The official poster for the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival was unveiled on Friday. It features a captivating scene from the Japanese classic Rhapsody in August by Akira Kurosawa. This film premiered in the Out of Competition section at Cannes in 1991.

“The poetic beauty, hypnotic magic and apparent simplicity of the cinema. The official poster of the 77th Festival de Cannes revealed! The scene is taken from Akira Kurosawa's 1991 film Rhapsody in August. The next-to-last film by the director reminds us of the importance of coming together, and seeking harmony in all things. From May 14 to 25, let's celebrate the 7th Art, this universal sanctuary for expression and sharing! #Cannes2024,” said a post shared by the festival organisers on X.

In a statement, the festival organisers further said: “In this film, a grandmother who was a victim of the Nagasaki bombing on August 9, 1945, passes on her faith in love and integrity as a bulwark against war to her grandchildren and her American nephew, with tenderness and contemplation.”

Sanshiro Sugata, Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Dersu Uzala and Dodes’ka-den are some of Japanese auteur Kurosawa’s notable works.

“Mirroring the movie theater, this poster celebrates the Seventh Art, with naivety and wonder. Because it gives everyone a voice, it enables emancipation. Because it remembers wounds, it combats oblivion. Because it bears witness to perils, it calls for union. Because it soothes trauma, it helps repair the living… In a fragile world that constantly questions otherness, the Festival de Cannes reaffirms a conviction: cinema is a universal sanctuary for expression and sharing. A place where our humanity is written as much as our freedom,” the organisers added.

The 77th Cannes Film Festival kicks off on May 14 with the screening of Quentin Dupieux’s The Second Act, featuring Lea Seydoux and Vincent Lindon. The festival will run until May 24.