Denzel Washington got his Honorary Palme d’Or on short notice, just before the world premiere of Highest 2 Lowest at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. It was the second honorary prize handed out that year.
The first went to Robert De Niro at the opening ceremony. The festival ran from May 13 to 24, 2025, and opened with Amélie Bonnin’s French comedy Leave One Day. Actor Laurent Lafitte hosted both the opening and closing nights.
Palme d’Or and poster
Juliette Binoche, the French actress, was president of the main competition jury. The top prize went to Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi for his thriller It Was Just an Accident.
Hartland Villa designed the official double poster. It showed Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant in Claude Lelouch’s 1966 film A Man and a Woman, which won the Palme d’Or at the 19th Cannes Film Festival.
Gaza
A killing weighed on the program. Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, a main subject of Sepideh Farsi’s documentary Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, died on April 16, 2025, along with ten relatives, in an Israeli airstrike on their home in Gaza City. The ACID selection had been announced one day earlier.
The festival put out a statement of condolences and criticized the continuing war and violence in Gaza. More than 350 directors, actors and producers signed a letter on opening day condemning the killing. Pedro Almodóvar, David Cronenberg, Ruben Östlund and Nadav Lapid were among them.
On the last day, May 24, a power cut caused by arson disrupted the morning screenings.
