“Cannes could only have taken place as it normally does with the stars, the public, the press and the professionals. It wasn’t possible for health reasons, so it wasn’t possible at all. The festival should always show its best face”.
Con queste parole, Thierry Fremaux ha sostanzialmente detto arrivederci a Cannes 2021.
In una lunga intervista a Screen International, il delegato generale del festival ha tuttavia chiarito che dopo il nuovo termine del 1 giugno, rilascerà l’elenco dei film che potranno beneficiare del logo del festival come ‘Official selection’.
Non ci sarà una distinzione tra concorso, fuori concorso e Un certain regard, ovviamente. Tuttavia si tratterà solo di film che usciranno ‘in sala’ tra l’estate e la primavera del 2021, prima della prossima edizione del festival.
Fremaux ha parlato in particolare di The Franch Dispatch di Wes Anderson, di Tre piani di Nanni Moretti e di soul della Pixar, tutti e tre già selezionati.
Coloro che hanno rinviato l’uscita dei propri film all’anno prossimo (ad es. Benedetta di Verhoeven e Blonde di Dominik) se vorranno, potranno sottoporre i loro film alla selezione del 2021.
Per quei film invece che hanno deciso di uscire online in VOD, Fremaux ha deciso di escluderli dalla sua selezione, ritenendo che non abbiano bisogno del supporto del festival, che rimane ancorato e fedele all’esperienza della sala.
Sulla possibilità che i titoli scelti da Cannes i vedano altrove in autunno, Fremaux ha dichiarato: “We’ll go to Toronto, Deauville, Angoulême, San Sebastian, New York, Busan in Korea and even the Lumière festival in Lyon, which is a festival of contemporary and classical cinema, which will host numerous films. And with Venice, we want to go even further and present films together. We’re working on this right now as these plans depend on the public health situation. We’ll know more in June. The key thing is to support the films, rather than beat our own drum.”
Peraltro da sempre festival come Toronto, o Deauville o New York ospitavano regolarmente film presentati prima a Cannes, mentre per Venezia, si tratta di una novità diversa, che considera lo standing diverso della Mostra diretta da Alberto Barbera.
Molto interessante la risposta di Fremaux sull’impatto della distribuzione digitale:
“Of course, we’ve seen that the platforms are the perfect model for the lockdown. But when Avengers broke box office records to become the most seen film in the history of the cinema, did everyone say the platforms are going to die? Since the beginning of the digital era, we’ve been asking the wrong questions. Cinema on the big screen has lived alongside cinema ‘outside the theatres’ since the invention of television. […] Why does the press spend its time announcing the decline of the theatres when it’s not true. And why do they say we’re opposed to the platforms. Cannes is happy about the existence of the platforms. They have a brilliant production policy, nourishing themselves and nourishing the history of cinema and the artists. The only thing we disagree on is the fact that films that play in Competition have to be destined for a theatrical release. But you need everything: theatres, small screens, films and series.
But this digital society, this digital civilisation, is not real life, where energy circulates, where we confront our ideas, our opinions, and talk about subjects which animate and impassion us. What are we watching at home in this moment? Lots of cinema movies. The need for fiction is necessary. Before cinema carried this alone. Let’s imagine for a second a situation which is the opposite of what we’re living now: a computer virus wipes out all our computers. What would the result be? People would immediately rush to the theatres, the hundreds of millions of spectators of the post-war period, before the arrival of TV, would return. Sadly, we’re living the reverse. The cinema is out of bounds while televisions and the platforms are the only means available to watch films. It’s a shame because we had a fantastic 2019. But we’ll be back more strong in 2021.”
Stanze di Cinema 