♪ >> u.s. president biden is to meet with texas democrats to prevent a change to voting rights. our core is standing by with this in washington -- our correspondent is standing by. italy bans cruise ships from the grand canal in venice. pressure from local campaigners has led to this decision. cannes film festival will underway. our correspondent near the red carpet. she will bring us all the news about tonight screenings.

good evening to you. and thank you for being with us. cannes film festival will underway. it is me to check in with our reports on the french riviera. who are following each and every development, every screening of every film competing for the top prize, the coveted palm d'or. olivia salazar leading the team. tell us about the films in competition this evening. olivia: just behind me the casting crew from the french from -- just entered the theater to see the premier. this comes from a director -- who stars a prolific french actor. before the festival i would've described the director as up-and-coming, only 37 years old. but with this film in the competition you can say she has officially arrived. earlier on we had an iranian

director on the red carpet for the first time here at cannes. he is presentin a film called "a hero," centering on a man who faces a moral dilemma and he wants to do the right thing but he wants to appear to be doing the right thing. this film is a nuance study of human behavior, about trying to maintain your moral compass under great societal pressure and how how white lie can result in a tricky catch-22 situation which makes it a great drama. he got a really warm welcome when he came into the center, a much loved filmmaker here and a standing ovation when the film ended. that bodes well for this film that allows us to walk around in the shoes of somebody else, must removed from a lot of people in europe. it shows with the power of cinema can do. >> you look like you're having a fantastic time. long may that continue. there has been another film purely for the pleasure of seeing the film. a musical, not in competition.

tell us more. olivia: yes. now, this is a film that is called "alene," a musical film that centers on a young woman who turns out to have an amazing talent for singing and place to packed out concert halls around the world. it is based on the life of celine dion. this comes courtesy of an actress and director who is well known for her comic timing and she got a very warm welcome in part because she actually stars in a french comedy that has become a call to, called -- a satire, a spoof of the cannes film festival and the kind of people who attend it. too interested in the glamour and not interested in serious issues. the kind of people who attended it, us journalists as well and i

will take that on the chin because we do get to meet some fascinating people here in cannes, including oliver stone for our special program this evening "encore in cannes." that will be coming up shortly. do tune it. >> taking the words right out of my mouth. pleasure to see you. and great to see everything going well for you at the cannes film festival. the special program follows this program. u.s. vice president kamala harris says that democratic lawmakers from texas who left the state in order to do real republican efforts to pass the voting restrictions have shown great courage. more than 50 democratic lawmakers left texas denying the state legislature the quorum required to approve the measures of republican governor greg abbott's special agenda. harris saying they showed great courage. let's hear from president joe

biden. president biden: in america, if you lose you accept the results. you follow the constitution. we try again. you don't call facts fake and then try to bring down the american experiment just because you are unhappy. that selfishness. that is not democracy. it is the denial of the right to vote. it suppresses, subjugates, the denial if one free elections, the most un-american thing. >> president joe biden quite categorical there. good evening to you. am i understand what was planned in texas was to change the rules of who could vote? >> yes. so, this process in texas has been going on for a few weeks. basically what the republican

led legislature in texas is trying to do is pass a new law that would restrict a little bit the access to voting, limiting things like how long people can vote on weekends, limiting their access to mail-in ballots, how they request those ballots. also, some more leeway for election officials that are pict by the republican legislature to -- picked by the republican legislature to reject votes they consider cast illegally. things would make it harder for voters in texas to actually cast their ballots. democrats, who are in the minority, try to prevent that from happening, and since they have the minority the only way they can do that was to simply walk out of the state legislature. no problems or the governor of texas decided to call a special session. the democrats, this time they did not stay in the state. they got on chartered flights

and came to washington because, without their presence, there is no quorum in the state legislature and they cnot vote on that bill. so, right now they are in washington dc they are saying that they are not going to go back to texas until that special session is over which will last about a month. and the governor is saying, i will keep putting new sessions in place until we -- they come back. the minute they step foot on texas ground i will have them detained and bring them to the state legislature to do their jo. it is a very tense situation there, where the democrats are trying to gain time to try to prevent that law from being passed and republicans are adamant that they will in the end get it passed. >> we heard that president joe biden is angry what -- about what is happening. tell us more about what he has been saying. >> joe biden's speech toy was very symbolic. he went to pennsylvania, which

is of course the birthplace of american democracy and he really gave an impassioned speech about defending voting rights. he said that what we are seeing these days is really the biggest attack on voting rights since the civil war. he insisted this was not hyperbole. he meant it. you saw a very impassioned joe biden speaking about how it was un patriotic, un-american to try to restrict those voting rights, especially trying to restrict the voting rights of minorities good a lot of these bills seem to target mostly minorities. but he had this really, this plea with all americans to say you have to go vote. we are going to do what we can. but the problem is, while this speech was very symbolic and very forceful and one of the most forceful speeches he had

about voting rights recently, the problem is how do you translate that into actual concrete measures? because there are two voting right bills in congress stuck. they passed the house but they are not being taken up in the center because in the senate it is 50-50, and the democrats do not have ten republicans to vote with them to pass the law. so joe biden knows that getting a law through congress and getting it on his desk is likely not going to happen anytime soon. he's saying that legislation is not the only solution, that they need to work differently, but a lot of people, a lot of activists are asking, what do we do? how do we prevent that from happening? >> keeping us abreast of all of the development in the united states. thank you very much. next, italy has banned mega cruise ships from venice.

there is concern of the effect of the bow waves from these vessels. but the dollars they continue to provide is seen as a reason to tolerate the damage until now, it seems. i spoke to our correspondent in rome with the details. >> they never actually set a date in terms of when this ban will be put in place and now they have said it is august 1, and the reason is very clear. unesco, the u.n. culture organization, is essentially going to be having immediately-- a meeting later this month, and there was a threat they would put venice on the u.n. world heritage endangered sites. so there was a concern that was going to be put onto that list. so, essentially the government decided to act fast and basically make that decision on the ban. the culture minister in italy making it very clear that this -- this decision has been made. as you rightly put it, you have

got those cultural heritage groups as well as environmentalists long campaigning to stop these huge cruise ships from coming into the lagune, the basin of venice that overlooks st. mark's square. so, those of the areas that are being protected and it is targeting specific cruiseh eships, bigger than 180 meters in length. allhose that may be causing some kind of pollution or some kind of overwhelming sense of this beautiful jewel that is venice. >> on how mega cruiseships are banned from venice. we are watching that in other news stories. you're watching "france 24."

♪ olivia: what if one of the most pivotal events was a cover-up? that is a question at the heart of "jfk revisited," oliver stone's documentary about the political assassination that shook america 1963. today conspiracy theories are so hot button issue. i'm off to meet the american filmmaker to find out why this is struck a moment has fascinated him for decades. -- this historical moment has fascinated him for decades. oliver stone, hello, thanks for

being with us. "jfk revisited" is released cannes 30 years after the release of your previous film "jfk," a fictional take on that story. now is now the right time to revisit it? oliver: i would not say fictional take. i wod say it was a dramatized take on facts we discovered. we are similar sometimes for t puoses of drama condensing characters and simplifying -- but this is very close. the original was pretty accurate, i thought. but we wanted to go back because that film created a furor. an act of congress, very rare, to allow a fairly official investigation of the murder. and it l -- led to a lot of work, a lot of recordseing just classified.

and people did not know anything about it because the american media practically, there's a llective memory hole about the assassination unfortunately, and people, although people are interested, the media does not seem to be interested. the media is more and more corporate controlled, and they don't want to take risks or upset the apple card, and i think america has become more conservative frankly. so this is frustrating at the 2013, 50th anniversary of his death, murder, and i was frustrated to see all the official networks and all the official newspapers parroting the same line. the warren commission le. were way pt the warren commission. there have been more than two investigations. a lot of information has come out. the media will not admit it. this film is a response, and it is an angry film but also measured film. we did a lot of work on it. we have a four hour version a a two hour version you saw at cannes.

that is about as far as we can go in my lifetime, because it is obviously people are dying instead. -- and dead. the documents that are still there, a lot of them have been redacted and destroyed as we showed in the film. but still there other documents that can be released in the future. >> the fbi concluded that all three bullet struck inside the car. >> he was hit with the first and the third. the second shot hit the governor. the third shot tore the president head off. >> the warren commission put themselvesn a straitjact. they could not allow more than three shots because four shots or more would've indicated conspiracy and they were not going there. >> i was standing there -- the curve was very visible, marks where the bullet had struck. >> those two films, the drama and the documentary are to some extent companion pieces but very different in their form. one a medical is a research

documenter and another a drama -- a meticulously researched documentary and another a drama starring kevin constant. which is more satisfying to make? -- starring kevin constant. oliver: the first was a major attempt to interpret this murder for the american people. it was a huge success. i was nominated and we got two academy awards. of course, time gives you more perspective, and there are things i would change if i had to do it again, but i'm happy with it. this film today is a satisfactory and triumphant film for me, but it's a smaller audience because documentaries don't get worldwide attention t. in 1991, it was a surprise because people have -- are not dealin with the kennedy assassination. we tried to keep it in the public mind. we are selling it very nicely in europe. we'll see where we go but

america will remain a tough market. olivia: i have seen the archived footage of walter cronkite announcing jfk's death twice in the festival, which goes to show how crucial that moment was. why do you think we are still so fascinated by 60 years on? oliver: murder is always fascinating. crime never ends, people watch crime shows and sial kill irit but this is far more serious, as i try to point out, since kennedy was killed, no american president has crossed certain lines. into the military sector, the intelligence sector, for me. and this is "the" story. i am not interested in conspiracy theories -- there are plenty of examples in history way before american existed. back to ran and greek times,

and before that conspiracies are natural. the cia came up with a psychological war concept in the 1950's let's call them conspiracy theorists and we will discredit them. and that was their terminology. psy-ops. america pretty good at psy-ops all around the world. it is our specialty, of course. it's a terminology of dismissal. this is conspiracy fact because it was clearly a conspiracy here. and the question is -- who, but the more important question is why. and that is what i was trying to point out. kennedy was changing things in a positive way and that reflects on today because those same changes are necessary in the american experience. we have to change our military posture as well as our intelligence agencies postures. they have too much power. >> what if one bullet made all seven marks? our inspector gave birth to the

single bullet theory. what if oneullet went into nnedys back and came out of his neck and went into connolly's back piercing the lung, on the wrist to h is left thigh. whatever you want, wheatever t you need, this bullet provides, it is a magic bullet. olivia: if jfk's policies had prevailed, what america do you think you'd have today? >> a whole different world. his brother was also a progressive. he will follow him. hopefully 16 years of kennedys. who knows? teddy kennedy was another factor. they knew this. roosevelt had a significant effect on the american psyche as well as the economy and made a huge difference in world war ii but kennedy would have had a similar hold on the american public. i think we would be less

conservative, less violent. war breeds more violence and callousness in society. kennedy, as he says in the film, he was a man of peace. he had been at war, a decorated combat veteran. he said himself, you cannot believe the generals. he was that kind of man who called the shots as they saw them. he saw it coming. he says we do not need a world of pax americanna, supported by weapons of war, which is where we are at. we're into a world that is highly rigid and stigmatized by the difference between various enemies that we call, enemies, russia, china, iran. europe, you're from europe is in a sense a captive satellite of the united states. you are under our nuclear on -- umbrella. i don't think any of this would happen if the kennedy e sosa

succeeded. ol-- had succeeded. olivia: you said that your film prompted action from congress. do you think film still has that same power? oliver: it should have. there is no reason. film is eternal. the russian revolution breeded certain films. freedom movements, south america, everywhere in the world, america needs to be questioned and shaken up, question above all. film makers need to see the world and understand there is a global perspective. too many americans are looking inward and they stay inside the american bubble. olivia: thank you very much for your time. oliver: thank you, my dear. ♪ >> it is time now for french

connections, are weakly -- week ly look at the french connections in france. today we talk about something france has been proud of, a french exception if you like and that is the strong fertility rate in this country. for years, france has been the babymaking champion of europe, but the country has been expanding a bit of a baby -- in recent years, the number of births has been dropping. >> which is surprising, because during the first lockdown people were saying there would be a baby boom afterwards because people are stuck at home. they have a lot of time on their hands not much else to do. but if you look at the stats, it is a different story. nine months after the first lockdown, france saw a historic drop in the number of births. people are coming -- calling a baby bust, not a baby boom. according to the national statistics bureau, you can see in january 2021 there was 13%

drop in the number of births compared to january 2020. it turns out it is hard to be optimistic during a global pandemic. >> [speaking french] >> while a lot of french people may postpone their babymaking plans, those who ended up going through that say that being lockdown at home and working from home, those were ideal conditions. >> [speaking french] >> the babymaking numbers might

be down but the confinement did have some positive effects like a drop in the number of premature babies. >> this is a trend elsewhere in the world as well. it actually came as a surprise to a lot of doctors. why are there a-- fewer premies being born. many believe it could be fewer stress, cleaner air and better hygiene. >> [speaking french] >> some good news for premie bab

ies but there is a big drop in fertility in france but it is part of a trend in the last couple of years. >> due to several reasons, the primary being othe number of women having babies are older and having fewer babies. in 2020, 740,000 babies were born in france, we'll drop compared to the peak in 2010 when 833,000 babies were born. that being said, the babymaking rate in france is still relatively high compared to other countries, particularly in europe. let's look at the figures. if you compare the figures in 2018 you can see that in france there were 1.88 babies per wom an. italy, superlow 1.29. the european average 1.56. keep in mind the replacement fertility rate, when the

population itself is 2.1 children per woman. all of these countries are below it but france still is the champion here. >> france does still have this traditionally strong fertility rate. why is that? it is not because french people have a babymaking power or anything like that. it is because the country has a strong welfare program that encourages people to keep having kids. >> it is a generous system that was put in place in the 1930's to boost the birth rate. the state set up a family allowance system backed by tax incentives. you start receiving them on the birth of your second child. up until recently, this was a universal system of cash handouts. but in 2015, facing a major budget deficit, the socialist government decided to make the system income dependent. high income families receive less. let's take a look at one case. if you are family earning less than 70,000 euros a year, for

two children you get 139.95 euros per month. it makes a big difference when it comes to people's budgets. >> keeps you in diapers. parental leave. some would say it is not that high in france compared to other countries. >> compared to the nordic countries which have amazing systems. maternity lea is 16 weeks paid full salary. paternity leave just increased recently at 28 days. what makes a real difference is that it state makes it easier for women to go back to work. and this is what studies have shown. the easier you make it for women to go back into the workforce,the more babies they have. this reasoning has been thrown up into the air due to the pandemic. everything is up in the air right now. there were so much uncertainty about the future. will the friends recover from this baby blues? will they go back to procreating?

hopefully once the pandemic is a distant memory. we will have to come up with a generation name for these new babies. post-quarantines. >> covid kids. thank you so much for that look at fertility in france. if you have questions about here in france you can always tweet flo.

07/13/21 07/13/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> let me tell you this, who decided on constitutional right deserves greater deference on the other? i will tell you, texas. the republican legislator decided your right to carry a gun is more important than your precious right to vo. amy: texas tech democrats f