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She was honored at Yves Kering’s 2023 Women in Motion Dinner, celebrating female talent in cinema.
Leonardo DiCaprio took a selfie with a woman in red, sitting between Cannes president Thierry Fremaux and festival president Iris Knobloch, deep in conversation at Kering’s Women in Motion dinner. As he left, he walked to the after-party balcony, where Salma Hayek sat on a step and smoked a cigarette. When he got home just before 1:00 a.m. he bent down and hugged Hayek
If DiCaprio had stayed a little longer, he might have danced on a table with Michael Yeo and Brie Larson.
Yow – the night’s honoree as recipient of the 2023 Kerings Women in Motion Award – left shortly before 2am, glistening in sweat after dancing the night away with Larsson, who is a member of the Cannes jury. The two Oscar winners got up on their chairs and danced, a saxophone player jumped on the table, and even Fremaux joined in as they entered the dance party. (The VideoFirst captured VarietyAnd now it has gone viral Yes And Larson (sharing on their social media and raving about meeting each other for the first time.)
Yo is not just a dancing queen. From CAA’s Brian Lourd to jury president and last year’s Palm D, she was the queen of the night, making powerful comments about women’s inclusion in cinema as she played a retrospective of her four-decade career to a room full of A-listers and power players. 'Or winner Ruben Ostlund to Alfonso Cuaron to Isabelle Hubert, honored with the Kerings Women in Motion Award in 2017.
„All my life I’ve seen the currents, and now I see the tides turning,” Yow said as he accepted his award. “For too long, we women have been left out of rooms and conversations. We are told the door is closed. Virginia Woolf once said, 'There is no gate, no lock, no bolt you can set on the freedom of my mind.’ Our ideas are endless. Our passion is boundless. We have come to knock on that door.”
„There’s still work to be done,” Yow added. „We have a long way to go before we can say we’re on equal footing. So what I’m saying is keep fighting, keep pushing, keep telling your stories. Your voice matters and your vision matters.
Also honored by Kering was Swiss director Carmen Jacquier, who received the Emerging Talent Award from Kering. „I’m here tonight because others before me have dreamed, worked and struggled,” Jaquier said at the dinner.
Kering chairman and CEO Francois-Henri Pinault — who walked the red carpet with his wife Hayek, who dazzled in a black sequin Balenciaga gown with Boucheron jewels and then changed into a Saint Laurent gown for the night — opened and welcomed guests. Remarks honoring Iranian women.
„I want to pay tribute to Iranian women and the Iranian people in general,” Pinault said. „As we speak, Iranian women are fighting with immense courage to defend their rights and defend their freedom and democracy.”
Among the guests in the room was Iranian-French actor Zar Amir Ibrahimi, who won the best actress award at Cannes last year for her stunning performance in „Holy Spider.” Other guests included „Killers of the Flower Moon” breakout star Lily Gladstone, who sat down with her costars Janet Collins, Jillian Dion, Cara Jade Myers and Dantoo Cardinal; „Emily in Paris” star Filipina Leroy-Beaulieu; Rosie De Palma; Rebel Wilson; Jury member Paul Dano; Jeremy O. Harris; And Naomi Campbell, in her white gown and big sunglasses, stepped out for an impromptu photoshoot.
One of the festival’s most exclusive events, Kering’s Women In Motion dinner, was held at the Place de la Castille, the medieval fortress of old Cannes, where guests dined on fish and delicious cannoli prepared by a female Michelin-starred chef, Karim Lopez. Chef at Gucci Osteria in Florence, Italy. Crystal glasses clinked as champagne flowed and wine was poured.
Kering’s Women in Motion program launched in 2015 in conjunction with the Cannes Film Festival. Last year’s recipient was Viola Davis. Knobloch, the first female president of Cannes, praised Kering’s project, saying it started „before the hashtag as we all know it.”
„Kering promised to take action early on,” Knobloch said. “It is fundamentally important to highlight the talent of women in filmmaking… Women deserve the spotlight… There is no limit to the talent of women. It’s a continent we’ve barely begun to explore.”
Frémaux introduced Yeo, hailed her as „a woman who makes decisions,” and celebrated her big year, which saw the veteran actor win an Oscar for „Everything Everything All at Once.” Fremaux recalls serving as a member of the Yves Cannes jury in 2002 alongside President David Lynch. The Cannes president then playfully called out some of the former jurors in the room, including Hayek and Krohn, saying, „We don’t know exactly what’s going on inside the panel.”
While watching DiCaprio — introduced from the stage by Fremaux as „a big storm last night” at the premiere of „Killers of the Flower Moon” — the Cannes president made a public pitch to DiCaprio.
„Since you’ve never been on a jury, you don’t know, Leo,” Fremaux said, drawing laughter from the room. “Again – this is a way to ask you to be on a jury one day. It’s like Bruce Springsteen said it doesn’t matter if he’s on a jury. He said yes, he never said when.
Maybe next year, DiCaprio?
(Pictured: Michelle Yeoh with Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault, Cannes Film Festival President Iris Knobloch and Cannes Director Thierry Fremaux.)