Cannes Film Festival 2025: Bono electrifies the Cannes audience and receives a memorable standing ovation

This Friday, March 16, it was Bono’s turn on the red carpet to pose and introduce the official screening of Andrew Dominik’s « Bono: Stories of Surrender. »

In this film, presented in special screenings, director Andrew Dominik takes the viewer into the heart of the show « Stories of Surrender: An Evening of Words, Music, and Some Mischief. »

An intimate look into the daily life of a music icon on tour. The director pays tribute to « Bono’s poetic portrayal in a documentary featuring exclusive footage of the shows he played in New York. The activist singer also performs the iconic songs of U2, which shaped his life and legacy. »

Stories of Surrender is not just a concert film. This 86-minute feature-length film offers an immersive experience, blending live performances and autobiographical narratives. The audience was treated to stripped-down versions of Bono’s songs, recorded during his solo shows at the Beacon Theatre in New York City in 2023.

Bono offers anecdotes from his autobiography, Surrender, beginning with his recent scare and extending back to his childhood in Dublin, his musical breakthrough to global fame, his post-Live Aid charity work to combat poverty and hunger (though he doesn’t discuss whether Live Aid was a good thing), and his religious faith, which clearly transformed from radical Christianity in his teens to a more fully formed spirituality; all of this is interspersed with unplugged versions of U2 standards, accompanied by harp and cello.

These performances interspersed with narrated passages from Bono’s autobiography, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, published in 2022. This innovative format offers an intimate look at the Irish singer’s life and career, previously explored in his previous writing project.

After the screening at the Grand Théâtre Lumière, the audience rose to their feet for a memorable seven-minute ovation, a festival tradition that nonetheless attests to the film’s positive impact on the audience.

A visibly moved Bono took the floor to thank the audience. He notably paid tribute to director Andrew Dominik, known for his works Blonde and One More Time With Feeling. The singer also paid tribute to the memory of Steve Jobs, noting that the film will be available on Apple TV+ starting May 30.

True to his commitment, Bono concluded his speech with a powerful political message. Recalling the origins of the Cannes Film Festival, created in 1939 in response to Mussolini and Hitler’s takeover of the Venice Film Festival, he declared:

« The festival was created to fight fascism. Slava Ukraine! Long live France! »

©2025 – IMPACT EUROPEAN

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