Cannes: Iranian director Farhadi condemns both US-Israeli attacks, crackdown on protesters
Iranian director Asghar Farhadi on Friday condemned both the civilian deaths caused by Israeli and US air strikes in Iran and the “massacring” of protesters by the Islamic Republic. The Oscar-winning director was premiering his latest film "Parallel Tales" at the Cannes Film Festival.
Issued on: 15/05/2026
By: FRANCE 24
Speaking of two "tragic events" this year, Farhadi referred to "the death of many innocent people, children, civilians who were killed during the war, during the attack that Iran has suffered".
"And before this war, there was the death of many demonstrators, people who had taken to the streets to protest, who were just as innocent, and who were massacred," he added.
"Every murder is a crime. From no point of view, or with any justification, can I accept life being taken away from someone, whether it's a war, an execution, or massacring protesters."
Iran has been at war with Israel and the United States since February 28, with a shaky ceasefire in place since April 8.
Since the start of the conflict, Tehran has ramped up executions, particularly in cases involving alleged espionage or security-related charges.
Iran was rocked by huge anti-government protests that peaked in January.
The government acknowledged more than 3,000 deaths during the protests, but blamed the violence on "terrorist acts" orchestrated by the US and Israel.
Human rights groups and researchers outside Iran estimate that anywhere from 7,000 to 35,000 people were killed in indiscriminate shooting by security forces.
Inside Iran's crackdown: Legacy of a bloodbath
Filmmakers in Iran face strict censorship rules and constant pressure from authorities, with several prominent directors from Jafar Panahi – who won Cannes' top prize last year – and Mohammad Rasoulof either jailed or forced into exile.
Farhadi has won two Oscars for best foreign language movie, for "A Separation" (2011) and "The Salesman" (2016).
"Parallel Tales", a story about voyeurism and art in Paris with an all-star French cast, garnered disappointing reviews after its Cannes showing on Thursday.
Film magazine Screen called it "convoluted and superficial" while Variety called it "weirdly muddled".
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Iranian director Asghar Farhadi on Friday condemned both the civilian deaths caused by Israeli and US air strikes in Iran and the “massacring” of protesters by the Islamic Republic. The Oscar-winning director was premiering his latest film "Parallel Tales" at the Cannes Film Festival.
Issued on: 15/05/2026
By: FRANCE 24
Director Asghar Farhadi attends a press conference for the film "Histoires parallèles" (Parallel Tales) at the 79th Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2026.
© Sarah Meyssonnier, Reuters
Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi condemned Friday both the killing of civilians in US and Israeli attacks on his country and the "massacring" of protesters by the Islamic republic.
Farhadi, who travelled from Tehran last week, trod a fine line when asked for his thoughts about events in his war-hit homeland at the Cannes Film Festival, where his latest film, the French-language "Parallel Tales", received its premiere.
Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi condemned Friday both the killing of civilians in US and Israeli attacks on his country and the "massacring" of protesters by the Islamic republic.
Farhadi, who travelled from Tehran last week, trod a fine line when asked for his thoughts about events in his war-hit homeland at the Cannes Film Festival, where his latest film, the French-language "Parallel Tales", received its premiere.
Cannes 2026 Palme d’Or picks include Iran’s Farhadi, Spain’s Almodovar
Speaking of two "tragic events" this year, Farhadi referred to "the death of many innocent people, children, civilians who were killed during the war, during the attack that Iran has suffered".
"And before this war, there was the death of many demonstrators, people who had taken to the streets to protest, who were just as innocent, and who were massacred," he added.
"Every murder is a crime. From no point of view, or with any justification, can I accept life being taken away from someone, whether it's a war, an execution, or massacring protesters."
Iran has been at war with Israel and the United States since February 28, with a shaky ceasefire in place since April 8.
Since the start of the conflict, Tehran has ramped up executions, particularly in cases involving alleged espionage or security-related charges.
Iran was rocked by huge anti-government protests that peaked in January.
The government acknowledged more than 3,000 deaths during the protests, but blamed the violence on "terrorist acts" orchestrated by the US and Israel.
Human rights groups and researchers outside Iran estimate that anywhere from 7,000 to 35,000 people were killed in indiscriminate shooting by security forces.
Inside Iran's crackdown: Legacy of a bloodbath
THE DEBATE © FRANCE 24
43:15
43:15
Filmmakers in Iran face strict censorship rules and constant pressure from authorities, with several prominent directors from Jafar Panahi – who won Cannes' top prize last year – and Mohammad Rasoulof either jailed or forced into exile.
Farhadi has won two Oscars for best foreign language movie, for "A Separation" (2011) and "The Salesman" (2016).
"Parallel Tales", a story about voyeurism and art in Paris with an all-star French cast, garnered disappointing reviews after its Cannes showing on Thursday.
Film magazine Screen called it "convoluted and superficial" while Variety called it "weirdly muddled".
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Why is African cinema out of the picture at the Cannes Film Festival?
Does the absence of African films in the main competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival point to a glass ceiling? Or is African cinema still slowly but surely finding its way to the top table?
Does the absence of African films in the main competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival point to a glass ceiling? Or is African cinema still slowly but surely finding its way to the top table?
Ben’imana by Rwandan director Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo will be screened in the Un Certain Regard section. © Festival de Cannes
By: Alison Hird with RFI
Issued on: 16/05/2026 -
The absence of African-made films among the 22 contenders for this year's Palme d’Or might suggest African filmmakers are still struggling to break into the world’s most prestigious film festival.
Not least because there is no shortage of film production across the continent.
Nigeria alone produces around 2,500 films a year via what's known as "Nollywood", while South Africa has become a major base for international shoots and both Morocco and Tunisia have built strong state-backed industries. Senegal, Rwanda and Kenya are investing in new talent.
Yet when the Palme d’Or line-up was announced, Africa was missing.
“Many media outlets noted with disappointment that, given all the current political tensions, the Cannes Film Festival has focused overwhelmingly on European and Western productions rather than truly opening up to cinema from the Global South," said Claire Diao, a French-Burkinabè film programmer and distributor.
African films are, however, present in other competition categories at the festival.
Diao points to Rwanda’s Ben’Imana by Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, the Central African film Congo Boy by Rafiki Fariala and Moroccan director Leïla Marrakchi’s Strawberries, all of which are screening in the Un Certain Regard section.
Nigerian cinema will also be represented at the Directors’ Fortnight by the Esiri brothers’ Clarissa.
This year’s Cannes jury includes the Ivorian actor Isaach de Bankolé and the Irish-Ethiopian actor Ruth Negga. The opening ceremony was hosted by the Franco-Malian actor Eye Haïdara.
"African cinema is here too. Not just because of what’s on the screen," said producer Joaquim Landau.
By: Alison Hird with RFI
Issued on: 16/05/2026 -
The absence of African-made films among the 22 contenders for this year's Palme d’Or might suggest African filmmakers are still struggling to break into the world’s most prestigious film festival.
Not least because there is no shortage of film production across the continent.
Nigeria alone produces around 2,500 films a year via what's known as "Nollywood", while South Africa has become a major base for international shoots and both Morocco and Tunisia have built strong state-backed industries. Senegal, Rwanda and Kenya are investing in new talent.
Yet when the Palme d’Or line-up was announced, Africa was missing.
“Many media outlets noted with disappointment that, given all the current political tensions, the Cannes Film Festival has focused overwhelmingly on European and Western productions rather than truly opening up to cinema from the Global South," said Claire Diao, a French-Burkinabè film programmer and distributor.
African films are, however, present in other competition categories at the festival.
Diao points to Rwanda’s Ben’Imana by Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, the Central African film Congo Boy by Rafiki Fariala and Moroccan director Leïla Marrakchi’s Strawberries, all of which are screening in the Un Certain Regard section.
Nigerian cinema will also be represented at the Directors’ Fortnight by the Esiri brothers’ Clarissa.
This year’s Cannes jury includes the Ivorian actor Isaach de Bankolé and the Irish-Ethiopian actor Ruth Negga. The opening ceremony was hosted by the Franco-Malian actor Eye Haïdara.
"African cinema is here too. Not just because of what’s on the screen," said producer Joaquim Landau.
Jury president Park Chan-wook, fourth from left, appears with, from left, Elijah Wood, Gong Li, Jane Fonda, Demi Moore, Eye Haidara, Isaach de Bankolé, Ruth Negga, Chloé Zhao, Laura Wandel, Stellan Skarsgard and musicians Theodora and Oklou at this year's opening ceremony. Scott Garfitt/Invision/AP - Scott A Garfitt
Western validation
The African cinema industry's lack of globally recognisable figures can hamper the visibility of a film, according to Diao.
“Very often, selection committees first look at who is behind the film,” she explained. “Is it a sales agent we know? Is it a distributor we know? Is it a producer we know? When the filmmaker is unknown, the cast is unknown, the country is unknown, they don’t start with the same chances as a film with a Pierre Niney or an Isabelle Huppert.”
In practice, African films often need Western validation before Cannes takes notice and the films that do make it through often arrive with European backing already in place.
Diao points to My Father’s Shadow by the Nigerian-British director Akinola Davies Jr. – selected at Cannes last year after recognition at Sundance and support from the British Film Institute.
Landau is not convinced Cannes is actively excluding African productions, noting that of the roughly 2,500 films submitted this year, only around 20 made the main competition.
“There are no Canadian films, no South American films, no Oceanian films this year,” he says. "And yet, do Canadians find themselves thinking, ‘Wow, our film industry isn’t good enough to make it to Cannes’?”
He also questions what the label "African cinema" means, given most successful filmmakers now work through international co-productions.
"What exactly is an African film? Is it a film directed by an African filmmaker of mixed heritage? Is the subject matter African? Is the funding African?“
African films at Cannes tell unexpected stories of power, migration and identity
Nollywood paradox
Nollywood – the world’s second-largest film industry by volume after Bollywood – produces films on an industrial scale and employs millions. In 2023, the industry generated around $8m in ticket sales in Nigeria alone, and the cinema sector is the country’s second-largest employer after agriculture.
But while Nigeria is one of the few African countries with a genuinely self-sustaining film economy, its output has not so far made its mark internationally.
Many Nollywood productions are made primarily for domestic television and streaming audiences, not European arthouse festivals.
“The priority of producers remains the local market,” said Serge Noukoué, co-founder of the Nollywood Week Film Festival in Paris, “because the local market is important.”
"For a long time, Nollywood has suffered from certain stigmas, such as the notion that it is a low-quality industry," he added. "In reality, Nigeria is brimming with talent and actually boasts a much broader cinematic spectrum than one might imagine. The quality is there and it keeps increasing.”
A younger generation of Nigerian directors is emerging – such as CJ Obasi whose Mami Wata premiered at Sundance in 2023, won an Independent Spirit Award nomination and represented Nigeria at the 96th Academy Awards.
Lagos has also become a regular stop for international festival scouts.
And yet the route to Cannes is usually paved with European money and networks. Eighteen of the 22 films competing for the Palme d'Or had some form of French participation.
“There's also a form of protectionism,” Noukoué says, pointing to subsidy systems and quotas that favour films tied to European co-productions.
Writer Wale Davies, Misan Harriman and director Akinola Davies Jr. at a screening of 'My Father's Shadow', which was selected at Cannes last year. Millie Turner/Invision/AP - Millie Turner
Cracks in the glass ceiling
Morocco, Tunisia and South Africa have state-backed film centres and long-term support for productions. Landau says their industries are now among the continent’s most visible internationally and their films often do well abroad.
New state-backed initiatives are also emerging in Senegal, Benin and Kenya, he notes.
Elsewhere, filmmakers have to work with limited public funding and rely on piecemeal international partnerships.
“We are often dealing with survival cinema,” Diao says, with African directors frequently doubling as producers and distributors simply to get films made.
This impacts both who gets financed and what kind of stories are seen as exportable.
Landau says European distributors have spent years searching for films that confirm Western expectations of Africa – poverty, violence and war, what the industry sometimes calls “poverty porn”.
But a new generation, he says, "wants to tell stories about people who love each other, people who laugh, people who have a good time. Sometimes that translates into very commercial films, and ones that do well. So I get the sense that, little by little, the glass ceiling is still there, but it keeps getting cracked in all sorts of places".
That process is being helped by festivals such as Fespaco in Burkina Faso, Carthage in Tunisia and Durban in South Africa, which continue to grow as centres of African cinema in their own right.
Franco-Senegalese documentary 'Dahomey' wins Berlin's Golden Bear
Diao, who is both a distributor and programmer, no longer likes the phrase “African cinema”, preferring instead to speak of “cinemas from Africa, in the plural”.
“There's creativity, and what's needed is greater curiosity, particularly from the programmers at these major festivals that launch filmmakers' careers – including dedicated roles to actively seek out films from Africa, as is the case in Venice, Berlin, Toronto. But that is not the case at the Cannes Film Festival."
This article is based on interviews from RFI's Debat du Jour in French.
American actor Jane Fonda and Chinese star Gong Li open 2026 Cannes Film Festival
The 2026 Cannes Film Festival began on Tuesday with actors Jane Fonda and Gong Li presenting the opening ceremony, and New Zealand's Peter Jackson, who directed the Lord of the Rings trilogy, receiving an honorary Palme d'Or award for his career.
Issued on: 13/05/2026
By: FRANCE 24
FRANCE 24 reports from Cannes ahead of festival opening ceremony
The 2026 Cannes Film Festival began on Tuesday with actors Jane Fonda and Gong Li presenting the opening ceremony, and New Zealand's Peter Jackson, who directed the Lord of the Rings trilogy, receiving an honorary Palme d'Or award for his career.
Issued on: 13/05/2026
By: FRANCE 24
Gong Li and Jane Fonda on stage at the opening ceremony for the 79th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France on May 12, 2026. © Manon Cruz, Reuters
01:41
01:41
American cinema veteran Jane Fonda and Chinese star Gong Li opened the 79th Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday in front of a celebrity-studded audience on the French Riviera.
Fonda hailed cinema's role as "an act of resistance" at the end of a ceremony that also saw "The Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson receive an honorary Palme d'Or award for his career.
"I believe in the power of voices, voices on the screen, voices off the screen, and definitely voices on the street, especially now," said Fonda, a vocal critic of US President Donald Trump and long-standing campaigner, to loud applause.
"I believe that cinema has always been an act of resistance because we tell the stories... 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.
"So let's celebrate audacity, freedom, and the fierce act of creation."
Fonda hailed cinema's role as "an act of resistance" at the end of a ceremony that also saw "The Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson receive an honorary Palme d'Or award for his career.
"I believe in the power of voices, voices on the screen, voices off the screen, and definitely voices on the street, especially now," said Fonda, a vocal critic of US President Donald Trump and long-standing campaigner, to loud applause.
"I believe that cinema has always been an act of resistance because we tell the stories... 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.
"So let's celebrate audacity, freedom, and the fierce act of creation."
FRANCE 24 reports from Cannes ahead of festival opening ceremony
arts24 © FRANCE 24
08:19
08:19
Jackson was presented with his award by American actor Elijah Wood, who recounted how his life had "been divided into before and after" the moment he was cast as the hero Frodo Baggins in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy aged just 18.
New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson with an Honorary Palme d'Or Award during the opening ceremony at the 79th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France on May 12, 2026. © Gonzalo Fuentes, Reuters
Jackson, 64, was typically self-deprecating as he spoke on stage, saying it was a "stunning surprise, miraculous... I am not a Palme d'Or sort of guy."
"I have been trying to work out why I won" only to realise "this morning that this is the Cannes Film Festival's way of apologising for not giving 'Bad Taste' the Palme d'Or," the New Zealander said, referring to the first movie he made.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Jackson, 64, was typically self-deprecating as he spoke on stage, saying it was a "stunning surprise, miraculous... I am not a Palme d'Or sort of guy."
"I have been trying to work out why I won" only to realise "this morning that this is the Cannes Film Festival's way of apologising for not giving 'Bad Taste' the Palme d'Or," the New Zealander said, referring to the first movie he made.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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