Cannes or Bust » movies

African film festival to kick off in Cannes

admin — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 12:37:37 +0000

It must be hard, being the “other” festival in Cannes. But the Festival International du Film PanAfricain has been throwing a welcome spotlight on movies from Africa and the diaspora for 7 years already. I’ve often read comments about how very few African films that are given any attention at the Cannes Films Festival. So it’s good to see a festival support this disparate community.

Under the supervision of the Franco-Moroccan director Mohammed Ahed BenSouda, the international jury will be rating films from Ivory Coast, Niger, Namibia, Morocco, Tunisia, Haiti and elsewhere. Many of the films are co-productions and will all too often not get an official theatrical release in Europe.

The festival is also noted for its varied musical and fashion programme (come on, this is Cannes after all). Highlights this year include a N’Goni master at the opening gala at the Martinez (April 13), Kristo Numpuby’s (photo) highly-rated adaptations of George Brassens (Thursday, April 14), M’Toro Chamou on the 16th and Le Must du Jazz Tangora on Sunday 17.

Exhibitions and workshops complete the programme, which can be found at: Festival du Film PanAfricain

Cannes Independent Film Festival open for submissions

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 09:48:23 +0000

Nothing to do with the official festival, the Cannes Independent Film Festival is a standalone sidebar that hopes to promote indie and low budget film-making during the big event. The 4th edition promises outdoor film screenings, networking, speed-dating and enlightening panels of filmmakers and Q&As.

There’s a fee to submit films, and screenings take place in the Palais (which actually features a large number of small screening theatres in addition to the main auditorium) or “other top screening sites in Cannes”.

More details will be available from April 2011. Check this review of last year’s event. For further information visit Cannes Independent Film Festival. If you have good or bad experiences of the event, please fee free to post comments below.

A personal selection of upcoming events at Cannes 2010

admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 10:24:04 +0000

People come to Cannes for different reasons. Unless you’re “just hanging”, you want to meet people and pick up leads and tips at Cannes. So outside of meetings I have a tendency to check out the receptions, conferences and networking events. The American Pavilion, Kodak and UK Film Centre have great conference programmes.

Over the coming days, here are some other events you might want to catch:

Digital LA cocktails, Fri 14, 4-6pm at the Caffé Roma
EU’s Observatoire de l’Audiovisuel launches new version of Korda database of public funding for movies May 15, Riviera stand A6
“Happy Sake Hour” at the Japan Pavilion, Saturday May 15, 3-6pm. Booth No: 141 (Village International)
New Irish Cinema Reception Rado Plage La Croisette beach between Carlton and Martinez Sunday, May 16 from 5.30
‘What Next for Microbudget Movies?’ Monday 17 May, 3.00-4.00 pm at the UK Film Centre
Networking event organised by VPV at the Brasserie du Casino May 18 at 11am
Krzysztof Kieslowski ScripTeast Award to be presented on Wednesday, May 19 at Plage des Palmes. 5pm.

If you have any events worth tipping, please fee free to drop a note below. More tips will be posted on the Twitter account as they are announced.

The photo is from “”Mr Nice”, the true story of Howard Marks, showing at the Star 6pm Friday 14 and 5.30 on Sunday 16. Contact Independent Film Company.

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Last minute: badges for attending Cannes screenings

admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:32:15 +0000

We often get asked about how to attend screenings at the Cannes festival. The short answer is yes, there is a way. And it’s called Cannes Cinephile, a programme that enables locals and visitors to possibly catch a screening or two. The locals are given special treatment. If they sign up for a badge by March 5 2010, they are entitled to catch movies at La Licorne, Le Raimu and Studio 13 cinemas. The badge can also be obtained by foreign movie clubs. Some 4,000 badges are granted annually, but there are always more requests than there are badges. So they ask for “motivated” submissions.

People without badges might still get lucky, as a number of tickets are made available at the above cinemas and at the Cannes Tourist Office near the Pantiero during the festival. Note that these are for movie buffs, not gawkers. So they do not entitle holders to attend red-carpet screenings. Visit Cannes Cinema for details. Click this post for a longer explanation and details of the beach screenings.

Cannes and African cinema

admin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:00:45 +0000

It’s easy to forget that Cannes is also an important hub for African cinema. Each year, it hosts the International Festival of Pan-African cinema. The same organisers are now also hosting regular events throughout the year, such as the upcoming screening of a Togolese film on September 25. The event will feature a showing of “Point de suture”, a drama about street children by Steven Af. The co-producer and actress Landrine AGBOKPAZO (photo) will be present. The event will also feature a homage to reggaeman Peter Tosh by Togolese musician Gelo Gal.

Friday, 25 September 2009
Time: 8pm
Maison des Associations,
9, rue Louis BRAILLE
Cannes (behind the railway station)

Meanwhile, producers of films from Africa or the diaspora might be interested to know that submissions for next year’s festival are now being accepted. Details can be found on Festival International de Film Pan-Africain.

Movie industry ignores big issue at Cannes

admin — Wed, 20 May 2009 07:36:24 +0000

Attending the Cannes film market 2009 was rather like attending the Midem music trade fair around the year 2000. Although the market is suffering from a serious funding problem, the single major issue is not being addressed. Nine years ago, major label music executives had heard about MP3 files and basically chose a combination of either of three options: 1) ignore them; 2) try to create a proprietary system to sell music online; and/or 3) sue the people with brighter ideas.

Cannes 2009 was amazing for the lack of serious discussion about online distribution. It is happening already without the industry, through bit torrent sites. So why aren’t the major studios making more movies available? Why aren’t distributors already aggressively promoting download sites? Why aren’t the indies clubbing together to manage their rights while there are still opportunities in the market? Why aren’t entrepreneurs being brought in to try out some new ways of spreading movies across the web?

Instead of that, I heard lots of in-fighting between producers, distributors and theatre chains about just about everything but the Internet. It’s the elephant in the living room no one is talking about. Too many years of easy funding has perhaps dulled their sense of urgency. By the time they decide to react, it will be too late. Just like the majors in the music industry, they will wake up to a situation where the audience will decide for them.

To those that say, “Yes, but the rights issues are complicated. It takes time”, I reply that this is true. So why didn’t they start ten years ago when it was obvious which way the wind was blowing?

South African film wins Cannes award

admin — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:05:24 +0000

The International Festival of Pan-African film in Cannes, which celebrates the best cinema from Africa and the African diaspora, has announced the following results.

The Dikalo for the best full-length feature:
“Izulu de Lami, My Secret Sky” by Madoda Ncayiyana – South Africa 2008

The Dikalo for the best fiction short:
“The Birthday Party” by Véronique N. Doumbé – 6’36 – USA 2009 “Subira” de Ravneet Chadha Drame 12’ Kenya 2007

The Dikalo for best documentary:
“Les Damnés de la mer” by Jawad Rhalid – doc. 56’ – Morocco 2008
Special mention for the documentary
“Les Petits Princes de Sables” by Stéphanie Gillard Doc. 55’ – Fr 2009

Presenting projects at Cannes (in French)

admin — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:03:17 +0000

Anyone attending the Cannes fest with a project might be interested in reading about Tunerz. This is a project I put together with Gaétan Cardella last year, where we presented an outline and some collateral to a number of partners. It’s interesting as we are mining a niche, Europe’s tuning scene, that offers lots of promotional potential. We have been keeping a captain’s log of the project in French at the following site, Tunerz the Movie.

We talk about writing and presenting stuff at Cannes. We’ll also have updates before the event kicks off, as we are currently rewriting. Incidentally, we’re actively looking for co-producers. So if you think it’s worth meeting at Cannes, feel free to drop a line via the Contact page. We have very precise ideas about the market and promotion.

Pan-African film fest to kick off April 1

admin — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:02:03 +0000

The 6th Festival International du Film Panafricain will kick off on April 1 with a gala event at the Hotel Carlton. The festival showcases cinema and fashion from across Africa and the diaspora and will this year feature some 40 films. Director and journalist Ramatou Keita is this year’s honorary president.

Extra events during the festival include Cinéma, Slam et One Show : Islam Abad & Phil Darwin – 3 April– Espace Miramar – 65, Bd de la Croisette – 20h30, a Haitian night on Saturday 4 and the closing night devoted to Madagascar.

For details, visit the International Pan-African film Festival.

Film meet-up in Paris

admin — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 14:44:57 +0000

During the festival, Cannes is the absolute capital of the movie business. One of the reasons is the unparalleled networking. On Sept 4, a networking event will be held at Le Fumoir in Paris.

I’m a firm beleiver in networking, as nothing beats picking up info and tips from people in the business (and of course, don’t forget to give out your own info and tips).

For details, click on MeetUp. If you ever organise post- or pre-Cannes events in your town, don’t forget to drop us a note.