The 75th Cannes Film Festival has opened with the movie "Final Cut". Directed by France's Michel Hazanavicius and starring his partner Bérénice Bejo as well as Romain Duris, it's a film within a film inspired by a Japanese zombie movie. Bérénice Bejo tells FRANCE 24 why her partner didn't want her to be in the film and how some of the blood on set was actually real.

On day two of the Cannes Film Festival, FRANCE 24's Olivia Salazar-Winspear tells us why the première of "Top Gun: Maverick" has movie fans jostling to catch a glimpse of US actor Tom Cruise on the red carpet. We also take a look at the first films competing for the Palme d'Or, as Kirill Serebrennikov returns to Cannes to present "Tchaikovsky's Wife". The Russian director was unable to attend the screenings of his last two films, "Petrov's Flu" and "Leto", due to living under virtual house arrest in Moscow in recent years.

After charming the Cannes jury with "Shoplifters" in 2018, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda returns to the Croisette with "Broker", an elegant reflection on family, fate and life-changing decisions that's set in South Korea. Olivia Salazar-Winspear tells us about the tender tone of this latest film, which starts with the search for an adoptive family for a newborn baby.

Wei Fenghe slammed US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's "smearing" accusation that China was causing regional instability. He said Beijing would do whatever it takes to ensure reunification with Taiwan.

The leader of Scotland's government said Scotland was "ripped" out of the EU as she outlined a possible route to Scottish independence, including a referendum late next year.

The remains of Congolese icon Patrice Lumumba, the country's first prime minister, are laid to rest in Kinshasa. Belgium returned a tooth belonging to the murdered independence hero earlier this month. Also, African ministers of education were in Paris on Thursday for a UNESCO summit on tackling the devastating effect that the pandemic has had on education.

During Algeria's war of independence, thousands of people were arrested by the French authorities, never to return home. While many are believed to have died in custody or have been assassinated by French forces, families of those missing grapple with the lack of closure. 60 years on, historians continue to investigate the disappearances and families still hope to learn more about the fate of their loved ones.

On the 60th anniversary of Algerian independence, we take a look at the French exhibitions paying tribute to Algeria's freedom and exploring the two countries' shared history. In Marseille, the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations has dedicated an exhibit to resistance icon Emir Abdelkader, the religious-turned-military leader who led the struggle against France's colonial invasion.

Ukrainians are marking 31 years since they broke free from the Russia-dominated Soviet Union, exactly six months after Moscow's started a war to subdue the country once again.

As the Scottish government pushes on with its bid to hold a referendum on leaving the United Kingdom, with a hearing scheduled at the British Supreme Court on October 11 and 12, Scotland's Cabinet Secretary for External Affairs Angus Robertson has told FRANCE 24 that his government is "not giving up".

The military junta is observing the 75th anniversary of independence with a gesture of amnesty, but critics have called it a stunt. Thousands still remain locked up as authorities continue to crack down on dissenters.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are in Tallinn. Estonia's Independence Day coincides with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.