Cannes 2025: Juliette Binoche and Jeremy Strong share fears for state of the world, “Truth is under assault”
Juliette Binoche has claimed the world is headed into “dangerous places”, while Jeremy Strong added that “truth is under assault” at the jury press conference for the Cannes Film Festival.
French actor Binoche, this year’s president, appeared alongside her jury at a press conference on May 13th to open the festival, which runs until May 24th.
When asked about the power that films possess in the current social and political climate, she responded: “There’s a lot of need to see artistry and skills – it’s still very vivid and needed.”
“The world is going to places that are very dangerous,” she continued, “so the more we get closer to those spaces of danger, the more we need art in order to survive and have a view that gives us hope and connection between each other.”
American actor and fellow juror Jeremy Strong underlined Binoche’s point further later in the conference by reflecting on his film The Apprentice, in which he plays Donald Trump’s accomplice Roy Cohn.
He said: “I see Roy Cohn as the progenitor of fake news and alternative facts. We’re living in the aftermath of what he created. I think that this time, where truth is under assault, where truth is becoming an increasingly endangered thing, that this temple of film is increasingly critical as it can combat those forces and the entropy of truth.”
Strong also added that he felt his role on the Cannes jury this year was a “counterbalance” to the actions of Cohn, whom his portrayal of in The Apprentice opposite Sebastian Stan gained him an Oscar nomination for ‘Best Actor in a Supporting Role’.
Elsewhere, Binoche was also asked about the relevance of Cannes on the day that French cinematic icon Gérard Depardieu was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women, saying that she felt the festival was “in line with society.”
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