VI.V.XXVI
Cannes: Beyond Red Carpet
by Bijaya Jena
News for Soul Exclusive
Photos Credit/Copyright: Lopa Kaul
Cannes film festival was founded in 1946 to compete with Venice film festival that had ignored a very good pacifist French film The Grand Illusion by famous filmmaker Jean Renoir with political interference of the Fascist regime in 1937.
The first edition of Cannes film festival was held in 1946. The festival had eleven films which reflected post war recovery and artistic innovation. Among them was Indian film Neecha Nagar by Chetan Anand and all the films were honoured with Grand Prix.
The French Riviera was always famous with the rich and famous having their summer villas. Slowly the festival was attended by these celebrities to watch films from all over the world and also to be seen among the crème dela crème of Europe and America. The American and European film stars were seen in Cannes which also attracted the press to write about their scandals and love affairs besides the serious cinema. This press coverage helped films in distribution.
Hence, Marche du film (film market) was founded in 1959 for business purpose and it became the hub for international distributors and producers. This surely helped the films from Asia to be discovered in Europe and get distributed. Indian films of Ray and Mrinal Sen were appreciated. Unfortunately, the last three decades did not see a single Indian film in the competition section till Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia wowed the audience and got the Grand Prix for her film “All we imagine as light” in 2024.
The 70s 80s and 90s saw artistic excellence in Cannes selection of films and then the Artistic Director was changed and we started seeing many commercial films in premier shows and some Loreal models being on the jury. But Cannes remains the most glamourous film festival ever where besides business deals of films, brand ambassadors promote their brands and influencers are chosen by few countries to promote their countries.
Late 90s saw many luxury brands like Loreal and Chopard sponsoring the festival though French automobile company Reanault had been sponsoring since 1983. Since 2022, BMW has joined in. Almost 20 million Euros are spent on this festival and 60,000 attend this annual event in May.
Fashion shows are held in these gothic hotels in the form of charity events like Amfar gala which takes place in the exclusive Hotel du Cap in the nearby Antibes, attended by big stars from Jane Fonda to Jennifer Lopez.
The evenings have open air beach screenings in the Cannes Croisette with packed audience. Big producers have their offices in private boats and boat parties in the evenings with champagne flowing. The Cannes film festival fever has to be experienced once in a lifetime if you have the money to spare for the exorbitant prices of the hotels during this time in May and have glimpses of Tom Cruise to Elton John and Nicole Kidman.
____________________________________________
The author is an award-winning producer-director-actor, an alumni of the prestigious FTII at Pune, INDIA
