There haven't been many movies to galvanize the Cannes audience, but you can't blame that just on the lack of potential blockbusters

In 2001, Thierry Frémaux arrived in Cannes with a mandate: Build a bridge to Hollywood. The newly installed festival director made a pilgrimage to Los Angeles to sell the major studios on the virtues of having their movies premiere on the Riviera.

Guillermo del Toro returns to the festival with a restored version of his masterpiece — and a message about imagination, fascism and human creativity that has never felt more urgent.

Kristen Stewart, Bella Hadid and Cate Blanchett are just a handful of the stars currently lighting up the French Riviera as the Cannes Film Festival returns for its 79th year. Hot

CANNES, France — The red carpet has been rolled out at the 79th Cannes Film Festival in the South of France. The French Riviera festival beginning Tuesday will include 12 days of nonstop world premieres before culminating May 23 with the presentation of the Palme d’Or, the festival's top honor and one of the film industry's most prestigious awards.

With Hollywood studios skipping Cannes, it's up to auteurs like James Gray, Nicolas Winding Refn and more to provide the festival sizzle.

Spooked by social media pile-ons, eye-watering costs and a string of high-profile misfires, the major studios have calculated that a glitzy Palais premiere might not be worth it (in more ways than one).

The lack of big studio movies is apparent in the festival’s quiet start, though the filmmakers James Gray and Jane Schoenbrun have made an impression.

There are no US blockbusters premiering at the Cannes Film Festival this year. So who's snubbing who?

Javier Bardem thinks the tide is turning in terms of speaking up for Palestine in Hollywood, telling a Cannes Film Festival press conference on Sunday that “everyone is beginning to realize … this is unacceptable.