The prestigious French film festival is at its halfway point, with Emma Stone stunning in Yorgos Lanthimos' 'Kinds of Kindness' and Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez impressing with 'Emilia Perez.' The Cannes Film Festival is always a spectacle, but 2024's edition may be the most controversial in years. The red carpet unfurls against a backdrop of war in Gaza and protests, and a rapidly spreading #MeToo movement in France's film industry.

Following the excitement of the highly-anticipated premieres of and last week, the festival continues to dazzle with big releases and A-list actors. On Friday (17 May), Yorgos Lanthimos returned to Cannes with his follow-up to , reuniting with that film's Oscar-winning lead, Emma Stone. co-star Willem Dafoe also features, alongside a stellar cast including Jesse Plemons, Margaret Qualley, Joe Alwyn, Hong Chau, Mamoudou Athie and Hunter Schafer.

Described as a triptych fable, follows three intertwined stories: a man without choice trying to take control of his life; a policeman whose wife, missing at sea, returns seeming like a different person; and a woman searching for someone destined to become a spiritual leader. This film is one of 22 in competition for the coveted Palme d'Or. Euronews Culture's resident film critic David Mouriquand described the film as "strange, sexy, hilarious, enigmatic, and very bleak in all the right ways.

" On Saturday (18 May), another strong contender for the top prize made its debut. Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez .