Cannes Film Festival 2019
Cannes Film Festival Blog 2019
My favourite industry-related articles and snippets from the press on the Cannes Film Festival 2019 as I see them. Feel free to comment with your thoughts on these topics and share.
Will Hollywood Mega-Mergers Impact Cannes Film Market?
Reported by Variety: https://variety.com/2019/film/markets-festivals/hollywood-mergers-cannes-film-market-rebounds-but-big-titles-scarce-1203212596/ It’s a time of massive consolidation for the entertainment industry in the U.S. Disney has acquired Twentieth Century Fox reducing the number of major studios from 6 to 5. Open Road and Broad Green are no longer in existence. The M & A activity is far from over. The impact so far seems to be less big-budget films on offer and less US distributors touting on the Croisette. But could some of the other foreign territories fill the gap? Possibly the Chinese but even they are focusing on quality and value as opposed to prestige as in previous years (see article below).
Chinese companies more cautious this Cannes
Reported by Variety: https://variety.com/2019/film/news/cannes-market-china-companies-more-cautious-fan-bingbing-1203214340/ Same numbers seem to be in attendance but the focus has changed from glitzy to value for money. The first quarter has been disappointing for Chinese movie studios with a slow box-office, a new industry regulator, tightened censorship and a tax suppression. As a result financiers have been reluctant to invest and production has decreased. It is reported around 600 productions were shut down. The Chinese buying strategy this year at Cannes is one of price-consciousness and an attempt to acquire more light-hearted family content.
Jérome Paillard on the past, present and future of the Cannes Marché du Film
Reported by Screen Daily: https://www.screendaily.com/features/jerome-paillard-on-the-past-present-and-future-of-the-cannes-marche-du-film/5139379.article Regardless of rumours that attendance is down, the data shows a different story - that the market is as busy as ever.
Palais blocks mother and baby entering
Reported by The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/may/15/cannes-film-festival-row-mother-baby-blocked-entry-film-maker-greta-bellamacina British director Greta Bellamacina, whose film Hurt By Paradise is screening in the market section of the festival claimed she and her child were prevented from entering the festival site. Officials told her that her 4 month old child would require a £260 delegate's pass and that it would take 48 hours to process the application. Ironically, her film is about a young single mother trying to balance her life as a writer. The incident comes following the introduction of a new initiative intended to make it easier for those with young children (mainly mothers) to attend the festival. In a statement released on Thursday Cannes said that the decision to refuse entry to Bellamacina had been made in error, which the festival was working to correct.
Gender equality campaigners Collectif 50/50’s next steps
Gender equality groups around the world welcomed the introduction of the festival charter and the stance the Collectif 50/50 have taken. But even after the memorable line-up on the red carpet at last year’s Cannes protesting the historic lack of female representation at the event, progress has proved slow. In official selection, 28% of the feature-length films are directed by women, while female-directed films accounted for 26% of submissions. In Directors’ Fortnight, four out of 24 directors in the main feature selection are women 16.7%). Collectif 50/50’s plans for Cannes this year include a networking and brainstorming workshop with other international gender equality groups and activists. Scheduled topics on the table will be inclusion riders and how they can be adapted to film and TV industries outside the US, the gender split among film critics and how it impacts the reception of features directed by women, and how to unify and deepen data across territories.
Julianne Moore told an audience at Cannes she supports imposing quotas to help improve gender representation in the film industry: “Women are not a special interest group, we make up 52% of the population so in order to restore the balance we will need some measures to change our culture. It takes a long time to turn a big boat around. “This has been a long time coming. We will have to make major changes to reach parity. That’s just a fact. I do believe in quotas, I really do. I believe in trying to level the playing field for everybody regardless of gender or culture or ethnicity. We have to open doors. That being said you can’t change everything right away. You make incremental change, that’s how you do it.”
Spanish tax breaks boost production
Reported by Variety: https://variety.com/2019/film/global/spanish-tax-breaks-boost-production-1203218801/
Spain’s presence for international productions increased after “Game of Thrones” filmed there from 2014 to 2018. Spain’s mainland offers 20% tax rebates for international productions, capped at €3 million ($3.4 million); in the Canary Islands, the rate is 40%, with a €5.4 million ($6.1 million) ceiling.
Variety’s highs and lows of the festival: https://variety.com/2019/film/news/cannes-film-festival-2019-highlights-1203221901/
Production activities on the up in Scotland and Ireland
EU Commission launches analysis of gender disparity amongst critics
https://variety.com/2019/film/news/cannes-film-festival-eu-commission-50-50-gender-1203220412/ The Commission revealed new data on progress since last year’s 50/50 gender parity pledge, launched a report on best practices and announced a new initiative to gather Europe-wide data on the gender breakdown of film critics by the end of the year at its first “Women on the Move” day on the Croisette on Sunday. New data was also unveiled Sunday about gender discrepancies among film critics in France. It found that though 47% of all registered French journalists are women, just 37% of the 611 journalists who wrote a film review in the past year were female.
Challenges ahead for indie films predicted
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/imax-ceo-talks-year-blockbuster-tough-times-indie-films-1211973 A worrying prediction that the traditional mid-budget indie film will increasingly move straight to streaming platforms rather than undertake the costly exercise of a theatrical release.
Another negative impact of Brexit...sigh
https://www.screendaily.com/news/hard-brexit-could-see-six-million-cinema-admissions-fall/5139668.article On 31st October, in the event of a hard Brexit with no transitional period, could see cinema admissions drop by 6 million in just 1 year (research from Europa cinemas). 42 UK cinemas in EU backed Europa Cinemas Network would be dropped with immediate effect losing subsidy from Creative Europe.