• Turned upside down by the health crisis, the Film Market, which brings together professionals from the film industry at the same time as the stars of the Cannes Film Festival, should regain its cruising speed this year.

  • This congress is witness to the upheavals that the cinema is currently going through, particularly related to the development of streaming.

At the Palais des Festivals, under the projection rooms, the Film Market anthill is once again teeming with all those who make, buy and distribute productions around the world.

The “business” part of the high mass of the Seventh Art, much less exposed than the stars and their climbs of the steps, plays the leading roles in the major upheavals that the cinema is currently undergoing.

To take stock of this transition linked to the pandemic but also to the development of platforms or even NFTs,

20 Minutes

met Jérôme Paillard, director since 1996 of this congress, and Guillaume Esmiol, who will succeed him.

It is said that the Cannes Film Festival would be regaining its cruising speed.

Does this also translate to the Film Market?

Jérôme Paillard:

The Covid-19 crisis is not quite behind us yet.

Among our accredited professionals, China, for example, is still very absent.

But from a global point of view, the indicators are very good.

We are finally approaching the figure for 2019, which was 12,500 accredited.

You have decided to help the Ukrainian delegation…

JP:

Their pavilion [rented spaces in the exhibition areas of the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès] and their accreditations are offered.

The European Commission also helped them finance their accommodation.

Fifty people are there.

We tried to support them as well as possible by organizing meetings and conferences to support films in production that were looking for a seller or the end of financing.

And to prepare for the post-war period.

Basically, and generally speaking, how is the film industry doing?

Guillaume Esmiol:

After a slowdown in production, things are picking up.

We are at the average level of the three years before Covid.

With an element that can still be a little misleading: some projects have simply been postponed.

JP:

At the market, we see large projects, often American but also European.

And distributors are there to buy them.

What are the novelties of the industry that the market has decided to support this year?

GE:

We have a lot of streaming conferences obviously.

But there will also be a lot of talk about new technologies and in particular

virtual production

.

That is to say, less post-production and effects rendered in real time.

And then of course there are the NFTs.

Films will be able to be produced in part thanks to the sale of NFT.

And what about cinema attendance?

GE:

That's the current concern.

In the first quarter of 2022, in France, we are at -39% compared to 2019. For comparison, in Italy it is much more, with -61%, and in the United Kingdom, the drop is only -20%.

Some say that habits have changed, I am skeptical.

I don't think people are going to just stream from home anymore.

There is a debate on the time lapse between the release of films in theaters and their distribution, in particular on streaming platforms…

JP:

In almost all the countries of the world, the windows have been reduced, but France remains extremely behind on this subject of the chronology of the media.

You really have to reduce the delays, especially for small films.

If they only stay in theaters for two weeks and only come out on the platforms two or three years later, they will have been completely forgotten and will no longer benefit from the promotion started at the start.

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Cannes Film Festival: Evenings, crowds ... The High Mass of cinema back at cruising speed?

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With the return of the Cannes Film Festival, the ecosystem of the Croisette breathes a "phew" of relief

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