Cate Blanchett recalled attending her first Cannes Film Festival when she was an unknown.

On Friday (May 19), the Oscar-winning actor returned to the event in the French Riviera to promote her latest film, New Adultand reflect on her debut experience years ago in 1999.

“The first time I went to Cannes, I was full of bruises because I had only just entered the market with a small comedy on the market and as a ‘nobody’. So I was completely left out,” said Blanchett, 54, Everybody.

At that time, the actor was there to support her romantic comedy An Ideal Husbandalongside co-stars Julianne Moore and Rupert Everett.

Blanchett, then 30, was just beginning to make a name for herself in the industry after receiving a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for her role in the 1998 historical drama. Elizabeth.

“Then the next time I come to a movie, I’m not sure why it’s like that, but it opened the festival. And then I had someone push other people out of the aisle and walk down the carpet hand in hand with some movie star,” she said.

“So it captures both of those experiences, and you don’t forget the first.”

Warwick Thornton’s film made its world premiere at the festival on Friday.

Blanchett leads the film as a rebellious nun running a remote convent who sees the arrival of a nine-year-old Aboriginal Australian boy (Aswan Reid) in the dead of night.

“Coming here and being recognized by a completely different culture, I think that’s when you start to think, ‘Okay, we’re getting into global storytelling,’” she says of bringing a project from my homeland to cross the sea.

“This isn’t just uniquely Australian, it’s not just a form of personal expression.’ There are many ways that you can start and then work with other film artists to keep your work going,” Blanchet added.

“I think it’s a great opportunity, at a festival like this.”