Festivals CANNES
Word power
| At the Cannes Film Festival, there are movies. Many movies. Long and short ones, in the official section, in parallel sections, even more at the film market. And then, films in progress, projects, this nebula with vague outlines of the cinema in constant becoming.
In Cannes, there are people, there are those who make films, those who interpret them, those who take part in their creation, those who finance them, those who sell them, those who buy them, those who show them, those who write or speak about them, those who accompany them. Those who love them, those who use them, those who are in charge of organising everything in terms of legal frameworks and regulations. And then, at the Cannes Film Festival, there are words. An example among thousand others, the author of these lines can confirm that he has been asked since the beginning of this edition of the Festival to take part in two very different speeches. In Pavillon Cinémas du monde de l'Institut français, where ten young directors and their producers are invited to present their projects (some of those invited were Palestinians, who remained trapped in Gaza, because of yet another Israeli's arbitrary harassments) and come to meet their potential partners. Each year, one confirmed director sponsors that delegation, and I have the pleasure and the honour to lead the conversation about this journey with the aforementioned sponsor. After Rithy Panh, Abderrahmane Sissako, Pablo Trapero, Elia Souleiman, Raoul Peck, Walter Salles, - all very idiosyncratic - where a personal history becomes an experience to share and to be used by others, this year it was Claire Denis. In the world full of recordings of no interest, we hope that what Claire Denis said, when speaking about her path as a woman and a filmmaker, her commitments, her meetings, her expectations from the cinema, will be made accessible. Uttered expressions, emotions and a demand for choices and thoughts: if the very expression of a film lesson has a meaning, it came to life that day. There are many other modalities of efficient words in Cannes, from press conference to rumour, from reportage to the critique. Their constant weaving is active, sometimes decisive for a film and the future of a filmmaker. |
However, whether what we get is a „master class", as we say, or gossip, the effects of it, even if they are indisputable, are generally difficult to measure. It is different for political speeches, even if limited –but not at all mediocre – of cultural politics. This Sunday, on May 17th, the day was extremely devoted to listening and a bit to organising of what was uttered. Political words and, often, politicians, technical words and, often, technocrats. Parole, Parole, chatter and a show put on, after the morning that was devoted to a series of speeches around Günther Oettinger, European Commissioner for digital economy, who, for typically Brussels reasons, happens to be in charge of cinema and the audiovisual. Less fancy than the star-studded red carpet, less beautiful and moving than a movie by Desplechin, Moretti or by Hou Hsiao-Hsien, for sure. But far from being unimportant - for those films, but also for many, many others, which might be given a chance to be made and be seen. Jean-Michel Frodon |
