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Read the introductory comments by the »Cannes troika« — president Gilles Jacob, general manager Véronique Cayla, artistic director Thierry Frémaux — about upcoming events at this year’s 58th festival, and you get a glimpse of the course they have chartered for the future. The Festival de Cannes as World Film Market. »The Marché du Film provides, in synergy with the Festival de Cannes, ten exceptional days of encounters, exchanges, and project development in an atmosphere where there is a common desire to see independent film prosper and to encourage the production of films of quality.« In other words, Cannes intends to become the indispensable meeting place for industry professionals the world over.

Since this year’s Marché de Film welcomed over 9,000 buyers, sellers, and producers, the number of market screenings and related events has nearly doubled over last year. »It’s a sign of the vitality of world film production,« commented Gilles Jacob. »The development of digital technology has enabled the emergence of a form of cinema that is easier to produce,« underscored Thierry Frémaux. »This year, we are opening a new theater, called Cinéma du Monde,« to promote the diversity of world cinema at a time when some fear it is seriously at risk from the globalization of the film industry,« added Véronique Cayla.

On May 13, all eyes were on the grand opening of the new Cinéma du Monde theater. Designed by Patrick Blouchain and located in the Village International Pantiero, this venue — »a prototype of a new generation of contemporary theaters« — will focus on the cinematographies from seven countries on the five scattered continents of the globe. Each country is free to compose its own program.

Opening with Morocco, the daily world tour then moved on to South Africa, Mexico, Austria, Peru, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. Since three of these countries — Mexico, Austria, and Sri Lanka — also have one or more films in the Official Selection, the idea was to shed light on »cultural identity« in the world film market. At the same time, this »Tous les Cinémas du Monde« program ran parallel to presentations in »L’Atelier du Festival« and »La Rencontre du Festival« — three new festival additions geared principally to catch the eye of film market professionals.

L'Atelier du Festival, an offshoot of the Cinéfondation competition for film students, had been founded to help talented young filmmakers bring their projects to the screen. For the first year, 18 young filmmakers from around the world were invited to Cannes to pitch their projects to industry professionals, to wit: Fatmir Koci (Albania), Ulricke vn Ribbeck (Germany), Lisandro Alonso (Argentina), Joachim Lafosse (Belgium), Aida Bejic (Bosnia), Yang Chao (China), Celia Galan Julve (Spain), David Lambert (France), Imunga Ivanga (Gabon), Nariman Turebayev (Kazakhstan), Som Ock Southiponh (Laos), Gerardo Naranjo (Mexico), Tawfik Abu Wael (Palestine), Encina Paz (Paraguay), Josue Mendez (Peru), Vladimir Perisic (Serbia), Mahamat Salen Haroun (Chad), and Ryan Eslinger (USA). The objective of the Atelier? »At the end of the festival,« predicted Véronique Cayla, »most of these projects should become realities to be discovered in a year or two — at Cannes, for example!«

As for La Rencontre du Festival, this »encounter« brought together filmmakers from the various festival juries to reflect on the current and future role of film festivals. Meeting on May 10, the day before the opening ceremony, this august assembly numbers Emir Kusturica (president of the international jury), Alexander Payne, Fatih Akin, Patrick Chamoiseau, Eduardo Antim, John Woo, Gilles Marchard, and Benoit Jacquot.
One of the problems considered by La Rencontre du Festival is the volume of films currently viewed by festival selection committees. At Cannes, for instance, 1,540 feature films from 97 countries were submitted, an increase of 16 % over last year (and double the submissions of five years ago). The Cannes Selection Committe boiled those submissions down to 53 films from 28 countries in the Official Program, of which 50 are world premieres and eleven film debuts (one in the Competition). As for the remaining thousand on the submission list, many were earmarked for the L’Atelier du Festival and the Marché du Film.

The buzz at Cannes? The burning question was whether or not the old-style film market is on their way out, to be replaced in the future by a virtual film market. Territories are often sold in advance. Digital and DVD projection is in. Film prints need not be shipped from festival to festival, from market to market. Furthermore, not every producer, distributor, and sales agent can afford a trip to Cannes for the Biggest Film Show on Earth.
Yet no one I talked to at Cannes wants to miss it.

Ron Holloway