American actor Jane Fonda and Chinese star Gong Li open 2026 Cannes Film Festival
Key takeaways
- 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.
- 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.
- Read moreCannes 2026 rolls out red carpet amid AI spat, absence of major US studios
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
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.
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 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.