The 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, which takes place from May 13-24, was shaping up to be the hottest one in years, with the creme de la creme of Hollywood and international movie-making set to descend on the French Riviera for two weeks of cinema celebration.

Leave it to Donald Trump to spoil the party.

The US president's announcement on May 4 that he planned to "make Hollywood great again" by imposing 100% tariffs on "foreign-made films" and punishing US studios that go abroad to shoot their movies has pulled Cannes-bound filmmakers and cinema fans into a global trade war.

Exactly what the president wants to do remains unclear. Actor Jon Voight, one of Trump's "special ambassadors" to the entertainment industry, has unveiled a plan with a stack of proposals. These include tax incentives for films that shoot in the US, a new "cultural test" requiring them to contribute to American culture, and fines for those that shoot American stories abroad.

For those in the film industry, Trump's proposed tariffs could disrupt their business, making it harder — or impossible — to get certain independent films made.

"Everyone is talking about [the tariff], no one knows what it will mean, how it will affect the business, if it will make it harder to make movies," says Pia Patatian, president of Cloud9 Studios, a US-based independent production company.

Hollywood's global shoots in the firing line

Many of the biggest, most hotly anticipated American films heading to Cannes are exactly the sort of "foreign-made" productions that Trump is targeting with his tariff threat.

Tom Cruise will bring the action to the festival promenade with "Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning," the eighth, and supposedly last, of the Mission Impossible films, which will play out of competition. Like all of the previous entries, this M:I sees Cruise as IMF agent Ethan Hunt racing across foreign capitals, leaping off foreign cliffs, and clinging to the undercarriage of foreign prop planes as they careen over foreign landscapes.

Wes Anderson's "The Phoenician Scheme," the latest slice of quirky, symmetrical whimsy from the director of "Rushmore" and "Grand Budapest Hotel," was shot on soundstages in Studio Babelsberg, outside Berlin. It features a typically Anderson-ian star-studded cast including Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks and Jeffrey Wright. 

"Nouvelle Vague," a look at the making of Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 classic "Breathless," by American indie film legend Richard Linklater ("Before Sunrise," "Boyhood"), was shot entirely in Paris and — quelle horreur! — in French.

"Eddington," the new film from genre master Ari Aster ("Hereditary," "Midsommar"), was at least made in the US. But the film's COVID-era plot line, which sees a MAGA-style sheriff, played by Joachim Phoenix, square off against the local mayor, played by Pedro Pascal, could prove triggering for the current POTUS.

Cannes 2025: Heists, horror and power duos

If attendees can manage to put Trump out of their minds, the 78th Cannes has plenty to offer.

The 2025 feature film competition lineup is packed with heavyweights known for their unique styles. 

Among those included are American indie director Kelly Reichardt, who returns to the Cannes competition with "The Mastermind," an art-heist drama starring Josh O'Connor, Alana Haim and John Magaro, set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War.

Dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi, finally released from prison and no longer under a travel ban, will also have his latest drama, "Un Simple Accident" (A simple accident) in the running. 

And Julia Ducournau, who won the Palme d'Or in 2021 with her explosive and divisive body horror movie "Titane," is back at the Cannes competition with "Alpha," a 1980s-set shocker that follows a young girl who is rejected by her classmates after it is rumored she has been infected with a new disease.

Germany's contender for the Palme d'Or, Cannes prize for best film, is Mascha Schilinski, who will premiere her second feature, "Sound of Falling," in competition. The drama follows four women from four different eras whose lives are eerily intertwined.

Out of competition, Spike Lee — who famously dubbed Donald Trump "Agent Orange" — is back, teaming up again with Denzel Washington on "Highest 2 Lowest," the duo's first film together since "Inside Man" in 2006. The crime thriller, a reimagination of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 Japanese classic "High and Low," is also attracting attention for Washington's co-star, platinum-selling rap artist A$AP Rocky.

In another famous team-up, German filmmaker Fatih Akin and German Hollywood star Diane Kruger return to Cannes with "Amrum," a drama set on the eponymous rural Frisian island in the final days of World War II. Their last collaboration, "In the Fade," which premiered at Cannes in 2017, won Kruger the prize for best actress.

Several famous faces have also stepped behind the camera to direct. Marvel star Scarlett Johansson will present her directorial debut, "Eleanor the Great," at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section alongside "Urchin," a British social drama directed by Harris Dickinson; he gained prominence as the dim-but-sexy male model in Ruben Östlund's "Triangle of Sadness," which won the Palme d'Or in 2022.

Current and historic events will also be highlighted in side events at Cannes.

The Director's Fortnight, an independent section of the festival, will include "Militantropos," a documentary from a team of Ukrainian directors that examines the impact of the ongoing war on everyday life.

Cannes Premiere, a non-competitive gala section, will show "The Wave," a Spanish-language musical from Chilean director Sebastián Lelio, inspired by the feminist protests that erupted across Chile in 2018, and "The Disappearance of Josef Mengele," an examination of the life of infamous Nazi doctor (played by August Diehl), who escaped justice to live in exile in South America.

So there'll be plenty of movies to watch, debate and discuss in Cannes this year — even without having to mention Agent Orange.