More than three decades after Thelma and Louise drove toward the edge of a canyon, the two characters are returning to Cannes.
A still from Ridley Scott’s Thelma & Louise, starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, was selected as the official poster for the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. The film premiered at Cannes in 1991.
The festival said the image honors “two unforgettable fighters” who overturned cinematic and political stereotypes and embodied “absolute freedom and unwavering friendship.”
The poster also drew the Israel-Hamas war into the Cannes conversation.
At a jury news conference, screenwriter Paul Laverty, a festival juror and pro-Palestinian activist, referred to the poster and criticized what he called Hollywood’s blacklisting of actors including Sarandon, Javier Bardem and Mark Ruffalo over their opposition to the war in Gaza.
“Cannes has a wonderful poster,” Laverty said. “Isn’t it fascinating to see some of them like Susan Sarandon, Javier Bardem and Mark Ruffalo blacklisted because of their views in opposing the murder of women and children in Gaza? Shame on Hollywood people who do that. My respect and total solidarity to them. They’re the best of us, I look up to them.”
Sarandon has faced backlash in Hollywood since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel over comments widely criticized as antisemitic and anti-Israel.
The renewed attention to Thelma & Louise also comes as yes Docu prepares to air Thelma & Louise: Born to Live, a French documentary by Josephine Petit and Leny Merat, beginning Thursday.
The documentary examines the history, influence and legacy of Scott’s iconic and controversial film. Thelma & Louise became a feminist symbol of female empowerment, social criticism and changing portrayals of women in cinema, but it also drew criticism from those who argued that its focus on revenge and violence against men conflicted with feminist values.
The documentary asks whether Scott’s film remains relevant today, in an era shaped by debates over gender equality and personal freedom.