{"id":424206,"date":"2026-05-12T17:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T17:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/424206\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T17:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T17:17:09","slug":"demi-moore-decries-self-censorship-park-chan-wook-welcomes-politics-without-prejudice-as-cannes-gets-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/424206\/","title":{"rendered":"Demi Moore Decries “Self-Censorship,” Park Chan-wook Welcomes Politics “Without Prejudice” as Cannes Gets Underway"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tHollywood star Demi Moore<\/a> and Korean auteur Park Chan-wook kicked off the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday with a series of careful but unequivocal statements defending the role of politics in cinema.<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked whether she had concerns about political statements during the festival potentially distracting from the films themselves, Moore said she strongly hoped not. \u201cI think part of art is about expression, so if we start censoring ourselves, then we shut down the very core of our creativity, which is, I think, where we can discover truth and answers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tPark, who is chairing this year\u2019s Cannes jury, then offered an extended defense of political filmmaking in response to a similar question, which quickly became the dominant theme of Cannes\u2019 first press conference.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t think politics and art should be divided,\u201d the South Korean auteur said. \u201cI think it\u2019s a strange concept to think they\u2019re in conflict with each other. Just because a work of art has a political statement, it should not be considered an enemy of art. At the same time, just because a film is not making a political statement, that film should not be ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Park also noted that the most \u201cbrilliant political statement\u201d can easily devolve into \u201cpropaganda\u201d if it\u2019s \u201cnot expressed artfully enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPark later added: \u201cI am prepared to watch films with the pure eyes of an audience member, without any prejudice or stereotype, just excitement to watch films that will surprise me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe remarks came three months after this year\u2019s politically embattled 76th Berlin International<\/a> Film Festival, where jury president Wim Wenders told reporters during the opening press conference that filmmakers \u201chave to stay out of politics because if we make movies that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics.\u201d The comments drew immediate online backlash and helped set off one of the most acrimonious editions in the German festival\u2019s recent history. The fallout included an open letter signed by more than 80 industry figures \u2014 among them Javier Bardem and Tilda Swinton \u2014 criticizing the Berlinale for what they called its \u201csilence\u201d over the war in Gaza and Germany\u2019s culture ministry convening a meeting on the festival\u2019s future direction.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis year\u2019s nine-member Cannes jury is characteristically stacked with filmworld talent. Park is joined by Moore; Oscar winner Chlo\u00e9 Zhao (Nomadland, Hamnet); Swedish veteran Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd (Sentimental Value); French actor Isaach De Bankol\u00e9 (Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai); Irish-Ethiopian actress Ruth Negga (Loving); Belgian filmmaker Laura Wandel (Adam\u2019s Sake); Chilean director Diego C\u00e9spedes (The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo<\/a>); and Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty<\/a>, the longtime collaborator of Ken Loach.<\/p>\n

\n\tLater in the press conference, Moore was asked about the rise of artificial intelligence in filmmaking and took a more measured stance. \u201cAI is here, and so to fight it is to, in a sense, fight something that is a battle that we will lose. So to find ways in which we can work with it, I think, is a more valuable path,\u201d she said. \u201cAre we doing enough to protect ourselves? I don\u2019t know. My inclination would be to say probably not.\u201d Even so, Moore said the technology has its limits. \u201cThere are beautiful aspects of being able to utilize it, but the truth is, there really isn\u2019t anything to fear, because what it can never replace is what true art comes from, which is not the physical. It comes from the soul. It comes from the spirit of each and every one of us sitting here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLaverty was by far the most outspoken among the Cannes jurors on the festival\u2019s opening day, offering a sharper critique of the industry\u2019s embrace of AI. The Scottish screenwriter argued that the industry and society at large should be deeply skeptical of the companies and tech billionaires who own and control the world\u2019s most popular AI services, \u201cbecause they decide on the algorithms that affect our lives in the deepest way.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what seems to me to be absolutely incredible,\u201d he went on, \u201cis that they assume the rest of the world will follow and swallow it, no matter what the consequences are. Look at the whole crisis now in data [centers] \u2014 affecting sustainability, water and populations. I think people are beginning to realize that we should not let these tech bros \u2014 billionaires who are, mostly, right-wing libertarians \u2014 dictate how we live our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on: \u201cWhat\u2019s the effect on workers \u2014 beyond artists, ordinary workers \u2014 in our society and for our children? So we have to examine who owns it, and we must demand, I think, that it\u2019s made transparent and more democratic. It\u2019s far too important to leave it to these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLaverty also shared his view on the value of cultural events like Cannes in a world increasingly riven by war and conflict. \u201cWhen you see so much systematic violence \u2014 genocide in Gaza and all these terrible disputes \u2014 the idea of coming to a festival, which is a celebration, you know, of diversity, imagination, tenderness, nuance, beauty and inspiration \u2014 it knocks me out, to be honest,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cI can\u2019t wait to begin the adventure with these wonderful characters beside me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPark\u2019s jury will hand out the Palme d\u2019Or to one of the 22 features in this year\u2019s competition at the festival\u2019s closing ceremony on Saturday, May 23. The 79th edition<\/a> of Cannes opens Tuesday evening with the world premiere of Pierre Salvadori\u2019s Roaring Twenties rom-com La V\u00e9nus \u00e9lectrique.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hollywood star Demi Moore and Korean auteur Park Chan-wook kicked off the 79th edition of the Cannes Film…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[194121,430,1099,156,1019,111,139,69,217587],"class_list":["post-424206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-cannes-2026","tag-celebrities","tag-demi-moore","tag-entertainment","tag-international","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-paul-laverty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}