company or Big Tech firm can afford to ignore the creator economy, whose revenues are expected to exceed 250 billion dollars this year.

Cinema is under pressure, and the traditional sector is tearing itself apart. The cultural world risks losing the battle of cinematic narrative, which has nourished itself in part on public money. This is a staggering cultural upheaval, born of an evolution that has unfolded in very different ways, as billionaires proliferate across information channels and a form of ideological totalitarianism imposes itself on cinema — confirming the failure of the "democratisation" of cinematic culture. As for fictional scenarios, social conformity is winning out everywhere.