For the dozens of feature films chosen in the official selection, the teams gathered around Thierry Frémaux see thousands. The visible cocktail in May depends on a skilful dosage, which inevitably leads to disappointment.
A cinema screen in a Parisian basement, rows of armchairs, velvet walls. It is in the screening room on rue Charlot, in the heart of the chic 3rd arrondissement of Paris, at the headquarters of the Cannes Film Festival, that the films of the prestigious official selection are screened. Thierry Frémaux, 62, general delegate since 2007, and his team watch thousands of films every year to choose which ones will be present on the Croisette. For this 76th edition, which takes place from Tuesday May 16 to Saturday May 27, more than 2,000 feature films have been seen. Among them, 69 received their sesame, including 21 in competition. The Holy Grail of any filmmaker.
“We made people happy, but also very sad people”, dropped the general delegate when the official selection was announced on April 13. For him and his team, this press conference marked the end of a marathon made up of projections, negotiations and deliberations.
Around Thierry Frémaux, Christian Jeune and Stéphanie Lamome, respectively director and artistic adviser of the Film department, are seven directors, producers or critics. Some of them focus on French suitors, the other on foreign works. “They are experts who are viewers of feature films”summarizes for franceinfo Thomas Gastaldi, consultant for film distribution and specialist of the Cannes Film Festival, creator of the site wask.fr which follows the news of this great raout.
In addition to this committee, there is a more obscure group, made up of about ten members. The latter are responsible for viewing the works sent by unknown filmmakers from all over the world. They detect the good surprises, which makes it possible to show that all the candidates have their chances. “This is the great rule of Cannes democracy: anyone who makes a film of at least an hour has the right to register it and has the assurance that it will be seen”writes Thierry Frémaux in his book Official selection (ed. Grasset) released in 2017.
Sandwiches, salads and… turnips
For all these little people, serious things start slowly in the fall. For this 76th edition, Thierry Frémaux and his kingmakers saw their first films in November: The Breaking Ice, a Chinese film by Anthony Chen, but also the latest Scorsese. During these first weeks, the rhythm “is still calm”according to Thierry Frémaux. “In December, January, we only saw one film a week”tells franceinfo the critic at Positive NT Binh, former member of the committee in the 1990s, when Gilles Jacob was the big boss.
Everything accelerates from the spring. “It could even go up to three or four a day”says NT Binh. In the home stretch, the members of the foreign and French committees lock themselves in the darkness of the projection room. “The afternoons are split in two: foreign films at 1 p.m. and French films from 6 p.m.”, says Thierry Frémaux. With a strict diet for viewers. Skip the popcorn and packets of candy, make way for the salad, the sandwich and the bottle of water.
For their part, the members of the “dark group”, the “trimpers”, as the boss calls them, gobble up 80 to 100 films in three months. Not entitled to the “big names” of the seventh art, they very often turn into machines for saying “no”.
At home, at the office, in their free time, they drink in images. With technological progress, it is no longer necessary to lock yourself in a dark room, films are visible online. They are paid and housed on the Croisette during the festival. Something to console them when they are most “at risk” of seeing bad films, even real turnips.
But the committee also has its share of hardships to endure. “Terrible things, dare NT Binh. Everyone wants to go to Cannes. People are oblivious. Everyone thinks they have made a masterpiece. One day we even saw the film of a 15-year-old boy dropped off by his father…”
Balance and napkin rings
Building a coherent selection remains a work of art. “In competition, there are the best films, those which seem indisputable to us. It happens that a more fragile, controversial or divisive film does not end up in competition to avoid criticism that could be fatal to it.explains NT Binh. “It’s up to feeling, intuition, passion, a few instruments for measuring opinion”that the choices are made, details Thierry Frémaux, in his book.
“We are credited with a thousand turpitudes, unconfessed friendships and secret pacts. However, we have only one objective: to make the best possible selection.”
Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate of the Cannes Film Festivalin his book “Official Selection”
The cocktail visible in May depends on a skilful dosage. On the one hand, great French and foreign authors, because Cannes would not be Cannes without the stars and the glitter. On the other hand, diversity, varied themes, to avoid comparisons between films, and a look towards other horizons. “It’s important to have an eye on discovery as world cinema grows every year”assured the general delegate on April 13.
However, the largest film festival in the world often conveys the image of an interpersonal relationship with an increased presence of “regulars”. Record holder for climbing the red steps, Britain’s Ken Loach, will be walking the steps for the 15th time this year with The Old Oak. “In competition, we always find the four or five greatest auteur films of the year. It’s normal, great filmmakers make great films”justifies Thomas Gastaldi.
When the Elysée puts pressure…
As he says in his book, Thierry Frémaux is a past master in the art of managing the egos of directors. And the watch. Before the announcement of the selection, mid-April, he must face the impatience or the demands of certain great American authors. “I am warned: if I do not answer today on the Woody Allen, I lose the movie”, which can be selected in Venice or Berlin. “To save time, I send him an email of praise”, he continues. It also happens that some filmmakers demand to be in competition, like Sean Penn, in 2016, with The Last Face. A request that was expensive, the film having received a cold reception from festival-goers. “It was a very big slap for everyone”remembers Thomas Gastaldi.
If, for foreign films, the presence in the official selection is sealed many weeks in advance, for French films, the chosen ones are only known the day before the announcement. Impossible, for reasons of fairness, to choose from the fifty French feature films on the starting line, before having seen them all. While waiting for the verdict, everyone plays their card to get a place. NT Binh assures that the pressures annoyed Gilles Jacob at the time. “He didn’t like being called to be told to select such and such a film. It almost diminished his chances. One day, he even had a political intervention. The Elysée had called him. The film was good, nothing more, it was not selected”assures the critic.
The day before the famous press conference is like the longest day. The few films still in the balance are the subject of discussions between the members of the committee. The final decision rests with Thierry Frémaux: “I sign the selection, I assume it”he hammers in Official selection. He also has the heavy responsibility of announcing good or bad news. “I prefer to write to you. It won’t be competition. You will be disappointed. We make other choices. We will talk to each other, if you wish, once the disappointment has passed. That I’m sorry to inflict on you. Thierry”he wrote to a producer whose film was rejected.
The pill is sometimes particularly hard to swallow for those who find themselves off camera. Thus, the Franco-Serbian director Emir Kusturica, although twice awarded the Palme d’Or and former president of the jury, had sent a pithy SMS to the general delegate after the elimination of one of his films: “You’re not my friend anymore.”