Daniel Kreps
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Barbra Streisand Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images Barbra Streisand won’t attend this year’s Cannes Film Festival — where she was set to receive an Honorary Palme d’or — after sustaining a knee injury.
The actress-singer was scheduled to receive the award during the film festival’s closing ceremony on May 23. However, Cannes organizers announced Sunday they have “just been informed that Ms. Barbra Streisand will be unable to attend the ceremony.”
“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 in a statement. “But I am deeply honored to receive the Honorary Palme d’or and had so been looking forward to celebrating the remarkable films of the 79th edition.”
Streisand continued, “I was also very much looking forward to spending time with colleagues whom I so admire – and, of course, returning to France, a place I have always loved. While I regret that I can’t be there in person, I want to extend my warmest congratulations to all of the filmmakers from around the world whose extraordinary talent and creative vision are being celebrated this year. My heartfelt thanks to the Festival, and to everyone who continues to support and champion the art of cinema.”
The Cannes closing ceremony on May 23 will still include a tribute to Streisand despite her absence; Streisand has never appeared at the iconic film festival, and the closing ceremony would have marked her Cannes debut.
