Tim Burton, Benicio del Toro, Monica Bellucci Grace Lumières Opening

The 16th^Th The edition of the Lumière Film Festival kicked off in grand style, with a glittering line-up of stars including Benicio del Toro, Tim Burton, Monica Bellucci and Vanessa Paradis, as well as high-profile directors Costa-Gavras and Giuseppe Tornatore, gracing the red carpet in Lyon.

Bellucci, who is in town to promote a new documentary about the stage play in which she portrays Maria Callas, was among the last to hit the red carpet. After a few steps, she turned around with a playful gesture, as if she had forgotten something, reached through the curtain and pulled out Tim Burton, to the delight of the 5,000 spectators: Burton's unannounced appearance caused huge applause.

The couple met and fell in love in Lyon in 2022, when Burton received the festival's Lumière Lifetime Achievement Prize, presented to him by Bellucci. The Italian actress has since starred in Burton's long-awaited Beetlejuice sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Before the stars appeared, the festival paid tribute to the actor Michel Blanc, beloved by generations in France, who died at the beginning of October. Excerpts from his 1979 cult comedy “Les Bronzés Font du Ski” (“French Holiday 2”) were shown, with the audience singing karaoke-style to the film's theme song, originally sung by Blanc.

Hundreds of phones were set on fire in Lyon's massive Tony Garnier concert hall, and the crowd spontaneously continued to sing a moving eulogy for Blanc after the karaoke session. During the festival there will be a special tribute to French new wave icon Alain Delon, who died in August.

During the ceremony, festival director Thierry Frémaux continued the tradition of screening restored films by the Lumière brothers and reminded the audience that Lyon is the birthplace of cinema. He couldn't resist a special nod to del Toro and said with a smile and in his best English, “I know the cinephile in you will appreciate these.”

Del Toro, like the other guests, will traditionally present a selection of films at the festival and host a master class: her presence attracts huge crowds to see classic films or her works, her enthusiasm is infectious.

French Oscar winner Justine Triet (“Anatomy of a Fall”) will open one of the festival's new events, where she will be invited to introduce her favorite films to Lyon audiences.

Several newly restored versions are presented by their directors, including Jacques Audiard's “Read My Lips” and Nicolas Winding Refn's 1996 cult classic “Pusher.”

Quebec wonder boy Xavier Dolan will be back at Lumière with a masterclass and a special grade of 10^Th Anniversary screening of his Cannes hit “Mommy” in the 2,000-seat auditorium in Lyon.

Throughout the festival, Frémaux, who also directs the Cannes Film Festival, will treat the audience to some Cannes premieres in the presence of the directors, including “The Substance” by Coralie Forgeat, “The Most Precious of Cargoes” by Michel Hazanavicius – “The director “The Artist”’s first foray into animation – and Claude Lelouch’s “Finalement.”

Costa-Gavras, this year's guest of honor, received a standing ovation when Tim Burton presented him with the Honorary Lumière Award during the ceremony.

This year's traditional all-night screening is dedicated to the master of underground cinema, the French-Chilean artist and director Alejandro Jodorowsky (“El Topo”, “The Holy Mountain”, “Santa Sangre”), who will also hold a master class becomes.

Festival-goers can also enjoy retrospectives, allowing them to revisit films or discover new ones. This will likely be the case at the retrospective dedicated to one of Mexico's first female filmmakers, the relatively unknown Matilde Landeta, and is part of the festival's Permanent History of Women Filmmakers section.

Lumière's annual retrospective of Hollywood legends focuses on Fred Zinnemann with a selection of a dozen films, including classics such as From Here to Eternity, A Man for All Seasons and The Day of the Jackal. The festival is dedicating another retrospective to the legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune, the long-time leading man of Akira Kurosawa.

During the nine-day event, a total of 158 films will be shown in around 450 screenings in and around Lyon.

Midweek, the city's sprawling Tony Garnier Hall will be busy again for a family screening of the 1976 classic The Twelve Tasks of Asterix, followed by a horror night event hosted by French horror maestro Alexandre Aja (” “Mother Land”, “Oxygen”).

This year's recipient of the festival's Lumière Prize is Isabelle Huppert, celebrated by diversity Critics choose the best actress in the world, who will receive the award on October 18th. Previous winners include Wim Wenders, Tim Burton, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Wong Kar-Wai, Jane Campion, Jane Fonda, Clint Eastwood, Quentin Tarantino and Catherine Deneuve, Ken Loach, Miloš Forman, Pedro Almodóvar and the Dardenne Brothers .