15/05/2002 - From time immemorial French and American films have made up the hard core of the Cannes programme and occupy a third of the line up

Judging a festival before it has even begun is a nonsense. The fact that the press indulges in this practice only transforms a misguided action into a ridiculous vice. A better way would be to analyse the festival from a statistical point of view: see how many films are submitted each year from which countries or cinematographical geo-political areas.
From time immemorial French and American films have made up the hard core of the Cannes programme and occupy a third of the line up. In this overview of the entire programme, we mustn´t forget about important sidebar events like Un Certain Regard, Directors´ Fortnight, and also the short films section. One might object that the Festival proper is just the official selection and Un Certain Regard, while Directors´ Fortnight and Critics´ Week are independent entities. This aspect is important because it does not happen in Venice where the director is all-powerful and all decisions emanate from his team. Nobody will ever accuse Jacob or Frémaux of responsibility for the Fortnight bombing in terms of quality. The two events often end up being in competition with each other, especially if one considers that the Fortnight was created as an answer to the cultural revolution of 1968 and the various nouvelles vagues that sprang up as a consequence in various parts of the world.
A look at the programmes of the day clearly shows why journalists, especially film journalists, avoided going to the Palais du Cinéma for so long, and preferred the Rue D´Antibes where the Fortnight used to be held. The two programmes subsequently took on equal status because the novelty gradually wore off (or rather, the so-called «alternative» filmmakers became the new film industry players and no new «angry young men» replaced them), but also because the official festival moved closer, with baby steps, to all that is new, with the result that today it´s almost impossible to distinguish between the strategies of the Fortnight and Un Certain Regard (and, in some years, even the official competition).
Thinking of the programme as a single entity, even if, in reality it is made up of three distinct pathways (if we add Critics´ Week) in no way deforms this festival. Cannes has two fundamental columns of support: French and American films, although from the industrial point of view, the former appears to be much stronger than the latter. That explains why Hollywood, the Major studios´ official representative, is not very well-represented here (at least in terms of the films screened out of competition) while plenty of space is saved for alternative cinema. The French proudly voice their international ambition. There are lots of all-French films but also a good number of French co-productions. That means Cannes will cease to be «the showcase of reality», the very thing that sixties filmmakers and militant critics accused it of being, although it will always be one of the world´s most important showcases for its national films and producers. Cannes mirrors their work and inevitably influences the financial side of their film industry. If French cinema is considered to be second only to its US counterpart, that is in part due to the excellent service Cannes has rendered it.
The question is whether the advantages that French cinema enjoys have a knock-on effect on other EU countries? Apparently not. EU film industries continue to exist albeit with alternate fortune. This year saw the re-emergence of Great Britain with 9 films and Italy with 6 while Spain and Scandinavia were virtual no-shows. Outside EU, European cinema is at an all-time low. So far the only countries to have benefited are Asian: Iran, China, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and so on. Their high international profile is also and especially due to their being French co-productions. And for them, Cannes becomes an invaluable launch pad.

(Translated from Italian)