CANNES, France — The 2026 Cannes Film Festival opened on Tuesday night with a glittering ceremony attended by Demi Moore, Elijah Wood and Jane Fonda, but the absence of major Hollywood studios and concerns about artificial intelligence overshadowed the glamour.

American cinema veteran Fonda and Chinese star Gong Li declared the annual French Riviera film festival open at a ceremony attended by Isaach De Bankole and James Franco.

Fonda, a vocal critic of US President Donald Trump and long-standing campaigner for women’s rights, urged the industry to create films that serve as “an act of resistance”.

“We tell the stories that bring empathy to the marginalised, stories that allow us to feel across difference, stories that let us see that there is an alternative future that is possible,” she said.

Wood, who starred as Frodo Baggins in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, reunited with director Peter Jackson on stage as he presented the New Zealand filmmaker with an honorary Palme d’Or award for his career achievements.

Jackson accepted the award to a prolonged standing ovation, saying it was a “stunning surprise, miraculous… I am not a Palme d’Or sort of guy”.

Competition begins

A total of 22 films will compete for the prestigious Palme d’Or prize for best film when the competition begins on Wednesday. Last year’s award went to Iranian director Jafar Panahi for “It Was Just an Accident”.

This year’s competition features several historical dramas examining authoritarianism and fascism, as well as entries from acclaimed directors including Spain’s Pedro Almodovar, Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda and Romania’s Cristian Mungiu.

Off-screen controversies have dominated the build-up to the festival, including debates about artificial intelligence’s impact on jobs, Hollywood’s decision to skip the event, and under-representation of women directors.

Irish-Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty, one of nine members of the Palme d’Or jury, criticised Hollywood hours before the opening ceremony.

“Isn’t it fascinating to see Susan Sarandon, Javier Bardem and Mark Ruffalo blacklisted because of their views in opposing the murder of women and children in Gaza?” Laverty said, referring to stars who have publicly opposed Israel’s war in Gaza.

“Shame on Hollywood, people who do that,” the Scottish-born writer added.

For years, activists have pushed European festivals to condemn Israel’s war in Gaza, which has left tens of thousands dead and devastated the territory. These calls have been resisted.

AI controversy

Cannes director Thierry Fremaux came out strongly against AI and its effect on the industry, where job losses are mounting.

“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 reporters on Monday.

However, the festival announced on Monday that it had signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with social media giant and AI technology investor Meta.

Mark Zuckerberg’s company is at the centre of a brewing controversy about the latest film from Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh, which will premiere in Cannes.

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”.

Hollywood’s absence

Soderbergh is one of few Hollywood directing heavyweights in Cannes this year. Other directors hoped for by organisers, including Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan, are absent from the programme.

The world’s biggest film festival typically relies on Hollywood to provide mass-market entertainment alongside its arthouse cinema programme.

But no major US studio agreed to launch a blockbuster this year, or at the Berlin International Film Festival in February. This has raised questions about why giants such as Universal, Disney and Warner are avoiding European events.

“I really hope that the studios come back,” Fremaux said on Monday, attributing their absence to scheduling issues and industry turmoil.

He stressed that American cinema was well represented, with “Paper Tiger” by James Gray starring Adam Driver, and “The Man I Love” by Ira Sachs featuring Rami Malek, in the main competition.

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