Robert De Niro will be honored with an honorary Palme d’Or for lifetime achievement at the opening ceremony of the 78th Festival de Cannes, the festival announced Monday.
De Niro will be honored on May 13, marking 14 years after the two-time Oscar-winning served as President of the Cannes jury in 2011.
De Niro has a long history with Cannes. In 1976, he appeared in two films in the festival’s official selection: Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1900 and Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, with the latter winning the Palme d’Or. In 1983, he opened the festival with Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, following up a year later with Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America. In 1986 he was back with Roland Joffé’s The Mission, the second De Niro film to win a Palme d’Or. More recently, in 2023, he was back on the Croisette with Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.
“I have such close feelings for Festival de Cannes,” De Niro said in a statement, “especially now when there’s so much in the world pulling us apart, Cannes brings us together — storytellers, filmmakers, fans, and friends. It’s like coming home.”
In addition to receiving the Honorary Palme d’Or during the opening ceremony, De Niro will participate in a masterclass for festival attendees on Wednesday, May 14, at the Debussy Theatre.
