The Cannes film festival opened on July 6 and quickly rediscovered its heady mix of glamour, controversy & politics, with the added shock of stars kissing without masks. The world's biggest film festival fell victim to the pandemic in 2020, and this year was still subject to social distancing rules. While stars were allowed to walk the red carpet without masks, there was a strict no-kissing rule, but this was flaunted almost immediately as they started strutting up Cannes' fabled staircase to the festival palace. Supermodel Bella Hadid stunned in a monochrome gown as she led the stars gracing the red carpet alongside Marion Cotillard, Jessica Chastain, Candice Swanepoel and Helen Mirren at the event's opening night. This year, 24 films compete for the festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or. The directors vying for glory include perennial Cannes favourites such as Italy's Nanni Moretti with his new film Tre Piani, France's Jacques Audiard (Les Olympiades) and Thailand's master of the slow burn, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, with his English-language debut (Memoria). Other contenders include Sean Penn, whose Africa-based humanitarian love story The Last Face bombed at Cannes in 2016; Iran's two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi; and Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov, who is barred from leaving his country due to an embezzlement conviction widely seen as punishment for criticism of President Vladimir Putin. Watch the video to know more.