Paris,(ONA) - The Cannes film market, the world leader in the film industry, will receive the seventh art professionals for the first time in a five-day digital version, the last day of which is today.
The organizers kept the current version of this event despite the cancellation of the Cannes Festival itself, especially the red carpet, the golden frond and the stair climbing due to the precautionary measures taken to prevent the spread of the novel corona virus.
The organizers of the commercial platform for the largest festival of its kind in the world, in order to maintain the greatest momentum, decided to show the majority of the films of the official list in specific times in virtual exhibition halls available all over the world and clearly highlight the famous “Cannes” festivals palace.
The current version includes 1,200 films, including “Gagarin” co-directed by the French, Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh and “Summer 85” by Francois Ozone scheduled for display on the big screen in France on July 14.
The list also includes the new documentary film "On the Way to a Billion" by the Congolese director, Diado Hamadi, as well as a video conference with this director.
In ordinary years, the Cannes film market brings together at least 12,500 film professionals including producers, collectors, programmers and distributors for nearly 400 films or film projects that are presented in 33 exhibition halls within the Festival Palace. As for the current year, 10,000 films from 60 countries have been recorded in this first digital version, marking a dramatic decline although it is still noticeable.
The American participants took the lead in 2019, followed by the French and the British. The 121 participants in this edition include many African countries such as Cameroon, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan and Tanzania.
However, the scales overturned this year, with European professionals accounting for 40% of participants, while North American participation did not exceed 25%. Observers believe that this first digital experience of its kind will irreversibly change not only the functioning of the film market, but also the course of the “Cannes” festival in general, with a future trend towards combining the material and the virtual.
(ONA)