Cannes Film Festival<\/a> rolls out the red carpets on Tuesday for its annual showcase in France, grappling with the dizzying speed of AI-powered disruption and the absence of major Hollywood<\/a> studios.<\/p>\n In its main competition, a total of 22 films are vying for the prestigious Palme d’Or prize for best film, which was won last year by the highly political Iranian movie “It Was Just an Accident” by Jafar Panahi<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read moreCannes 2025: Jafar Panahi calls for Iran \u2018freedom\u2019 after Palme d\u2019Or triumph<\/a><\/p>\n But as usual in the build up to the world’s biggest festival, off-screen talking points have dominated the conversation, most notably how to cope with changes wrought by artificial intelligence\u00a0\u2013 and Hollywood’s decision to ghost the event.<\/p>\n The Palme d’Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, takes more than 70 hours of meticulous craftsmanship to produce at Swiss jeweller Chopard’s workshops outside Geneva.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Cannes director Thierry Fr\u00e9maux came out strongly against AI and its effect on the industry where job losses are mounting for dubbing artists and translators, while writers and actors fear for their livelihoods.<\/p>\n “What is certain… is that here in Cannes, we stand with the artists, we stand with the screenwriters and we stand with everyone in these professions, with actors and voice actors alike,” he told a news conference on Monday.<\/p>\n He suggested that in the future films could be given labels like those for organic food and wine, and “we will say ‘this film has been made without artificial intelligence'”.<\/p>\n Member of the jury Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard arrives at the Grand Hyatt Cannes Hotel Martinez in Cannes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nonetheless, the festival announced Monday that it had signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with social media giant and AI technology investor Meta.<\/p>\n Mark Zuckerberg-owned Meta<\/a> is at the heart of a brewing controversy about the latest film from Oscar-winning “Traffic” director Steven Soderbergh, which will premiere in Cannes.<\/p>\n Soderbergh partnered with Meta to obtain AI-generated video of late Beatles songwriter John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono for his documentary “John Lennon: The Last Interview”.<\/p>\n L’Oreal banners adorn the facade of Hotel Martinez along the Boulevard de la Croisette on the sidelines of the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The use of AI was central to the 2023 strikes that shut down Hollywood, as actors and writers warned that unchecked technology threatened the industry.<\/p>\n Thousands of French actors and filmmakers warned in an open letter in February that AI tools were “plundering” talent across the industry, comparing them to a “devouring hydra”.<\/p>\n Soderbergh is a rare Hollywood heavyweight in Cannes this year, with others such as Steven Spielberg<\/a> and Christopher Nolan\u00a0\u2013 hoped for by organisers\u00a0\u2013 failing to appear on the programme.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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