The Making of Donald Trump at Cannes Film Festival

Click to watch the trailer of "Megalopolis" by Francis Ford Coppola

CANNES: The biographical drama film "The Apprentice" directed by Ali Abbasi and written by Gabriel Sherman, a journalist who covered the Trump administration, starring Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump examines Trump's early career as a real estate businessman in New York City during the 1970s and 1980s. The film primarily focuses on the mentor-protégé relationship between Trump and the notorious lawyer Roy Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong. Cohn was a controversial figure who worked with Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare and is depicted as having a major influence on shaping Trump's ruthless business tactics and approach to power. He took him under his wing and drilled into him the three golden rules he lived by, which considering the Trump of today are prophetic to say the least: “Rule 1: Attack, attack, attack. Rule 2: Admit nothing. Deny everything. Rule 3 Always claim victory and never admit defeat.” The film received mixed reviews with concerns about the public interpretation of the film and Trump’s camp responded with a blistering note, threatening legal action. At a press conference in Cannes for “The Apprentice,” Abbasi responded to Trump’s legal threats: “Everybody talks about him suing a lot of people — they don’t talk about his success rate though, you know?” he said. He also offered to screen the movie for Trump, saying, “I don’t necessarily think that this is a movie he would dislike.”

Another highlight was "Rumours" the satirical comedy from the visionary trio of Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson. Boasting an impressive international ensemble led by Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander, the film skewered the pomp and circumstance of international diplomacy through an absurdist premise that saw world leaders lost in the woods. Its singular cinematic vision and timely commentary on global politics made "Rumours" a standout in the Out of Competition section. 

The documentary "The Invasion" by acclaimed Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa made a powerful impact at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Presented in the Special Screening section, this unflinching portrayal of the ongoing war in Ukraine offers a harrowing glimpse into the daily lives of civilians caught in the crossfire. Loznitsa's raw and intimate approach captures the resilience of the Ukrainian people in the face of unimaginable hardship, serving as a poignant testament to the human spirit's endurance. 

The film "Lula" is a portrait of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the former president of Brazil who served two terms from 2003 to 2010. The documentary, co-directed by Oliver Stone and Rob Wilson, primarily focuses on the tumultuous period between 2016 and 2022 when Lula was imprisoned for 19 months on controversial corruption charges before making a triumphant return to politics and winning the 2022 presidential election While admittedly partisan, Stone's extensive interviews with Lula provide a glimpse into the former president's life and ideologies. The documentary aims to shed light on American intervention in Latin American politics, both historically and in recent times, through the lens of Lula's experiences.

“The Seed of the Sacred Fig", Mohammad Rasoulof's drama about a family in Tehran divided over the oppressive practices of the Iranian government, earned a rapturous 12-minute standing ovation at its Cannes Film Festival premiere on Friday in the final hours of the festival. Rasoulof risked his life by appearing at the screening after fleeing Iran for Europe on May 13 to avoid going to prison. He’d been sentenced to eight years in jail by Iranian authorities for making a film that criticized the regime.

Therefore, Rasoulof’s arrival at Cannes played like a political statement of its own. At the premiere he thanked the crowd in Farsi, expressing hope for a better future in Iran and saying that many actors in the film didn’t have permission to come to Cannes. On the red carpet, Rasoulof held up images of stars Soheila Golestani and Missagh Zareh, who were unable to leave Iran.

Francis Ford Coppola's long-awaited "Megalopolis" premiered at Cannes on a Thursday night, drawing inspiration from the Catiline conspiracy to overthrow the rules of the Roman Republic in 63BC and is set in a New York-like metropolis of the future. Even though the 85-year-old veteran director first started developing his passion project in the 1980s, he said the analogy had only become more prescient in recent years.

“My feeling was to make a Roman epic set in modern America, and I had no idea that the politics of today would make that so relevant.” The Roman Republic, which had elements of modern democracy, in its last years succumbed to economic problems, corruption, and the rise of Julius Caesar as a dictator.

The maker of Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, and The Godfather said he was observing a trend “towards the more neo-right, even fascist tradition” not just in the US but across the globe, “which is frightening, because … anyone who was alive during World War II saw the horrors that took place, and we don’t want a repeat of that”.

At a press conference, Coppola sounded unregretful about the $120m project that he largely self-financed. “There are many people when they die, they say: ‘Oh, I wish I had done this, I wish I had done that’. But when I die, I’m going to say: ‘I’ve got to do this and I’ve got to see my daughter win an Oscar and I’ve got to make wine and I’ve got to make every movie I wanted to make.”

The film “Anora” - a tragi-comic modern-day Cinderella story about a stripper who marries a Russian oligarch multimillionaire, made by the American director Sean Baker, won the coveted Palme d’Or at the 77th edition of the festival.  Female-Centered Stories won big at Cannes and “Anora” had been a favourite to take the prize, although it had some competition from an unlikely Spanish-language musical, "Emilia Perez", directed by the French filmmaker Jacques Audiard. The film did not take the Palme but was acknowledged with the unusual choice of giving the best acting prize to an ensemble of the female cast, including the first trans woman actor to be honoured with this award. Karla Sofía Gascón shared her prize with co-stars Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldaña, and Selena Gomez.