The 71st annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 8 to 19 May 2018. Australian actress Cate Blanchett served as jury president for the main competition. Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for his drama film Shoplifters, marking Japan's first win after more than twenty years.
The official festival poster features Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina from Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 film Pierrot le Fou. It is the second time the festival poster was inspired by Godard's film after his 1963 film Contempt at the 2016 festival. According to festival's official statement, the poster is inspired by and paid tribute to the work of French photographer Georges Pierre.
The festival opened with Everybody Knows by Asghar Farhadi, and closed with The Man Who Killed Don Quixote by Terry Gilliam.
The following films were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or:
====== The following films were selected to compete in the section:
The following films were selected to be screened out of competition:
The following films were selected be shown in the special screenings section:
The full line-up for the Cannes Classics section was announced on 23 April 2018.
The Cinéma de la Plage is a part of the Official Selection of the festival. The outdoors screenings at the beach cinema of Cannes are open to the public.
The following films were selected for the Critics' Week section:
The following films were selected to be screened in the Directors' Fortnight section:
A ban on Netflix films in competition, which came about after the streaming giant refused to show them in French cinemas, has meant the issues of streaming and distribution have also been hot topics. The issue prompted Juror Ava DuVernay, who made 13th for Netflix, to make a plea for "flexibility of thought".
In March and April 2018, weeks before general delegate Thierry Frémaux was set to unveil the official selection, reports suggested streaming service Netflix was to pull its already-selected films from premiering at the festival in retaliation for the barring of Netflix films from competing. They were still allowed to premiere in other sections, and many reportedly opted for an Out of Competition berth. The films affected were Alfonso Cuarón's Roma, Morgan Neville's They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, Orson Welles' final film The Other Side of the Wind, Paul Greengrass' 22 July, and Jeremy Saulnier's Hold the Dark.
Ultimately, Netflix pulled all of their films from selection. Notably, in the press conference announcement, Frémaux commented that he wanted The Other Side of the Wind and had planned to screen it as a special screening with the Welles-related documentary They'll Love Me When I'm Dead. He also noted that he had selected Roma for competition.
Danish film director Lars von Trier returned to Cannes with his film The House That Jack Built, after he was declared "persona non grata" at the 2011 festival.
The chair of the jury Cate Blanchett has called for gender parity at the Cannes Film Festival, calling it "almost a gladiatorial sport". However, she concedes that there has been improvements and the change "won't happen overnight".
During the festival, 82 female film professionals, led by Jury president Cate Blanchett and veteran director Agnès Varda, took part to a demonstration on the red carpet, demanding more equality between men and women in the film industry, notably the end of the pay gap.
The festival launched a sexual harassment hotline in partnership with FranceâÂÂs Ministry of Gender Equality where victims of harassment and abuse could receive support and guidance by calling a dedicated number.
French actor ÃÂric Bernard, who was attending as part of the cast of the LGBTQ+ movie Sauvage, blamed the French film industry for the decline in his career, alleging that it was a consequence of homophobic bias. During an interview with 20 minutes in 2023, Bernard recalled that he went to the Cannes festival in 2018 and walked hand in hand with his husband, which caused Bernard's manager to scold him, advising to hide his relationship to protect his career.