CNN
 — 

For a fortnight every May, Cannes hosts more stars than there are in heaven (or the old MGM backlot). This year the French film festival will be even glitzier than usual as a who’s-who of Hollywood talent descends on the Côte d’Azur to rub shoulders with the great and good of the international film community.

All signs point to a stellar year for Cannes, riding high off a strong showing at the Academy Awards, with filmmakers queuing up to hit the red carpet and risk the barbs of sleep-deprived critics.

The US contingent at the festival, which begins Tuesday, is large. Tom Cruise returns to Cannes three years after “Top Gun: Maverick” with “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” hoping to repeat the winning formula that propelled “Maverick” to a billion dollars at the box office. No honorary Palme d’Or for Cruise this time though; instead, that will be handed to Cannes habitué Robert De Niro, a year shy of the 50th anniversary of “Taxi Driver” winning the Palme d’Or. Spike Lee, who served as jury president in 2021 (not without incident) will also return with “Highest 2 Lowest,” his riff on Akira Kurosawa’s “High To Low” (1963), starring Denzel Washington as a music mogul targeted with a ransom plot.

“Highest 2 Lowest” will play out of competition alongside Ethan Coen comedy “Honey Don’t!,” his follow up to last year’s “Drive Away Dolls,” the second title in his so-called “lesbian B-movie trilogy.” Whether it’s simply a case of a stacked lineup, or quibbles over theatrical windows and French law (Lee’s film will hit Apple TV+ in September, presumably nixing any chance of a cinema release in France), it’s a sign of the festival’s rude health that these Cannes heavyweights aren’t duking it out for a Palme d’Or.

So, who is? Competition for the top prize signals a changing of the guard. Some Cannes stalwarts remain: two-time Palme winners the Dardennes brothers of Belgium with “Young Mothers,” Ukrainian Sergei Loznitsa with “Two Prosecutors,” and Scotland’s Lynne Ramsay (“We Need To Talk About Kevin,” “You Were Never Really Here”), whose adaptation of Ariana Harwicz’s novel “Die, My Love” stars Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson. Wes Anderson will also be in competition for the fourth time with “The Phoenician Scheme,” featuring some of his usual players (Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright) and some delightful new additions (Riz Ahmed, Mia Threapleton, daughter of Kate Winslet). Add castmates Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Benicio Del Toro, Willem Dafoe and more and you’ve got the starriest red carpet of the festival.

Joachim Trier, who rose through the ranks at Cannes before bursting into the mainstream with multi-Oscar nominee “The Worst Person in the World” (2021) reunites with lead Renate Reinsve for the highly-anticipated “Sentimental Value,” which also stars Stellan Skarsgård. Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi, whose 2011 film “This Is Not A Film” was smuggled to the festival on a USB stick hidden inside a cake, will be back in competition with “A Simple Accident,” his follow up to 2022’s “No Bears,” which won top prize at the Venice Film Festival. So too American indie queen Kelly Reichardt, last at Cannes with “Showing Up” and now debuting “The Mastermind,” a period heist drama led by Josh O’Connor, who stars in two competition films – the other being “The History of Sound,” directed by South African Oliver Hermanus and co-led by Paul Mescal.

Hermanus is one of a slew of competition newcomers, including Spaniard Carla Simón, a Berlinale winner in 2022, debuting “Romería,” and German director Mascha Schilinski with “Sound of Falling.” The latter, previously titled “The Doctor Says I’m Alright, But I’m Feeling Blue,” follows four generations of women united by trauma, and has trailed significant buzz for months leading to the festival – even more notable given Schilinski’s low profile.

Reichardt, Ramsay, Simón and Schilinski are four of seven women directors nominated for the Palme this year – a third of the competition total and a positive step in the festival’s quest for better gender representation. None are following up a Palme d’Or win like Julia Ducournau, though. Ducournau’s “Titane” triumphed in 2021 and she returns with “Alpha,” reportedly a body horror set against an AIDS epidemic. Already bought by NEON, audiences should expect another provocative film.

Speaking of, Ari Aster (“Hereditary,” “Midsommar”) is making his Cannes bow with “Eddington.” Bearing a poster alluding to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and rumored to be set during the Covid-19 pandemic, the movie reunites Aster with his “Beau Is Afraid” star Joaquin Phoenix as a New Mexico sheriff in a standoff with Pedro Pascal’s mayor.

The Palme d’Or jury, led by French actress Juliette Binoche and featuring Halle Berry and “Succession” actor Jeremy Strong, will be watching the field of 22 films and will announce a winner on May 24.

Elsewhere at the festival, actors are stepping behind the camera. In the Un Certain Regard category for rising filmmakers, Kristen Stewart directs Imogen Poots in “The Chronology of Water,” an adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir. Scarlett Johansson’s “Eleanor The Great” stars June Squibb, and Harris Dickinson – last seen seducing Nicole Kidman in “Babygirl” – writes and directs “Urchin,” set on the streets of London. Also notable in Un Certain Regard is hot title “My Father’s Shadow,” thought to be the first-ever Nigerian film in Cannes’ official selection.

The festival has never hesitated to program films covering ongoing global events, and the Israel-Hamas war will be referenced on screen. Israeli director Nadav Lapid will bring his brand of social satire to the Directors’ Fortnight with “Yes!,” a film set in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks. Meanwhile, “Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk,” by Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi, screens in the ACID section and profiles war documentarian Fatima Hassouna. The film is already being viewed in a new light after Hassouna, who had covered the conflict on the ground in Gaza, was killed in an Israeli strike the day after the festival announced its lineup.

There’s a heavy dose of reality behind the scenes too. Taking a step back from the premieres, Cannes’ busy film market will likely be discussing whether President Donald Trump’s announcement that he intends to introduce tariffs on films “produced in Foreign Lands” will come to pass – and if so, how it could be implemented.

Late-breaking US policy announcements aside, Cannes is swaggering into its latest edition. The festival screened close to 3,000 films to curate its official selection, and programmers shoehorned big name after big name into its lineup right up to the eleventh hour. A lot would have to go wrong for 2025 not to be a vintage year.

Whisper it quietly, but it’s been quite the turnaround. For much of the aughts, Cannes was locked in a not-so Cold War with the Venice Film Festival over who could bag the most exciting titles. Cannes was fighting with one hand tied behind its back; Venice had – has – an open-door policy to the big-spending streamers, while Cannes said “non” to including them in its competition lineup. Quickly, Venice became seen as the starting gun for awards season.

But then Cannes had a notable win with Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” the 2019 Palme d’Or winner and winner of best picture at the Academy Awards in 2020 – the first non-English language best picture winner, and the first film to achieve the Cannes-Oscar double since “Marty” in 1955. The festival, a champion of world cinema, which normally positions itself above the insular tastes of the Academy, knew the significance of the moment. It was a win-win, repositioning Cannes in the Oscars conversation without having to compromise the festival’s mission.

Since then, Cannes has been on an Oscars roll (no doubt aided by the internationalization of the Academy). Including “Parasite,” four of the last five Palme d’Or winners have been best picture nominees. Oscar-winners “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest” premiered at Cannes in 2023, while last year’s edition featured “The Substance,” “Emilia Perez,” “Flow” and “Anora,” which swept the Academy Awards and achieved the best picture and Palme d’Or double. Cannes will never need the Oscars, but the validation doesn’t hurt.

For all the glamor and its A-list guests, the festival’s greatest asset is its ability to pluck a hit from nowhere and set a director and their movie on a dizzying trajectory. What will break out in 2025? We don’t know yet – and that’s why it’s all so exciting.

The Cannes Film Festival runs from May 13-24.

Editor’s Note: Watch CNN Original Series “Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain,” following the award-winning actress on a gastronomic pilgrimage across the rich tapestry of Spanish cuisine. The eight-episode series airs Sunday nights at 9p ET/PT on CNN.

CNN
 — 

There are hundreds of varieties of garlic grown around the world.

But Chinchón, a quiet, Spanish town about 40 minutes south of Madrid, is home to a special variety called ajo fino — one that, until recently, was at risk of disappearing.

Miriam Hernández, head chef at the restaurant La Casa del Pregonero, is on a mission to preserve it.

Ajo fino, characterized by its small cloves, is a hallmark of Chinchón’s local gastronomy. Growing up, Hernández watched her grandparents plant it and her parents use it in dishes at the family restaurant. When she became a chef, she wanted to incorporate it into her own cooking but found it difficult to procure.

That inspired Hernández to begin cultivating the garlic herself.

Growing ajo fino is a labor-intensive effort, with a much lower yield than other varieties. But as Hernández shows in the Madrid episode of “Eva Longoria: Searching For Spain,” its unique flavor makes the hard work well worth it.

“When I tasted it, it punched me in the face,” Eva Longoria tells CNN.

Despite its potency, ajo fino manages to be subtle and elegant at the same time, according to Hernández. And as distinctive as it is, she sees ajo fino as more than just a flavorful ingredient. It’s a piece of the country’s culinary heritage.

“It’s part of Spain,” she says in the episode. “If we lose our identity, we lose everything.”

At Hernández’s restaurant, Chinchón’s signature garlic makes up the base of sopa de ajo, or garlic soup. A traditional dish in central Spain, it originated as a humble meal consisting of garlic, oil and bread. Ingredients such as meat and eggs were added in later as they became more accessible.

Hernández’s version incorporates bacon and ham, and calls for a mixture of garlic, spices and meat to marinate for a week before being simmered into a hearty, comforting soup.

This recipe is courtesy of Chef Miriam Hernández.

Makes 4 servings

3 heads of garlic

7 ounces | 200 grams of ham, finely diced

7 ounces | 200 grams of bacon, finely diced

2 stale baguettes, cut into small cubes

2 tablespoons of paprika

Salt and pepper

Water

A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

The morning after John Prevost watched his younger brother Robert become Pope Leo XIV, he received a familiar phone call.

The new pope — who calls John every day — was well aware of the global interest in his selection as the first pontiff born in the United States. Journalists had descended on his family and friends, as well as many of the stops he’d made on his journey from a youth on the south side of Chicago to Peru and, eventually, the Vatican.

“Are the reporters gone?” a laughing John Prevost recalled the pope – “Rob” to him – ask. “I said no. ‘OK, goodbye.’”

The brother did clear up one question lingering in the minds of those in the pope’s hometown: Pope Leo roots for the White Sox, not the Cubs.

It’s a small window into an emerging portrait of the man who is the new leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. Friends and family members described him as a man who had chosen his path at a young age, and sacrificed to pursue it, but said he has also sought to stay in contact and follow through on commitments to those in Chicago, at his alma mater of Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where he started as a missionary in Peru, and more along the way.

They say they expect him to mirror the philosophy of his predecessor, Pope Francis — but to do so in his own image.

“He knew at such a young age that this is what he wanted. No one was going to talk him out of it,” John Prevost said.

John was reading a book in his living room Thursday when he got word there was white smoke coming out of the Sistine Chapel chimney — the traditional signal a new pontiff has been chosen. He turned the TV on and called his niece. Then, his brother stepped onto the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City.

“When I heard his name, she started screaming,” John said. “History was made.”

Still, he called his brother’s selection “bittersweet” because it means a family member who has spent most of his life far from home will be even harder to see.

Robert Prevost’s path toward priesthood began at an early age. He left home to attend a Catholic seminary high school in Michigan and only returned for summers and holidays.

Their eldest brother, Louis, told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that as a child, Robert also insisted on playing priest. While his brothers groaned, the future pope would say Mass and then give communion by passing out Necco Wafers, he said.

“We kind of knew from the start, he’s going to go into the priesthood,” Louis said.

The whole neighborhood knew the altar boy would grow up to have a leading role in the Catholic church, said John, who also recalled his brother as a typical child, playing football and baseball with other children on their block and going to piano lessons.

“When we dropped him off for freshman year of high school, the drive home was very sad,” he said. “Now it’s even worse in the sense that — will we ever get to see him, unless we go over.”

Louis said he talks to Robert Prevost weekly — often catching him in the middle of watching soccer games. But he hadn’t yet connected with him since Thursday, when “Rob” became Pope Leo XIV. He said it brought tears of joy to his eyes to see his little brother become pope.

An American and a cardinal, but not an American cardinal

Before the cardinals gathered in Rome to choose the successor to Pope Francis, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, hadn’t thought much about Robert Prevost’s chances.

“I knew of him, but I thought – eh, one of the peripheral guys,” he told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Friday.

But those who know him say that while Pope Leo might not have planned on becoming pope, his life’s work has set him up to lead. At the Vatican, he earned a reputation as a capable administrator — quiet, low-key and a good listener.

Robert Prevost was raised on the far south side of Chicago in the parish of St. Mary of the Assumption, educated at St. Augustine Seminary High School in Michigan, at Villanova University, an Augustinian college, and at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, where he received a master of divinity in 1982 before later earning a doctor of canon law degree at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome.

But he spent much of his working life in Peru, where he was a missionary, leading the Augustinian seminary in Trujillo. He returned to Illinois in 1999 to lead the Order of Saint Augustine’s Midwestern province, and, starting in 2001, led the Augustinians globally — based in Rome, but traveling widely.

In 2014 he returned to Peru — where he became a naturalized citizen, receiving a Peruvian passport — and in 2015 was named bishop of Chiclayo.

The Diocese of Chiclayo celebrated his election and highlighted his dedication to social causes at a news conference Friday.

The diocese’s current bishop, Edinson Farfán, told journalists that Leo came to Peru “very young” and always had “a sensibility for the poor and the peripheries, and those who were not at the center of the church.”

Farfán also sought to draw a link between Leo’s time there and the name he chose, following the 13th pope who chose the name Leo and is widely regarded as the originator of modern Catholic social thought around issues like workers’ rights.

“Why did he choose Leo XIV as his name? Because you can say that Leo XIII was very sensitive of the social needs of society and how the church can help with that,” Farfán said in Spanish.

Fidel Purisaca, a priest who is friends with the pope and was a colleague in Chiclayo, said Leo visited all 50 parishes in the Diocese multiple times.

He was “very close to everyone” and that the priests’ house “had that spirit of family,” Purisaca said, calling Robert Prevost “an extraordinary bishop who lived an ordinary life and who was a great father, shepherd and friend, close to the heart of Christ and to others.”

In 2023, Prevost returned to the Vatican, where Francis had tapped him to lead the department that oversees the selection of new bishops. He was made a cardinal later that year.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the Archbishop of Newark in New Jersey, said that when Pope Leo was the leader of the Augustinian order, he would have spent half his time in Rome and “half of the year in other places.”

“If you’re privileged to work in another culture, other than the one you were raised in, you have to change,” Tobin said. “It’s … like a broadening experience.”

“And I think Bob has had – or Pope Leo – has had that,” Tobin said, inadvertently referring to the new pope by his former name. “He’s learned to think different ways.”

The pope, though, hasn’t exactly adapted to every local custom.

Mark O’Connor, a friar from Australia — where Prevost has traveled — told CNN he saw Leo recently and told him he’d brought a gift. Then-Cardinal Prevost responded that he hoped it wasn’t Vegemite. He was happy when the gift turned out to be a packet of TimTam chocolate biscuits.

The pontiff and the presidents

Prevost’s early days were spent in the same parts of Chicago that former President Barack Obama famously began his time as a community organizer. The pope’s childhood home and Obama’s first office were just miles away. The Catholic Theological Union, where Prevost completed his graduate studies, is close to the house the Obamas bought in 2005.

The two also could have crossed paths at Comiskey Park, home of the White Sox.

An Obama spokesman said they weren’t aware of a time the former president, also a White Sox fan, and the pope had met.

However, the pope does share a connection with former first lady Jill Biden: the two are Villanova University alumni. Their paths crossed there in 2014, where Biden, then the second lady, and Prevost each received honorary doctorates of humanities degrees.

Biden, who earned a master’s degree from Villanova in 1987, delivered the commencement address. The future pope sat behind Biden throughout her speech, laughing when she described herself as a “Philly girl.”

The two shook hands after her address and spent the ceremony seated near each other in the front row, with only the university’s president sitting between them.

As the first American pope, Leo is also the first with a voting record relevant to American elections. He has regularly voted in Illinois — participating in Republican primaries over the last 12 years and, before that, Democratic primaries.

And now, it’s the other American wielding massive global influence — President Donald Trump — whose comparisons to Pope Leo XIV might be most significant.

An X account in Robert Prevost’s name has, for the full decade since Trump launched his first presidential run in 2015, reposted multiple stories and posts critical of the president’s rhetoric and tactics on immigration. CNN has not been able to independently confirm the X account is connected to the newly elected pope.

Dolan said Prevost acting as a counter to Trump was not a significant factor in the conclave’s decision.

“I don’t think the fact that Cardinal Prevost was from the United States had much weight. It should not startle us that we would look to Pope Leo as a bridge builder. That’s what the Latin word ‘pontiff’ means,” Dolan said.

“Will he want to build bridges to Donald Trump? I suppose, but he would want to build bridges with the leader of every nation. So, I don’t think at all my brother cardinals would have thought of him as a counterweight to any one person,” he said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt indicated there’s no bad blood between President Trump and Pope Leo, despite his potential connection to the critical social media posts.

“He is very proud to have an American pope,” Leavitt said at a news briefing Friday, responding to a question about the posts. “It’s a great thing for the United States of America and for the world, and we are praying for him.”