The 74th edition of the Cannes Film Festival opens Tuesday evening after two years of absence, due to the coronavirus.

All the stars of the planet will come together to celebrate the return of cinema to the French Riviera.

Thierry Frémaux, the general delegate of the largest film festival in the world, is delighted to bring cinema back to the heart of the world "on Europe 1.  

After the coronavirus pandemic, the Cannes festival must "put cinema back at the center of the world", launches Thierry Frémaux.

This is the mission that the prestigious Cannes festival has given itself this year, explains the general delegate of the film festival, invited to Europe 1 on Tuesday morning on the occasion of its opening.

At the end of the festival, "we will have the feeling that we will have put cinema back at the heart of the world. In France, we have a completely formidable system. And this is not the case in all countries. We know that there are journalists from faraway countries who need the Cannes Film Festival to say how important cinema is ", confides the general delegate of the film festival at the microphone of Europe 1.

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This year, the festival takes place exceptionally in July, compared to May usually.

Holidaymakers therefore mingle with festival-goers on the Croisette.

Some even learn that the festival takes place when they discover the huge poster representing the president of the jury Spike Lee and his cap which dominates the steps of the Palais des festivals.

Thierry Frémaux recalls that "everyone will be able to enjoy the festival" in particular thanks to a "very strong program of open-air screenings at the cinema on the beach", but also to "the special opening of the new multiplex in Cannes".

A selection full of stars

And for this reopening with great fanfare, many artists will make the trip. Of the 24 films selected, no less than six French productions are in the running for the Palme d'Or.

The Olympics, 

for example, the new film by Jacques Audiard, already webbed with

Dheepan

. Director Catherine Corsini will plunge us into an emergency department in the midst of the yellow vests revolt. As for the filmmaker François Ozon, he tackles the difficult subject of assisted suicide with Sophie Marceau and André Dussollier. 

In front of them, the best directors from all over the world.

Wes Anderson notably with

French Dispatch

, shot entirely in Angoulême.

Without counting Nani Moretti, Sean Penn, Nabil Ayouch, Ashgar Farhadi, or Paul Verhoeven.

Tuesday evening, it is the new film of Leos Carax,

Annette

, carried by Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver, which will open the ball.

"Once the halls go out, all of this will be forgotten"

For its return, the festival innovates. The most publicized event in the world, after the Olympic Games, is now environmentally friendly. "Cannes is the biggest festival in the world and that also gives us homework", notes Thierry Frémaux. In order to compensate for the comings and goings of festival-goers from all over the world by plane, a contribution of 25 euros to offset carbon emissions has been requested. "Even for Pierre Lescure and me!", Assures the general delegate.

The pandemic has not entirely disappeared. As in all events that reappear slowly, barrier gestures must be respected. The health protocol is strict: vaccination passport or recent mandatory screening tests, checked at the entrance to the palace. But nothing will be able to shake the magic of the moment. "I believe that once the theaters go out and the screens come to life, all this will be forgotten, only the pleasure of cinema will dominate", confides Thierry Frémaux.