Cannes 2018 Buzz
It seemed much quieter, less crowded and less exciting this year though Jerome Paillard, Exec Director of the Marche says the registered 11,800 is close to last year’s. numbers. Again U.S. leads in attendance followed by France, UK and China with its 700 participants. Again strong projects did very well, Netflix and Amazon were active, and the Chinese were signing deals.
Lots of activity on blockchain and VR initiatives in the R&D sector. The works in progress initiative, Goes to Cannes had nine festival partners — Annecy, Hong Kong’s HAF, Guadalajara, Los Cabos, Doc Alliance, New Horizons’ Polish Days, Vilnius, Thessaloniki — and was well attended by acquisitions execs. Docs account for almost 20% of all the market titles.
And lots of female filmmaker initiatives and conferences starting with 82 women climbing the Red Carpet steps signifying the 82 films directed by women which have screened in Cannes Competition as contrasted to the 1,645 film directed by men…where Agnes Varda, legendary director of Faces Places said, “The stairs of our industry must be accessible to all. Let’s climb.”
Closing Night’s event that was shaken up 30 minutes in when the Italian director Asia Argento delivered a shattering rebuke to the festival and the movie industry from the stage.
“In 1997, I was raped by Harvey Weinstein here at Cannes. I was 21 years old. This festival was his hunting ground,” Ms. Argento said. She predicted he would never again be welcomed here by a film community that once embraced and enabled him. “You know who you are,” she said, “but, most importantly, we know who you are, and we are not going to allow you to get away with it any longer.” The stunned audience responded with subdued applause.
Women in Motion’s founder Salma Hayek weighed in on Harvey Weinstein…Programming Pledge for Parity and Inclusion in Cinema Festivals’ first signatories are Cannes delegate general Thierry Fremaux, Directors’ Fortnight artistic director, Edouard Waintrop, Critics’ Week’s director Charles Tesson. Drawn up by French gender parity movement 5050x2020, which led the 82 women up the red carpet, it is a commitment to include the compilation of statistics to record the gender of filmmakers and key crew members of all submissions; the promise to publicly list the members of the selection and programming committees and to work towards parity on executive boards. Nina Menkes spoke of Sex and Power: The Visual Language of Oppression. Breaking Through the Lens, a panel of 15 women filmmakers presenting their projects ro financiers and producers was moderated by Mia Frye. Take Two was an event hosted by the Swedish Film Institute, and The Wrap hosted The Girl’s Lounge a week of events.
Stand out doc, a work in progress that thus far has taken filmmaker Pamela Green eight years to make, Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache screened in Cannes Classics to great acclaim as a history-changing movie. Andrew Hurwitz of The Sales Corp. is selling it. There was a short window to option fiction and series rights.
$75 million spy thriller 355 starring Jessica Chastain, Fan Bingbing, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz and Lupita Nyong’o were at the center of the most glamorous film presentation in Cannes for 300 top buyers at the Majestic. To be directed by Simon Kinberg and sold by Film Nation, it was acquired quickly by France’s SND. CAA Media Finance represents No. American and Chinese rights. Chastain originated the idea and produces.
Positive word of mouth on the Croisette for Barbara Miller’s doc #Female Pleasure about five cultures, five women and one story being sold by Cat & Docs.
Cassien Elwes and Susan Carter Hall are producing Meridian to be directed by fast-rising South African director Sibs Shongwe-LaMer about a priceless Picasso that goes missing from a Nazi bunker after WWII only to resurface decades later in the small US town on Meridian. Shongwe-LaMer met Elwes in L.A. after the AFI Fest screening of his debut feature Necktie Youth.
India and South Asia
With coproduction treaties with 12 countries, including France, Canada, Germany, U.K., Italy, Brazil and Spain, it announded Osho, the bio of Rajneesh who died in 1990 as an Italian-Indian copro.
With a population of 1.3 biillion, India produces 2,000 films a year and has 9,500 screens (all digital), 183 milion TV households, 850 TV channels, 1 billion mobile subscribers, 400 milion smart phone users, 500 million internet users and is the number one mobile broadband market in the world.
Singapore Indian filmmaker — — unveiled her poster for Quilts, based upon the 1940’s memoir written by a female writer prosecuted for writing porn who refused to apologize for it. The novel has homosexual and lesbian themes but is anything but pornographic as the writer recalls her days as a fourteen year old in the Maharini’s court witnessing the quilt’s movements as the queen and her masseuse joined together.
A French-Indian coproduction is being put together by Ashok Amritraj founder of American international sales company Hyde Park.
Critics’ Week screen Rohena Gera’s fiction feature first film, Sir, an Indian- French coproduction sold by mk2.
New partnership opportunities between India and Israel have been set in motion by a new coproduction agreement, remarkable for a country that has long been inimical with Israel.
Mumbai’s Azure, Lionsgate India and Globalgate are remaking Mexican comedy Instructions Not Included and the So. Korean action thriller The Terror Live for the Indian market.
Southeast Asia
Too much to report here on China who does however have Ash is Purest White in Competition and the eight hour, 15 minute Special Screening of Dead Souls. Long Day’s Journey into Night is in Un Certain Regard and The Pluto Moment is in Directors’ Fortnight. Oh, and Renny Harlin has partnered with producer Daljit DJ Parmar to launch Extraordinary Entertainment, a film finance and production company for features and TV based in Beijing and Hong Kong. Chinese epic sci-fi Solara to be directed by Harlin is its first project in development.
However, looking at Southeast Asia as a territory, there are 610 million (nearly double that of U.S.) people rapidly develFoping their infrastructure and an expanding middle class in one of the most diverse areas of the globe, from Laos where two or three movies are made each year to Singapore, regional corporate hq of Netflix and Disney.
Japan is negotiating a coproduction treaty with France which would allow accessing monies other than mgs and presales by ISAs who love certain Japanese directors.
So. Korea has Burning in Competition, The Spy Gone North in Midnight Screenings and Exemplary Citizen in Critics’ Week.
CJ E&M is expanding from handling strictly South Korean films to production in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam and has made a deal with Japanese stuio Nikkatsu to handle worldwide sales on Indonesian sci-fi horror Dreadout: Tower of Hell based on a smash hitv ideo game. Such pan-Asian sales and production activity was first pioneered by Hong Kong based Golden Network of Carrie Wong.
Africa
South Africa’s The Harvesters by Etienne Kallos, premiered in Un Certain Regard.
Dark Star acquired No. American rights to South African crime thriller Number 37 when it premiered at SXSW.
Sixteen black actresses gathered on the Red Carpet to be heard in the collective “Noire n’es pas mon métier” or “Black is not my profession”.
Orange Studios, a part of France’s leading telco, is supporting production and distribution across Africa in 20 countries of Africa and the Middle East.
Rafiki, the first Kenyan film in Official Selection in Cannes was backed by Orange Studios and its director Wanuri Kahiu was honored at the German Films cocktail party by managing director Mariette Rissenbeek. It also received funding from the Hubert Bals Fund through ImagiNations workshop in 2011 and the Netherlands Film Fund and Hubert Bals Fund production in 2016. Orange also backed Apatrides by Narjiss Nejjar from Morocco (Berlin 2018), Frontieres by Appoline Trsori from Burkino Faso, Maki’la by Marcherie Ekwa from Democratic Republic of Congo (Berlinale 2018). All are directed by women.
Middle East
Two new pavilions appeared in Cannes: Saudi Arabia who has a contingent of short film makers here for the first time and is celebrating the lifting of its 35 year ban on public cinema with the April 18 screening of Black Panther in Riyadh.
The Palestine Pavilion is presenting ten feature film projects and conferences fostering coproduction. Organized by the Palestine Film Institute with funding from the Palestinian Ministry of Culture and French Consulate in Jerusalem, it lends the stamp of legitimacy to the nation that has produced notable directors including Alia Suleiman, Annemarie Jacir and Hany Abu-Assad. Lina Bokhary, director of the cinema department at the Palestinian Ministry of Culture said that she hoped the pavilion will serve a critical social purpose as a meeting point to Palestinians who are otherwise divided by borders.
Good showing with Girls of the Sun, a female fighter story by Ev Husson premiering in Cannes Competition. It was part of the Rotterdam Cinemart selection in 2017. Elle Driver has sold it to Wild Bunch for France and Germany, California for Latin America, BIM for Italy, Cineart for Benelux, Comstock for Japan, Jaguar for the Middle East, Time in Portrait for China, Vertigo for Spain, AB Svensk for Scandinavia, Praesens for Switzerland, The Coup for So. Korea, Dexin for Ex-Yugoslavia, Vendetta for Australia, Midas for Portugal, Film Europe Media for Czech Republic and Slovakia, Altitude for U.K.
Arab Cinema Center, firmly ensconced facing the café in the Palais, hosted the second Arab Critics Awards in which Palistinian director and Un Certain Regard jury member Annemarie Jacir won for brst film and best screenplay for father son ddrama Wajib and whose actor Mohammad Bakri won Best Actor Award. Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri won Best Director for The Insult. Mariam Alferjani won for Best Actress in Beauty and the Dogs which premiered in Un Certain Regard in 2017. Best Doc went to Ziad Althoum’s Taste of Cement about Syrian refugees working on building sites in Lebanon. The Arab Film Center has also established a New York based Arab Film Fund called Arab Media Capital to offer “a transparent financing vehicle that will fully capitalize o the explosion in high-quality Arab independent storytelling, regardless of geography or medium”. It will also host Cairo International Film Festival’s first Industry Days for five days with coproduction events showcasing 15 Arab projects looking for international partners, workshops, masterclasses and the Industry Forum of discussions talking issues facing the Arab film world.
Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi will coproduce four films. Emirati filmmaker Majid Al-Ansari whose 2015 thriller Zinzana was Netflix’ first major Arab-language acquisition, will direct Love Above to shoot in the fall.
Imax and Saudi Arabia’s General Culture Authority signed to jointly seek opportunities to identify ann develop local Imax format films for the kingdom. In three to five years there should be 20 to 30 theaters there.
Image Nation and the middle East broadscaster Mbc Group are partnering to cofinance and coproduc a slate of Audi Arian films targeting local, regional and global audiences.
Horror film about found footage and filmmakers gone missing, Hajes, will be directed by Saudi filmmaker Zyad Al Zahrany and produced by Holam. As in much of he Gulf region, horror films are popular in Saudi Arabia. Saudi born US producer Todd Alber Nims will produce with Saudi producer Omar Zahrani.
Doha Film Institute provided funding to 2018 Cannes recipients in Competition The Wild Pear Tree by Nuri Bilge Ceyan and Nadine Labaki’s Capharnaumd, Un Certain Regard’s Sofia by Meryem Ben M’Barek and Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Gan Bi, Directors’ Fortnight’s Weldi (Dear Son) by Mohamed Ben Attia and The Load by Ognjen Glavonic. It has supported more than 370 filmmakers across the globe. For more info on eligibility criteria and submission guidelines go to www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/grants/guidelines
DFI is also giving grants to Syrian documentarian Feras Fayyad for the second film in his trilogy which began with his Oscar nominated Last Men in Aleppo, Palestinian actress and director Hiam Abbass for her second feature Girl Made of Dust about a 10 year old who escapes into her imagination to flee the ravages of war and Lebanese Palme d’Or winner Ely Dagher in its spring 2018 funding round which includes 34 projects by first and second time filmmakers. TV and web series by writers, producers and directors from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions will also be funded.
Saudi Arabia offers a 35% cash rebate for expenses incurred in the kingdom and 50% cash rebate for spending on local crew.
Paris’ Institute of the Arab Wrold will launch te Arab Film Festival with 70 films from the Arab world, presided over by Haim Abbass, Palestinian actress and director. It will include The Reports of Sarah and Saleem by Palestinian director Muayad Alayan which premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival and Cannes title My Favorite Fabric by Syrian ilmmaker Gaya Jiji and Soia by Meryem Benm’Barek.
CEO of Saudi Film Council, Faisal Baltyuor, announed they will work with the University of California this summer sending Saudi men and women to attend master classes.
The Saudi Film Council financed the UTA Independent Film Group repped Saudi Arabian director Haifaa Al-Mansour’s film, The Perfect Candidate about a young female doctor who runs for municipal office while her father is off touring the country with the reestablished Saudi National Bank which had been banned under a law prohibiting public music performances. It will shoot in Riydadh, the capitol of Saudi Arabia mid September, quite a change from her having to shoot Wadjda while hidden in the back of a truck. It will be produced by Gerhard Meixner and Roman Paul of Razor Film in Berlin. UTA will handle No. American rights and The Match Factory will act as international sales agent.
Arab titles in Cannes include two films competing for Palme d’Or:
· Capernaum by Lebanese director Nadine Labaki, acquired for No. America by Sony Pictures Classics. ISA: Wild Bunch.
· Yomeddine by Abu Kakr Shawky is the first Egyptian feature in six year to be in Competition. ISA: Wild Bunch. Coproducer Mohammed Hefzy also recently became Cairo Film Festival president.
· Weldi/ Dear Son by Mohamed Ben Attia (Hedi) from Tunisia is in Directors’ Fortnight. ISA: Luxbox.
· My Favorite Fabric by Gaya Jiji of Syria is in Un Certain Regard, ISA: Urban Distribution.
· Sofia by Meryem Benm’Barek of Doha is in Un Certain Regard. ISA: Be for Films.
Latin America
Mexico had four films in Critics’ Week: In Deep Water, Under the Sun, Back to Me and Land of Witches, Sea of Mermaids by the one woman director, Delia Luna Couturier. Un Couteau dans le Coeur (Una daga en el Corazon), a French-Mexican coproduction is in Competition. Birds of Passage is in Directors’ Fortnight.
Chile’s 125 new film include 40 first features — half docs, half fiction — 28 directed by women including short films, 12 genre films and 4 VR projects. Keep your eye on Juan Caceras (Peroo Bomba), Diego Cespedes whose short, The Summer of the Electric Lion, is now in Cinefondation, Felipe Galvez whose short Rapaz is in Critics’ Week and whose upcoming Los Colonos examines the colonization of Chilean Patagonia, Alexandra Hyland whose feature Those Girls was in Tribeca and Ignacio Juricic whose debut feature Enigma sneaked in Guadalajara.
Johnny Depp reached out to work with Cirro Guerra on his next film, JM Coetee’s adaptation of Waiting for the Barbarians. It will be Guerra’s first English-language film. Orchard acquired No. American rights to his third film Birds of Passage after its Directors’ Fortnight premiere. It was originally part of the Rotterdam CineMart 2016 selection. Guerra’s previous film, Embrace of the Serpent was nominated for the foreign language Oscar, and his first The Wind Journeys was in Un Certain Regard in 2009.
Chile, Argentina and France produced Muere, Monstruo, Muere (Murder Me Monster) by Alejandro Fadel which played in Un Certain Regard this year and also received Rotterdam Film Festival Hubert Bals Fund Script and Project Development support in 2013. ISA: The Match Factory
Chilean genre project in Frontieres Forum 2018 at Cannes, The Monster Within, winner of a Sitges Fest Pitchbox Competition has brought in European and North American coproducers and Luis Tosar to star.
Mexican-Colombian coproduction Buy Me a Gun, directed by Julio Hernandez Cordon and sold by Films Boutique premiered in Directors’ Fortnight.
The Dominican Republic aims to become the “Hollywood of the Caribbean” according to Film Commissioner Yvette Marichal. It produced an impressive 34 films in 2017, including the Spanish language remake of 50 First Dates and If Beale Street Could Talk, based on James Baldwin’s novel, directed by Barry Jenkins, winner of the Oscar for Moonlight and produced by Plan B, to be released in the third quarter of 2018.
LGBTQ
Winner of the Grand Prize for Critics’ Week, Diamantino (France, Portugal, Brazil) in the Critic’ Week is the “silliest, sexiest cinematic endorsement the pro-European Union could hope for” says Variety’s Guy Lodge. It was part of the CineMart 2012 selection and it won .
Environment
Sardinia
World Bank’s Connect4Climate backs Great Green Wall a doc by director Jared P. Scott (Requiem for the American Dream), exec produced by Fernando Meirelles and supported from the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification and by renewable energy company Building Energy. Doc follow the efforts of Malian singer and activist Inna Modja to push back the spread of the Sahara Desert and to riase awareness around attempts to restore degraded landscapes and help millions in the area.
Another World is Possible, a doc exec produced by Adrian Grenier and Amy Smart from director and environmental activist Slater Jewell-Kemker is being sold by Canadian producer Scythia Films.
