Robert De Niro calls for protest against 'philistine' Trump as Cannes opens

By Miranda Murray

CANNES, France (Reuters) -Hollywood icon Robert De Niro lambasted "philistine" U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday and his proposed film tariff at the Cannes Film Festival's opening ceremony, where he used his lifetime achievement award speech to call for protests.

The 81-year-old actor shared the stage at the plush Grand Theatre Lumiere with fellow Oscar-winning superstars like Halle Berry, Juliette Binoche and Quentin Tarantino to accept the award from longtime collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio.

Trump "has cut funding and support to the arts, humanities and education. And now he has announced the 100% tariff on films produced outside the U.S.," said De Niro, known for films like "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull" and more recently "Killers of the Flower Moon."

"You can't put a price on creativity, but apparently, you can put a tariff on it," said De Niro, who called on "everyone who cares about liberty" to protest against Trump.

Organisers stress that they want to avoid politics and focus on the films, but this year's inclusion of movies from Gaza, Ukraine and Iran, as well as Trump's tariff announcement shortly before the festival, has put more focus on the world outside Cannes.

Binoche, the head of this year's jury, used her speech to pay tribute to Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza and is the subject of a documentary to be shown at Cannes.

OFFICIALLY OPEN

Tarantino, the U.S. director who launched his career at Cannes, officially opened the festival, which now runs until May 24, with a mic drop before audiences settled in for the opening film, French comedy "Leave One Day."

U.S. actor Eva Longoria, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda and U.S. director Sean Baker - who won the festival's top Palme d'Or prize last year for "Anora" - were seen on the red carpet ahead of the festival.

German model Heidi Klum wore a pink flower petal-esque gown that trailed quite a ways behind her - but apparently not long enough to have her denied entry onto the red carpet after organisers changed the dress code recently to ban nudity and over-the-top trains.

Berry, who is also on this year's jury, was wearing a black-and-white gown without a train on the red carpet after she said earlier on Tuesday that she had to switch her outfit choice last minute due to the updated dress code.

(Reporting by Miranda Murray; Editing by Sandra Maler)