Cannes Film Festival 2024: Everything You Need To Know, From Celebrities Attending To Moments To Look Out For

The star-studded Cannes Film Festival is here, and after this year's star-studded Grammy and Academy Awards, we couldn’t be happier to have some more red carpet glamour back in our lives.

The celebrations kicked off on Tuesday May 14, and will celebrate all things international film, as well as the actors, directors and crew behind the scenes. This year will be the 77^th edition of the festival, and will consist of the usual fanfare of film screenings, press conferences, parties and red carpet moments.

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Emma Stone, Margaret Qualley, Sienna Miller and Selena Gomez are among those who are expected to attend this year's near fortnight-long event.

Since its debut in 1946, the festival has been noted for unforgettable moments, from Princess Diana donning a baby-blue, diaphanous tulle Catherine Walker gown in 1987 to Cate Blanchett and more partaking in a #MeToo protest in 2018.

Here's everything you need to know about the Cannes Film Festival 2024, from the red carpet to the moments not to be missed:

When is the Cannes Film Festival 2024?

This year's proceedings will kick off on May 14 with French-language film The Second Act, a comedy from French director Quentin Dupieux, starring Léa Seydoux and Vincent Lindon, while the closing film, which will close the festival on May 25, has yet to be announced.

Where will the Cannes Film Festival 2024 take place?

As ever, the iconic calendar event will be hosted in the resort city of Cannes, on the French Riviera. It’s an invite-only festival held at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès.

Who will receive the Honorary Palme d’or at the Cannes Film Festival 2024?

At the festival's opening ceremony, Meryl Streep will be awarded with the honorary Palme d’Or, which will mark the actors' first trip to the film festival since accompanying Fred Schepisi’s Evil Angels a Cry in the Dark in 1989 for which she won best actress.

At the festival’s closing ceremony, George Lucas, the creator of both the Star Wars and Indiana Jones sagas, will receive this year's Honorary Palme d’Or Award for his contribution to cinema.

In an official statement, the Cannes Film Festival said that it 'is delighted to pay tribute to one of the greatest figures of contemporary cinema, a man with an extraordinary career, who brings together great entertainment and innovation, mythology and modernity and cinephilia and technology.'

'The Festival de Cannes has always held a special place in my heart. I was surprised and elated when my first film, THX-1138, was selected to be shown in a new programme for first time directors called the Directors’ Fortnight,' Lucas said in a statement. 'Since then, I have returned to the festival on many occasions in a variety of capacities as a writer, director and producer. I am truly honoured by this special recognition which means a great deal to me.'

What have been the most iconic red carpet moments at the Cannes Film Festival?

There's too many to name, however, we've rounded up a selection of memorable moments from the occasion over the decades here, but there are a few highlights worthy of an independent mention.

Years before the late Princess Diana arrived with Prince Charles wearing a powder blue Catherine Walker dress, came Elizabeth Taylor's appearance in 1957, for which she wore a tiara. Taylor's tiara preceded Brigitte Bardot's Cannes Film Festival debut just a matter of years before in 1953, when the And God Created Woman star was just 19.

Attending the festival in 1991, Madonna shocked her fellow attendees when she paired a Jean Paul Gaultier metallic bra with a duvet-style coat, before Natalie Portman doubled down on the shock factor in 2005 as she sported a shaved head on the red carpet, inspired by her role in V for Vendetta.

Just a matter of months after he died in 2010, Cate Blanchett wore an Alexander McQueen gown, which a spokesperson for the brand confirmed 'had been selected and personally chosen by Mr. McQueen and his team for Ms. Blanchett. It was specifically tailored for Ms. Blanchett.'

As for famous couple moments, Alec and Hilaria Baldwin had a major PDA moment in 2013, while former married couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie attended the event in 2008, with the latter dressed in a flared, floor-pooling dress while pregnant with their twins, Knox and Vivienne.

Which films are in the official line-up at Cannes Film Festival 2024?

A medley of stars, acclaimed directors and new talent comprise this year's official line-up. This year there are 19 films competing for the prestigious Palme d’Or prize.

The Apprentice by Ali Abbasi

Motel Destino by Karim Ainouz

Bird by Andrea Arnold

Emilia Perez by Jacques Audiard

Anora by Sean Baker

Megalopolis by Francis Ford Coppola

The Shrouds by David Cronenberg

The Substance by Coralie Fargeat

Grand Tour by Miguel Gomes

Marcello Mio by Christophe Honoré

Caught By The Tides by Jia Zhang-Ke

All We Imagine As Light by Payal Kapadia

Kinds Of Kindness by Yórgos Lánthimos

L’amour Ouf by Gilles Lellouche

Wild Diamond by Agathe Riedinger

Oh Canada by Paul Schrader

Limonov - The Ballad by Kirill Serebrennikov

Parthenope by Paolo Sorrentino

The Girl With The Needle by Magnus Von Horn

Among the most anticipated films of the festival are Coppola’s Megalopolis, which marks the director's his first film in over a decade. He's won the the Palme d’Or twice before; firstly in 1974 for The Conversation and then again in 1979 for Apocalypse Now (a prize that was shared with Volker Schlöndorff’s The Tin Drum).

Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice, which is about Donald J. Trump’s early business career in the 1980s, is also generating buzz, as is Scottish director, Andrea Arnold’s Bird, which is about a 12-year-old girl living in poverty in the UK. Lanthimos' Kinds of Kindness, starring Stone and William Dafoe, will also be a reunion of sorts for the stars after they all starred in the director's recent Poor Things.

Last year's Palme d’Or winner was Justine Triet, who masterminded Anatomy of a Fall. She is the third female director to have won the prize – the previous recipients include Jane Campion and Julia Ducournau – and was the only female to make the shortlist in the Best Director category at this year's Academy Awards.

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Naomi May

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