This year, the official competition of Cannes, where the festival's top prizes are awarded, features two Portuguese films: the feature film "Grand Tour", by Miguel Gomes, and the short film "Bad for a Moment", by Daniel Soares.

The feature film competition includes, among others, "Megalopolis", by Francis Ford Coppola with more than 40 years, "The Shrouds", by David Cronenberg, "Motel Destino", by Brazilian director Karim Ainouz, or "Kinds of Kindness", by Greek Yorgos Lanthimos, again with Emma Stone.

The jury is chaired this year by American actress and director Greta Gerwig.

In the festival's parallel programs, the Directors' Fortnight features the feature film "A savana e a montanha", by Paulo Carneiro, and the short films "Quando a terra foge", by Frederico Lobo, and "O jardim em movimento", by Inês Lima.

The Critics' Week will premiere the film "As minhas sensações são tudo o que tenho para oferecer", by Isadora Neves Marques.

It is also worth mentioning two Portuguese co-productions present at the festival: "Miséricorde", by Alain Guiraudie, co-produced by Rosa Filmes, by Joaquim Sapinho, and "Algo viejo, algo neuvo, algo prestado", by Hermán Rosselli, with Oublaum Filmes, by Ico Costa.

This year, the festival opens with the film "Le deuxième act", by Quentin Dupieux, and with the presence of actress Meryl Streep, who will receive an honorary award.

The program also highlights the premiere, on Wednesday, of a film that was added after the program was presented: "Moi aussi", by French actress and director Judith Godrèche, based on stories of victims of sexual violence.

The title of the film refers to the movement of denunciation of sexual abuse in the United States film industry #MeToo and that has also shaken the French sector, with "rumors about film personalities circulating in recent weeks on social networks, but without confirmed or denied accusations", writes the France-Presse agency.

Last week, in an interview with Paris Match magazine, the festival's president, Iris Knobloch, said that Cannes was "extremely attentive" and following the situation and that "if a case of an accused person arises", it will make "the correct decision on a case-by-case basis".

On Monday, at a press conference in Cannes, the general delegate, Thierry Frémaux, said that "there is no controversy coming from the festival" and that he does not want to amplify speculation. If "there are other controversies", he said, "that does not concern us".

The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will run until the 25th, during which honorary awards will also be given to director George Lucas and, in an unprecedented gesture in the event's history, to the Japanese animation studio Ghibli.

Around 35,000 people are expected in Cannes and the festive atmosphere could still be disrupted by a strike, called by a collective of professionals linked to cinema, such as projectionists, programmers and ticket office assistants, whose precarious condition leads them to demand intermittent worker status.

On the way to the Paris Olympics, in the summer, in Cannes there will still be a crossover between cinema and sport, since the Olympic flame is expected to pass through the city, carried by French Paralympic athlete Arnaud Assoumani.

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