Latest in Thierry Fremaux

The Cannes Film Festival doesn't officially kick off until tomorrow, but controversy is already brewing here on the Croisette. This Sunday, the festival will pay tribute to veteran French actor Alain Delon with an honorary Palme d'Or, a move that has drawn rebuke from women's groups and has inspired a Care2 petition…

Unveiling what he categorized a "romantic and political" Official Selection this morning, Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Frémaux offered up a roster of titles from veterans of the Riviera as well as first-timers, and a handful of so-called graduates from parallel sections to the main Competition. Overall, there's…

Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Frémaux this morning was asked to address the thorny Netflix issue that has been front and center at the event for the past few years. Beginning his remarks about the current situation and its potential evolution, he quipped, "Roma, I'll remind you, was a Cannes Film Festival film…

UPDATED: The grand majority of the Cannes Film Festival lineup for 2019 was unveiled this morning in Paris with such expected names as Pedro Almodóvar (Pain & Glory), Terrence Malick (A Hidden Life) and Ken Loach (Sorry We Missed You) in the mix (see the full list below). At the same time, there still is no…

Canadian film and TV funding body Creative BC and Irish counterpart Screen Ireland have revealed the recipients of their inaugural international co-production development fund. Five projects will share $150,000 CAD ($113,000). The five successful projects selected are In Blood, produced by Underground Films and…

Cannes Film Festival chiefs have made a pledge for gender parity and inclusion. Initiated by the 5050 Pour 2020 organization, a charter was signed today by general delegate and artistic chief Thierry Fremaux along with Edouard Waintrop and Charles Tesson, respectively the heads of the Directors’ Fortnight and Critics…

A very public controversy at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017 involving Netflix, the event's organizers, and the French film industry continues to rage in 2018. On the eve of the festival revealing its main lineup in April, Netflix said it was removing its titles from consideration. After last year's flap, the…

I have to confess that as a Cannes Film Festival veteran, and a journalist who attends nearly all the competition screenings, I was hoping this day would come. I'm talking, of course, about the hand-slapping move that the Cannes Film Festival has pulled for its 2018 edition. The culprits reaching for the cookie jar…

While it celebrated its 70th anniversary last year, the Cannes Film Festival kicks off this year under the specter of 50 years since 1968's event, which was derailed amid social unrest in France. There's plenty of unrest going on today too, but along with the social protests comes disruption in the film industry in…

The Cannes Film Festival called an impromptu press conference this afternoon to give Thierry Fremaux a chance to meet with journalists a day ahead of kick-off and to elaborate on some of the biggest issues at this year's event. One of the most pressing is the will-it-or-won't-it screen question hanging over Terry Gilli…

In a keynote appearance today at Series Mania, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings struck an unusually conciliatory note in discussing the company’s recent feud with the Cannes Film Festival. “We have a reputation as a disruptor, sometimes we make mistakes,” Hastings said, according to multiple press accounts of the talk at the…

UPDATE, writethru with follow-up response from Paulo Branco: As Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote faces yet another hurdle on its way to the screen, the Cannes Film Festival has pledged itself firmly on the side of the filmmaker. Releasing a statement to that effect, Cannes today addressed a legal challeng…