The Cannes Film Festival will have ... a “Cannes 2020” label

Text by: Siegfried Forster

The biggest cinema meeting in the world should have started on Tuesday, May 12. Obliged to cancel its 73rd edition, the Cannes Film Festival was forced to imagine something else instead: a “Cannes beyond the walls”, an online Film Market and a “Cannes 2020” label. Even if it means expanding the Festival's digital borders?

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It's a gloomy May for moviegoers. Instead of talking about the filmmakers vying for the Palme d'Or, we hear more about the new series from Netflix. Films, stars, the rise of markets and the media. For more than 70 years, Cannes has celebrated this unique alchemy, but one that was impossible to organize in the era of the coronavirus. Without having a flying red carpet for each of the expected stars, the biggest event in the cinema universe had to be canceled, as in summer 1939 and May 1968. Today, all that remains for Pierre Lescure , president of the Festival, and its general delegate, Thierry Frémaux, is to be combative to preserve the spirit of Cannes. Perhaps for that, they always avoid pronouncing the word "cancellation".

The cinema showcase, how does it want to keep its world leadership until the next edition on site? As early as April, Thierry Frémaux refused to transform the largest cinema event into digital publishing, unlike (admittedly, much smaller) festivals such as Cinéma du réel in Paris, Nyon in Switzerland, Vues d'Afrique at Canada or Gabès Cinéma Fen in Tunisia, all of whom have awarded their awards.

The “ Cannes 2020 ” label

A three-stage cinematographic rocket was born. First of all, Frémaux plans to save the films already selected (including Tre Piani by Nanni Moretti, The French Dispatch by Wes Anderson and Benedetta by Paul Verhœven) and the influence of the Festival by temporarily replacing the prizes and the Palme gold by a label. This “Cannes 2020” brand will be launched with the official announcement of the list of films in early June. Like Olivier Py, who, against all odds, had announced in a video conference the plays of the Avignon Festival to bring the 2020 edition to life at least in the imagination, and finally a few days before confinement and official cancellation of the festival in the city of the popes.

A Film Market with virtual cinemas

More surprisingly, the Cannes Film Festival will maintain its commercial platform, the Marché du Film, world leader in the cinema industry, in a digital version. A first, probably due to international pressures from the film industry. Normally, this unmissable event brings together more than 12,500 film professionals (producers, buyers, programmers, distributors, etc.) at the Palais des Festivals to present and showcase nearly 400 films and projects in 33 screening rooms. . In 2019, American participants topped the list, ahead of the French and British. And among the 121 countries represented, there were also many African countries such as Cameroon, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan or Tanzania.

During this digital edition, to keep the Cannes Festival atmosphere as close as possible, the feature films for sale will not be available on VoD, but will be broadcast between June 22 and 26, in virtual cinemas, on a secure platform, Marché du Film Online, at precise times, with individual meetings via videoconference. Jérôme Paillard, director of the Marché du Film, told the American site hollywoodreporter that "  we don't want to, and we can't replace the physical market. But what we are learning this year may be a model for how the virtual market and the physical market can work together in the future  . ”

" Cannes outside the walls "

With its “Cannes 2020” label, the Cannes Film Festival also wishes to set up an “Cannes outside the walls” event. Obviously without currently having signed agreements and therefore without giving details, Thierry Frémaux mentioned in an interview with L'Obs his wish that Cannes films will be present in practically all the major festivals of this year: “  We will go to the festivals from Toronto, Deauville, Angoulême, San Sebastian, New York, Busan in Korea and, even, the Festival Lumière, in Lyon. And in theaters in France.  "

As for the collaboration with the Venice Film Festival, considered by many observers as a rival to the Cannes Film Festival since the Golden Lion awarded to Roma , directed by the Mexican Alfonso Cuaron and produced by Netflix, Frémaux replied: “  No , there is no competition between festivals. Everyone has their place, and Cannes has their own.  "

The Cannes Film Festival in the era of platforms

What is the place of Cannes in the era of platforms? For Romain Lecler, "  it's a shame [that] the Cannes Festival will not take place online  ". According to the sociologist and political scientist at the University of Quebec in Montreal, "  the fear of a disappearance of festival films linked to Netflix is ​​irrational because this cinema belongs to another circuit  ". For him, it is not very intelligent to oppose "  the platform and the room, but the algorithm and the selection  ". And he concludes: "  Cannes has lost a good opportunity this year to adapt its precious logic of choice to digital  ".

In the meantime, everything suggests that the digital borders of the Cannes Festival have already changed. For example, when Thierry Frémaux openly claims in L'Obs to "  adapt the chronology of the media to the 21st century  ". And despite the refusal of a digital edition or a confined space, Cannes willingly accepted to participate in late May in the digital festival We Are One , an unprecedented event organized for ten days on YouTube by the Tribeca Festival of Robert De Niro where the latter wishes to invite all the other festivals.

Towards a new cohabitation between the Cannes Film Festival and Netflix ?

Who still remembers the 2017 edition? Before bringing the Palme d'Or and the Oscar to Parasite three years ago, South Korean director Bong Joon-ho was proud to be in the running for the Palme d'Or with Okja . But, soon after congratulating themselves on having received $ 50 million from Netflix to make "  the film I wanted to make  ", the Cannes Film Festival decided to ban the Palme from films released online. Since then, in turn, Netflix has boycotted the official Cannes selection while buying after the 2019 prize list the Grand Jury Prize, Atlantique , from the Franco-Senegalese Mati Diop.

The 2020 edition could have been the year of a new cohabitation between Cannes and Netflix. And the incredible growth of the platform during the confinement period has certainly further reinforced in the cinema industry the fear of a break with the youth: “  The platforms are stronger than ever, especially in the young generation. But cinema can live with them, as it has done for a long time with television.  "

While accusing the streaming giant of using "  the mythology of cinema by going to find its greatest authors and, let's say, makes a great profit of it  ", Thierry Frémaux had also affirmed in the columns of L'Obs: "  We are therefore fights to preserve the future, which is also theirs !  "Last but not least, originally, he had planned to screen - out of competition - the new film by Spike Lee, president of the jury of the Cannes Festival 2020 finally canceled:"  And to tell you the truth, he showed us a very beautiful film produced by Netflix. (…) It was the surprise he gave us. It would have been a beautiful Cannes.  Following the coronavirus crisis, DA 5 Bloods , a film about the Vietnam War, will be released on June 12 as a world premiere on Netflix.

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