Barbra Streisand Misses Cannes Closing Ceremony After Knee Injury

barbra streisand will not attend the Cannes Film Festival closing ceremony on Saturday, May 23, to receive the Honorary Palme d’or. She is recovering from a knee injury and said she is following doctors’ advice.

“On the advice of my doctors, as I continue recovering from a knee injury, I am sadly unable to attend the Festival de Cannes this year,” Streisand said. She added that she was “deeply honored” to receive the Honorary Palme d’or and had been looking forward to the 79th edition.

Grand Théâtre Lumière tribute

The festival said it had just been informed that Streisand would be unable to attend the ceremony at the Grand Théâtre Lumière in Cannes. Even so, it will proceed with the planned tribute to celebrate Streisand and her life’s work, a rare clean handoff from in-person acceptance to a programmed salute on the same stage.

That matters because the appearance would have been her Croisette debut, and she has never had a film in Cannes before. The honor had already been announced in March by festival president Iris Knobloch, who said the festival wanted to pay tribute to an artist who made her mark through the power of her art and her uncompromising pursuit of freedom.

Iris Knobloch and Thierry Frémaux

Knobloch also called Streisand “this consummate creator and courageous citizen,” while festival director Thierry Frémaux described her as “the legendary synthesis between Broadway and Hollywood, between the music hall stage and the big screen.” Those are the terms Cannes chose to frame the tribute, and they now sit against the practical reality that the honoree will not be in the room when it happens.

The ceremony will be hosted by Eye Haïdara and broadcast live on France Télévisions from the Palais des Festivals at 8:15 p.m. on Saturday, May 23. Streisand said she wanted to congratulate the filmmakers from around the world whose talent and creative vision are being celebrated this year, and the festival’s answer is to keep the tribute intact without her onstage acceptance.