Singer Jeanette took centre stage at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday evening with a live performance accompanying a beach screening of Cría Cuervos, the acclaimed film by Spanish director Carlos Saura.
The event at the “Cinéma de la Plage” marked 50 years since the film’s 1976 release and drew festival guests, film lovers and members of Saura’s family to Macé beach on the Croisette. Before the screening of the new 4K restoration, Jeanette introduced herself to the audience as “the voice behind the song ‘Porque te vas’” before performing the track live. The song became internationally famous after appearing repeatedly in Saura’s award-winning film about childhood and grief in late Franco-era Spain.
Presented in competition at Cannes in 1976, “Cría Cuervos” won the Grand Prix du Jury and later became one of the defining works of Spanish cinema. The film was shot in 1975 during the final months of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship and is widely seen as a reflection on repression and memory in Spain. Festival organisers included the restored version in the 2026 Cannes Classics programme alongside other heritage films.
Jeanette’s appearance added a nostalgic dimension to the tribute, with hundreds of spectators watching from deckchairs and the beachfront as her 1974 song echoed across the Mediterranean coast.
Semi-retired and living mostly out of the spotlight in Spain, the singer still makes occasional appearances for tributes, television programmes and special concerts linked to her iconic song.