Encore!

As one of the world's largest film events, some 140 nationalities are represented at the Cannes Film Festival. This year, however, local talent is front and centre, with a strong showing of French productions and co-productions. Critic Manon Kerjean takes us through some of the French features competing for the Palme d'Or, as well as the international films boasting French talent.

After Baby Yoda's success on the small screen, "The Mandalorian and Grogu" marks the return of the Star Wars franchise, eight years after the multiplanetary saga last graced our movie theatres. We take a look at this latest instalment starring Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver. Meanwhile, in Cannes, local talent is in the spotlight with more than 60 French productions and co-productions screening at the festival.

Sebastian Stan delivers one of his biggest transformations yet in 'Fjord', Cristian Mungiu's tense Competition drama about a Romanian family who move to rural Norway and become increasingly isolated from the local community. Co-starring Renate Reinsve, the film marks Stan's first role in Romanian.

From stepping out at the festival with Wim Wenders and Diane Keaton to recent appearances as an ambassador for L'Oréal cosmetics, Andie Macdowell has become a regular at the Cannes Film Festival. She sits down with FRANCE 24's Eve Jackson to talk about movies, motherhood and promoting a more inclusive definition of beauty. Eight years after Cannes first grappled with the #MeToo movement, actress and director Judith Godrèche brings her adaptation of Annie Ernaux's “A Girl's Story” to the screen, pointing out that its themes of sexism and sexual violence are just as pertinent seven decades after the events it describes.

Football legend Éric Cantona is back on the Croisette with two films in Cannes: "Marvellous Mornings", the debut feature from director Avril Besson, and "Cantona", a British documentary exploring his turbulent years at Manchester United. Away from the premieres, the festival is also facing a growing political controversy after hundreds of film figures accused Canal+ and billionaire Vincent Bolloré of contributing to a far-right shift in French culture.

Eve Jackson brings us an update from the mid-point of the 79th Cannes Film Festival as Adam Driver joins Miles Teller and director James Grey on the red carpet for "Paper Tiger", a film that explores corruption and moral downfall in the United States of the 1980s.

FRANCE 24's Culture Editor Eve Jackson is live at Cannes, where Day 4 is shaping up to be one of the most star-studded yet. The biggest arrival of the day is John Travolta – star of "Grease", "Saturday Night Fever" and "Pulp Fiction" – presenting his directorial debut "Propeller One-Way Night Coach", based on a children's novel he wrote for his son about the golden age of aviation. A licensed pilot as well as a Hollywood legend, this is a passion project in every sense.

French legend and Cannes regular Catherine Deneuve returns to the Croisette with not one but two films. Meanwhile Hollywood icon and licensed pilot John Travolta makes his directorial debut with an adaptation of his own children's novel about the golden age of aviation. FRANCE 24's Culture Editor Eve Jackson also tells us about the latest collaboration from former French power couple Marion Cotillard and Guillaume Canet – their first since splitting up last summer.

It's a simple action movie that grew into a billion-dollar global franchise. "The Fast and the Furious" marked its 25th anniversary with a midnight showing at the Cannes Film Festival. Lead actor Vin Diesel was joined on the red carpet by the daughter of his late co-star Paul Walker, to whom he paid an emotional tribute. FRANCE 24's Culture Editor Eve Jackson also tells us about the other films that have festival-goers revved up, from an "unhinged" slasher flick with Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder, to a film starring Barry Keoghan as the charismatic leader of a Circassian immigrant family.

FRANCE 24's Culture Editor Eve Jackson brings us the latest from the Cannes Film Festival, including a look at one of the wildest movies the festival has seen in a while: "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma", from director Jane Schoenbrun. It's part-slasher movie, part-fever dream and part-commentary on fandom and identity. It stars Gillian Anderson, who we know best for "The X-Files" and "Sex Education". Opposite her is "Hacks" actress Hannah Einbinder playing a young queer filmmaker.

It's Day 1 of the annual cinematic marathon for the Cannes  jury weighing up the features in competition for the Palme d'Or, with 22 films to consider. Critic Emma Jones tells us more about the members of director Park Chan-wook's jury, and we discuss the first two competition screenings: "Nagi Notes" and "A Woman's Life", as well as the hotly anticipated features from Asghar Farhadi, Pedro Almodovar and Cristian Mungiu.

It's time for the Cannes Film Festival jury to begin weighing up the 22 films competing for the Palme d'Or. FRANCE 24 film critic Emma Jones is on the French Riviera to walk us through the main themes emerging from this year's competition. The official selection boasts a strong Asian presence, with one South Korean film in competition and three Japanese features, including Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Sheep in the Box".

The 79th Cannes Film Festival is officially underway, and FRANCE 24 is live from the Croisette for its very first Cannes 2026 special. Join Culture Editor Eve Jackson and Film Critic Emma Jones as they break down the biggest moments from opening night: the honorary Palme d'Or presented to Peter Jackson, the arrival of Hollywood stars on the red carpet and the films already creating buzz on the Croisette.

As the 79th Cannes Film Festival opens on the Croisette, politics is competing with glamour for attention. Hundreds of figures from the French film industry have signed an open letter warning about what they describe as the growing influence of the far right within French cinema and media. At the centre of the controversy is French billionaire and media tycoon Vincent Bolloré, owner of Canal+, the powerful television group that plays a major role in financing French films.

In this edition of our arts24 music show, Jennifer Ben Brahim chats with Scottish-American duo Witch Post. Despite living more than 4,000 miles apart, Alaska Reid and Dylan Fraser crossed geographical barriers to form this band, united by a shared love of indie-rock, songwriting and folklore from their respective homelands. They are on tour with their sophomore EP "Butterfly", a record steeped in fantasy and the supernatural.

She took the world by storm with her "Hit Me Hard and Soft" tour; Billie Eilish returns to the global stage now via the big screen. The pop star has joined forces with director James Cameron, best known for "Titanic" and "Avatar", to bring her live performances to cinemas in 3D format. 

After nearly four decades at the heart of Radiohead, Ed O'Brien is entering a new creative era. In a candid interview with arts24's Eve Jackson, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame guitarist discusses depression, healing in the Welsh countryside, the making of his deeply personal new solo album "Blue Morpho" and why Radiohead's carefully planned 2027 global tour marks a new beginning for the band.

We look ahead to some of the French films making a splash on the Riviera at the 79th Cannes Film Festival, as Manon Kerjean takes us through some of the home-grown talent gracing the red carpet this year. She tells us why opening feature "The Electric Kiss" strikes the right tone with its bittersweet, supernatural elements and how Arthur Harari's "The Unknown" has revisited the body-swap genre with panache.

After six decades in Hollywood, James L. Brooks' latest heroine "Ella McCay" is a natural successor to his pioneering star of the small screen, "Mary Tyler Moore". This new, 21st-century heroine is juggling a political career with family drama, and her creator tells us why Ella's approach to social and political change is at odds with way democracy is being managed today in the US.

British 1980s rock heavyweights Def Leppard have delighted fans with a new track "Rejoice" and the announcement of their first concert in the French capital in nearly three decades. Their frontman Joe Elliott stopped by arts24 ahead of their July 8 show at the Accor Arena to chat to Marjorie Hache. We also look at new releases by Tori Amos, Lykke Li and Lady Gaga and Doechii.

Over the last 18 years, the FEMUA has established itself as a major date in the African cultural calendar, with concerts in Anoumabo and Dimbokro in Ivory Coast. Showcasing a continent of musical styles – including Afrobeat, rumba and rap – the event was founded by A'Salfo, frontman for the band Magic System. FRANCE 24's reporters tell us more about this year's line-up, special guest country Gabon and the wealth of cultural events taking place at FEMUA 2026. 

In this edition we head to Morocco for the Marrakech African Book Festival (FLAM), a key gathering for writers, thinkers and novelists from across Africa and its diaspora. Our team sits down with Nigerian writer Chigozie Obioma, whose acclaimed works "The Fishermen" and "An Orchestra of Minorities" were both shortlisted for the Booker Prize. 

We discuss the harrowing incident at the centre of Marta Bergman's poignant new film, as critic Manon Kerjean tells us why "The Silent Run" is a powerful, haunting take on the terrifying scenarios that many refugees face. We also review Alain Gomis's atmospheric journey through family rites and rituals in Guinea-Bissau in "Dao". Plus Laure Calamy and Vincent Macaigne negotiate belly laughs and bittersweet moments in "What is Love?" as a separated couple re-visiting their past on a trip to Rome.

Before he became one of the leading voices of Nordic Noir, Ragnar Jónasson was a teenager who translated novels by Agatha Christie into Icelandic. That early immersion in the mechanics of crime fiction helped shape a writer now published in around 40 countries, with millions of copies sold worldwide and a particularly devoted readership in France.

In this edition of our arts24 music show, Jennifer Ben Brahim chats with Alexandre Diani and Nicolas Paoletti from Corsican indie electro band Casablanca Drivers. They are known for their sun-soaked riffs and electronic beats. Casablanca Drivers have just dropped their third album "Protocol", a record jam-packed with dance floor-ready beats and a baseline for both clubbers and punks. French Touch features prominently on the album, especially as they teamed up with legendary art director Alexandre Courtès, who has worked with the likes of Air, Cassius and Daft Punk. 

In this edition of arts24, Hollywood nostalgia takes centre stage as Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt reunite for the long-awaited sequel to "The Devil Wears Prada", bringing high fashion to the red carpet.

For 20 years, British photographer Johny Pitts has been travelling around Europe with a camera and a question: what does it actually mean to be Black and European? His answer fills a room at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. "Black Bricolage" brings together photographs, notebooks and documents from cities across the continent – Paris, Berlin, Lisbon, Marseille and Brussels – capturing the ordinary lives that rarely make the front page. 

This week's film show on arts24 spotlights a trio of strikingly different releases, led by Antoine Fuqua's highly anticipated biopic "Michael", which features a breakout performance from nephew Jaafar Jackson as the King of Pop, alongside Colman Domingo's chilling turn as patriarch Joseph Jackson.

Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi return for season three of Sam Levinson's troubled teen drama "Euphoria". The series has been lauded by fans but slammed by critics for its hypersexual, fetishist content. TV critic Dheepthika Laurent also reviews the second season of Netflix's rage drama "Beef". It stars Carey Mulligan and Oscar Isaac as a country club couple who get into a blackmail feud with a young couple. Plus: Eric Rochant, the creator of the French series "The Bureau", is back with a family crime drama called "Bandi". It's Netflix's first ever series set on the French Caribbean island of Martinique. Finally, Michelle Pfeiffer and Elle Fanning navigate the tricky ethics of OnlyFans in "Margo's Got Money Troubles".

French-American artist Crystal Murray rose to fame on social media, a decade before the term influencer was "a thing". She was already making alternative R'n'B and soul, which led her to get signed and release a first album in 2024. A couple of years ago, she moved to London to find her voice on her own terms and became an independent artist. She popped by arts24 to tell Marjorie Hache about her new EP "Anatomy of a Cry", which sees her already avant-garde style tinted with indie folk. They also discuss new releases by Massive Attack, the Foo Fighters and Fally Ipupa. 

The annual Paris Book Festival is honouring Iceland this year, and Icelandic author Jón Kalman Stefánsson will be doing a book signing. He tells us about his latest novel, "Celestial Bodies at the Edge of the World", which sheds light on a little-known dark chapter in Icelandic history. He also tells us why Icelandic literature is booming in France.

Exiles, migrants, refugees: there are as many ways to label "strangers" as there are to misunderstand them and reduce their identity to their outsider status. Ece Temelkuran explores this existential and very physical reality in her new book "Nation of Strangers", as the Turkish author and journalist reflects upon what it means to lose one's home morally, spiritually and politically.

Film critic Manon Kerjean tells us why "Just an Illusion" is more than just a tender study of young teenagers' first love, and how its retro décor and timely themes add weight to a family dynamic with Camille Cottin and Louis Garrel taking on parental roles.

An exhibition venue, event space and meeting point for Afro-descendant cultures in all their diversity: its founders call MansA an open house, where a world of art and artists are welcome. As the centre launches a bilingual magazine, we hear from its editor Sebastien Thème on celebrating Black excellence, on the French legislation being debated that should eventually see thousands of looted treasures returned to their countries of origin, and on the cultural figures continuing the work of intellectuals like civil rights activist Angela Davis.

On today's Arts24 Music Show, Jennifer Ben Brahim speaks with Ulysse Cottin, one half of French indie duo Papooz. The band is celebrating ten years of music with a new album, "Papooz and Friends" – a sunny journey featuring some of their favourite collaborators. We also hear from British multi-hyphenate Wesley Joseph, who has just released his much-anticipated debut album, "Forever Ends Someday". The record is steeped in nostalgia, with much of it written in his childhood home of Walsall, in the West Midlands.

Aïda Asgharzadeh was widely praised for her powerful exploration of dissidence and exile in Persian Dolls, weaving her own family's story into a drama spanning Iran and France. Her deft use of history as a backdrop to intimate, personal narratives is once again in focus with her latest play, The Last Cedar of Lebanon, which examines how individuals respond to the pressures of war and violence – and how geopolitical upheaval can echo across generations. Speaking to FRANCE 24, she explains how creating an emotional landscape lies at the heart of her work, and why, as an Iranian, she struggles to see a hopeful outcome amid the current turmoil of war.

Film critic Ben Croll joins Eve Jackson to break down this year's Cannes lineup – from the biggest names to the early buzz, and what it reveals about the state of global cinema. The 2026 Cannes Film Festival is already shaping up to be one of the most talked-about editions in years. Major directors including Pedro Almodóvar, Steven Soderbergh and Ron Howard are set to premiere new work on the Croisette. They are joined by a host of international stars – among them Javier Bardem, Michael Fassbender and Kristen Stewart – underlining Cannes' enduring global appeal.

Critic Emma Jones tells us why “Dead Man's Wire” plays to the director's strengths, with Bill Skarsgard and Colman Domingo mixed up in a chaotic kidnapping inspired by a true story which took place in the 1970s. We discuss the BAFTA-winning performance from Robert Aramayo, as he plays campaigner John Davidson, a man suffering from Tourette's syndrome. Director Gore Verbinski returns with his riff on AI and technological dystopia, with Sam Rockwell and Juno Temple leading the charge. And the “Ready or Not” horror scenario returns for a sequel, bringing in Sarah Michelle Gellar and Kathryn Newton for a blood-soaked caper.

Japanese manga star Ito Ogure aka Oh! Great takes centre stage in Paris this season, as the celebrated creator of Air Gear unveils his first graphic novel “Smoke” at the upcoming Festival du Livre de Paris. It's a rare chance to discover a new side of one of Japan's most influential artists – just one of the cultural highlights lighting up the French capital right now.

This week on Arts24, we explore new releases from major music stars like rapper Snoop Dogg and U2, who continue to tease their upcoming album after dropping their second EP of the year. We also chat with French electro-pop band Camp Claude about their new album Never Say Never and why music video aesthetics remain so important to them. Plus, we take a look at a track from rising Brighton indie band Lime Garden, who are gearing up to release their debut album Maybe Not Tonight.

Filmmaker Ilker Catak explains how his political thriller – exploring authoritarianism and the artistic process – grew out of a desire to examine the complexities of marriage. "Yellow Letters", which won the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival, serves as a cautionary tale. Catak says the story is not confined to Turkey – where his characters' lives are upended by creeping censorship – but offers a broader warning about the fundamental freedoms that must be defended.

Nabil Nahas has been painting for seven decades. From his childhood in Lebanon to his career in New York, he is now presenting his latest monumental work in Venice as his country's representative at the 2026 Contemporary Art Biennale. The artist speaks to us about his connection to the ancient civilisations of his homeland, and why he believes politicising international platforms is the wrong approach.