The 75th Cannes Film Festival started on Tuesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky virtually joined the film festival. Zelensky addressed the room full of filmmakers, press, festival attendees, and staff, as well as stars like Julianne Moore and Forest Whitaker. His speech was translated into French as well as English.
Zelensky said, “We need a new (Charlie) Chaplin to prove that today’s cinema is not silent. We must be victorious. We need cinema to guarantee this ending, that each time it will be on the side of freedom.”
The Ukrainian President was wearing his signature olive green t-shirt. His speech received a loud standing ovation and spoke briefly about the relationship between cinema and reality. He shed light on the current situation in Ukraine and linked it to films like Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola and Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator.
The Cannes Film Festival will showcase Ukrainian films this year
Quoting Chaplin’s words from The Great Dictator, Volodymyr said, “the hate of men will pass, and dictators die. And the power they took from the people will return to the people.” We need a new Chaplin who will demonstrate that the cinema of our time is not silent, he further added.
The president of Ukraine urged filmmakers not to remain quiet while hundreds of people suffer and die in Ukraine’s largest war since WWII and to demonstrate that cinema is always on the side of freedom. The event has cut connections with the Russian government by not allowing them to attend the film festival this year. Several films by well-known Ukrainian filmmakers will be presented this year. This includes Sergei Loznitsa’s documentary The Natural History of Destruction. Hanna Bilobrova, Mantas Kvedaravičius’ fiance will exhibit footage recorded by the filmmaker before his death in Mariupol in April.
The Cannes Film Festival will run from May 17 to 28. The much-anticipated event also restored the French Riviera resort to the limelight.