Cannes Film Festival roundup: Kevin Costner, Emma Stone, Selena Gomez and more

The Cannes Film Festival is always a spectacle, but 2024's edition may be the most controversial in years. The red carpet unfurls against a backdrop of war in Gaza and protests, and a rapidly spreading #MeToo movement in France's film industry.

Following the excitement of the highly-anticipated premieres of Megalopolis and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga last week, the festival continues to dazzle with big releases and A-list actors.

On Friday (17 May), Yorgos Lanthimos returned to Cannes with Kinds of Kindness, his follow-up to Poor Things, reuniting with that film's Oscar-winning lead, Emma Stone.

Poor Things co-star Willem Dafoe also features, alongside a stellar cast including Jesse Plemons, Margaret Qualley, Joe Alwyn, Hong Chau, Mamoudou Athie and Hunter Schafer.

Described as a triptych fable, Kinds of Kindness follows three intertwined stories: a man without choice trying to take control of his life; a policeman whose wife, missing at sea, returns seeming like a different person; and a woman searching for someone destined to become a spiritual leader. This film is one of 22 in competition for the coveted Palme d'Or.

Euronews Culture's resident film critic David Mouriquand described the film as "strange, sexy, hilarious, enigmatic, and very bleak in all the right ways."

On Saturday (18 May), another strong contender for the top prize made its debut. Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez joined French director Jacques Audiard to unveil the musical crime comedy Emilia Perez.

Saldaña stars as an under-appreciated lawyer hired by a cartel boss to help him leave his business and realise his secret, long-held dream of changing gender.

Audiard's new offering "is a bold and brilliant swing for the fences, a perfectly orchestrated folly with a fully realised vision that never plays it safe," according to Mouriquand.

On the Western front

Kevin Costner also made a splash with the premiere of his much-anticipated Western, Horizon: An American Saga, which isn't in the official competition. The star-studded event saw Costner joined on the red carpet by co-stars Sienna Miller, Luke Wilson, and Abbey Lee, as well as his family.

Costner was visibly moved, tearing up during the standing ovation for the first installment of what the actor-director hopes will be four feature films.

The equally legendary Cate Blanchett premiered Guy Maddin's Rumours, a wicked dark comedy about global leaders, while Dennis Quaid, Demi Moore, and Margaret Qualley presented their new body horror thriller The Substance, directed by Coralie Fargeat.

Still awaiting their premieres are films including David Cronenberg's arthouse horror The Shrouds, Ali Abbasi's Donald Trump drama The Apprentice, and Sean Baker's comedy Anora, centred around the life of a New York sex worker.