Cracks in the Cannes Ivory Tower

MATT: Today's topic is timely because Cannes is fast approaching at the time of recording the podcast. And of course, this is the biggest most glamorous film festival in the world. I'd like to ask you, therefore, your take on the following, very simple question. The role of major film festivals: how has that evolved over the past few decades? Have they struggled to keep up with the times and changing trends? And do they remain central to the film industry and its day-to-day major operations?

ERIC: Those are tremendous, big, big questions. And what we could do is just really focus on Cannes. As you rightly said, that is literally starting in the next few days. Venice, Berlin... these are massive festivals and I think each one deserves their own segment. As a matter of fact, I was chatting the other day, off a podcast, with one of my dearest friends and mentors, Peter Cowie. Peter has written a number of phenomenal books but more importantly, he has also attended hundreds of film festivals around the world-I invited him on our show in the coming weeks, he's finishing a book-to talk about the trends of film festivals and where they've been, where they're going.

But for Cannes in particular... Cannes is an interesting festival. Put it in perspective, I first attended Cannes in 1990. My daughter was born in 1990 and for at least 12 years, she literally thought the fireworks every evening was for her birthday, which got me off the hook for not being present at home for her birthday parties.

But what makes Cannes so special? Good question. Because we're at a crossroads of what makes Cannes special. I mean, I've heard a lot of doubts over the last two, three years. But let's go back a bit. What made Cannes? I think that's the real first question. What actually made Cannes? Officially, it was founded in 1946. Unofficially, it was brought together in 1938 by a group of journalists, film critics, film producers-French, French, French. And it gained support from Americans and British filmmakers. Of course, World War II came along and kind of shuttered it down. But World War II also did something really interesting, which made Cannes special back then.

Venice, you see, had just been the festival to attend. At the Venice Lido, it was glamour, it was beautiful. It was quiet, which, by the way, lasted that way for years. But Mussolini came along and saw to it that Venice became a political propaganda tool in his war chest. And so, really, Cannes became more important because it was truly an independent film festival that was recognising films not for political reasons or propaganda but for film. And we saw then for years, Venice sort of find itself in a very political propaganda, fascist state. And so, that's sort of the foundation. It was founded like many film festivals for filmmakers to show films.

ERIC: Fast forward to where we are today in this 21st century. I hate to say it but I'll say it because it's true. It's what a lot of people feel. It's a TikTok festival. This red carpet that's, I don't know how long it is...22 meters or something like this. You know, the Palme d'Or, its 24-carat award. It's great, it added glamour. But then there's overkill.

There's a very strict dress code on the red carpet of Cannes. I once wore a white silk bow tie, I have to say I was pretty handsome. I was denied. I had a black tuxedo but with a white summer silk bow tie and I was denied access as a V.I.P. onto the red carpet.

MATT: I feel your pain. A similar thing happened to me.

ERIC: Yeah, I thought I was special, so it happened to you, I guess not. But here's the deal. I think it's time for the festival to reverse it. I mean, there's overkill. We have today more attention on the red carpet than the actual films being shown. Unless, of course, it's an American film. Aha! Can you imagine that years ago, this was a the quintessential French film festival? Not anymore. I mean, it's interesting.

ERIC: So, I think Cannes doesn't realize what's happening. I think they've changed ivory towers. They went from one ivory tower, which became this intellectual "let's ban Netflix" in 2012, to another ivory tower that is so high up that I believe they may have lost contact with real filmmakers. Now, it doesn't diminish in my opinion. And let's remind everyone, this is totally my opinion. We have a team of film critics on their way to Cannes. We will be doing our Cannes reviews of the films that are there. The jury members are phenomenal. The way Cannes shows films are great. The films that are selected by the programmers are, indeed, phenomenal. But something is going on. And mostly, it's an overflow, in my opinion, from the Marché, the [Cannes Film] Market, and we'll get to that in a second.

Let's back up a second. To win an award, once you walk the 60 meters-long red carpet and sit down, the applause of the audience in that cinema is bar none, probably the most amazing experience for a filmmaker. And there's been a lot of surprises for filmmakers over the years who did walk that red carpet. It's made filmmakers. It's been the center of public protest. 1968, the festival was halted for the protests. Filmmakers like Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut all supported the protest. It's gone on to controversial things. In 2011, Lars von Trier was declared persona non grata after he made controversial comments during a press conference. So, it hasn't lacked controversy. But in a way, these are proper controversies. These are filmmakers and social awareness. Over the years, the festival's been criticised for its lack of diversity and they've been making massive attempts to avoid that stigma.

But beyond that... maybe it all started in 1953, when Brigitte Bardot made her first appearance in Cannes and there was this massive media frenzy. Who knows? Maybe it was Brigitte Bardot who started using the croisette of Cannes as this marketing tool and it's just grown from there. Up until 1991, when Madonna caused-I don't know if it's contriversy-but she certainly was getting attention from the clothes that she wore or didn't wear by promoting her documentary Truth or Dare.

I'm not criticizing the festival. I want to be really clear. I love Cannes. I think Cannes is phenomenal, as do thousands and thousands of people. In 2004, Michael Moore's [Fahrenheit] 9/11 won the Palme d'Or, highly critical of the Bush administration. So, all these amazing things just carry history from its inception of 1938, all those dates that I just threw out. And it was a platform that created... not created but certainly helped directors like Quentin Tarantino. But then something happened. And I'm not exactly sure how to phrase it. But it's well recognized that the red carpets become a showcase for designers, for trends, for everything that's not film.

I sort of mentioned all of these unbelievable moments in Cannes history to put it in perspective of how almost ridiculous the red carpet is today. I mean, it's not Cannes' fault. It's not the festival's fault. But it's a statement, I think, of where society is today. 1968, there were demonstrations. There was attitude. There was grunt and grime. There was realism. And today, there's TikTok. This is where we stay. And so, I think it's awkward. I think awkward is the right word. How do you rein this in? And do we really want to rein it in? Does the festival want to rein in this sort of divergence into the 21st century?

ERIC: And so earlier, I kind of mentioned something, which was, I think there's an overspill from the market. So, a lot of... non-industry people kind of don't get any of the festival. But quite frankly, understand that during the Cannes Film Festival, which attracts the global world attention, there's also a film market. The film market is really made up of independent film distribution companies and filmmakers selling their film. And it literally runs parallel to the festival. And there has become an ever distance between the two, perceived to be a distance between the two.

So, years ago, if you were a distributor, you actually could get a ticket to go watch a film premiere because you were part of the industry. That wasn't easy. Nothing is easy, right? At festivals but particularly in France; everything is complicated. It was complicated to get a ticket but they could get a ticket. There was a closeness between the festival and the distributors and the market. And there was a feeling of an industry, a community. What has kind of happened is the market's gotten bloody expensive to attend, to sell your film. So, you have to have a massive company behind you or a lot of money behind you, or your parents have to have mortgaged their home in order to get you there. It's been looked down upon by the festival side or even forgotten about, I think, in many ways.

So, we're at this crossroads and there's another aspect which has emerged from the market and for the festival. The technology. So, even thought Cannes attracts easily 30,000 professionals of all different levels, it fills up the entire... every single Airbnb from Nice all the way, probably, down near Saint-Tropez. It is an attraction. There's no doubt that it is an attraction. But what is occurring is the birth or rebirth, I should say, of smaller film festivals., where industry people are really starting to appreciate and go. Not that they're going back to 1946 or 1938. But they're going back to where they can sit down and watch a film, talk to the market distributors, have a chance to talk to the film that's being shown as a premiere, let's say at Sarajevo Film Festival.

So, in a way, Cannes serves its purpose but I don't know if it's helping the way it used to be. Or maybe I'm just an old fart and I'm just nostalgic to the days when you could literally walk down the croisette and bump into some of the greatest filmmakers and they could invite you to see their premiere and you went into it.

MATT: In other words, there's a factor of fear of missing out but that the same time, maybe Cannes is struggling to meet the expectations.

ERIC: I don't think they're struggling to meet the expectations. I think they're struggling. First of all, I don't even think they're struggling. Cannes remains just a vital component of the entire global film industry. It continues to celebrate and promote the art of filmmaking and filmmakers. So I think they're perceived and they are the world's most phenomenal film festival. Just the bureaucracy to put this on, just the organization is unbelievable.

But yet only if you go back and you live through these histories and it's been part of your life as a filmmaker and you understand how nice it is to be at a film festival without the consumer push, without everything being marketable... I mean, if you walk into the hotels the steps are branded. It's just an overabundance of marketing and sales. And it creates this incredible, exciting feeling, but it's exhausting. And I think, I mean, you asked a question and the question really was how have these changed? And I can't wait to have Peter Cowie or we may get somebody who just comes back from Cannes and get their input.

But I think it's important, don't get me wrong, I think Cannes is phenomenal. I think the 60 meters of a red carpet has become a joke. That's what has to be reined in, I think.

MATT: Is that your verdict, Eric?

ERIC: No, that's too harsh to be a verdict. My verdict is this, Vive la France, Vive Cannes. It's unbelievable, but it's giving space to a new form of film festival. It's giving smaller film festivals the opportunity and the filmmakers to be Cannes again. My verdict is really simple. Let's get back to the filmmaker. Let's focus on the filmmakers, not on the red carpet. That's my verdict. I hope it was good enough for you and let's keep making films. Bye.