Scarlett JOHANSSON © Anne Joyce, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
When performers step behind the camera: in Cannes, a star’s creative leap from the big screen
Scarlett Johansson, Harris Dickinson, Joséphine Japy and Kristen Stewart: this year at the Festival de Cannes, the actors were no longer satisfied to shine on screen. They charted a new course by stepping behind the camera, following in the footsteps of those celebrated in the Official Selection before them.
The Festival de Cannes is a perfect stage for cinema rebirths. On the occasion of its 78th edition, several silver screen stars made their directorial debut: a trend that is not new to the Croisette, but that is setting deeper roots this year, illustrating the desire some actors have to redefine their relationship with the Seventh Art.
Among the most eagerly awaited events of this 2025 edition, Scarlett Johansson’s first steps in film-directing were celebrated. Presenting Eleanor the Great in Un Certain Regard, the Oscar-winning actress made her directorial debut with an intimate drama inspired by her grand-mother. The film tells the story of 90-year-old Eleanor who, after the death of her best friend, returns to New York for a fresh start. She forms an unexpected friendship with a 19-year-old student, creating an intergenerational link that becomes central to her quest for renewal. “It’s so exciting to be 40 and learn a new thing. Now I know how to make a movie like this. I know how to finish it. The process of sound mixing and coloring and editing, I didn’t know that before,” said the actress.
Scarlett Johansson was not alone in venturing into feature films this year: Harris Dickinson, British newcomer discovered in Triangle of Sadness by Ruben Östlund, also presented his first film in Un Certain Regard, Urchin. He features Frank Dillane as Mike, a London homeless man in a cycle of self-destruction attempting redemption.
For some, stepping behind the camera is born of a necessity for artistic freedom or the desire to create one’s own cinematographic language after years of portraying the vision of others. This is the spirit in which Kristen Stewart, freedom-loving actress, presented The Chronology of Water Out of Competition. Her first feature film adapts the memoirs of American writer Lidia Yuknavitch, played by Imogen Poots, and recounts an intimate and turbulent journey.
On the French side, Joséphine Japy is the third actress of the Official Selection to dive in. Inspired by the story of her severely handicapped younger sister, she directs Qui Brille au Combat (The Wonderers), immersed in the daily life of a family settled on the Côte d’Azur, faced with a 13-year old’s mysterious disease. A meaningful drama about the impact of handicap and family ties.
For several decades, Cannes has supported these artistic career paths, often recognized as emerging talents. We recall Emmanuelle Bercot’s transition to directing with Clément, presented in Un Certain Regard in 2001, or of The Indian Runner, Sean Penn’s first film, screened at the Directors’ Fortnight in 1997.
This tradition lives on in the parallel sections, where examples of transitions are many: Xavier Dolan, Louis Garrel, Sandrine Kiberlain as well as Hafsia Herzi, who directs La Petite Dernière, her third feature film, this year in Competition. And the momentum seems to be picking up. The 2021 edition had already seen Charlotte Gainsbourg’s directorial debut with Jane par Charlotte (Jane by Charlotte) at the Cannes Première, and Noémie Merlant’s directorial debut with Mi Iubita Mon Amour in a Special Screening.
By showcasing the first initiatives of actors who don a director’s hat, the Festival de Cannes prolongs a history in part fueled by artistic renewal. More proof that on the Croisette, cinema is never static: it remains a platform of endless rebirth.
