4 Winners and Losers from Cannes 2017
Every year people pay great attention to what happens at Cannes. It’s the crown jewel of the global film market. Directors, actors, producers, and studios all descend upon the festival in the hopes of finding distributors and generating real buzz that can help their film ascend to the next level. Below are the top four most notable winners and losers.
Loser: Flashy Sales
Cannes 2017 has seen a massive downturn in flashy big studio purchases due to the fact that all of the most prestige or interesting films have been snapped up at festivals like Sundance or SXSW. There has also been a developing trend of studios purchasing scripts and developing them as opposed to waiting for them to be produced and then snapping them up. So needless to say, people looking for large sales for their films left… well, with less than they would have liked.
Winner: The Killing of a Sacred Deer
The film that’s leaving the festival with the best buzz is by far Yorgos Lanthimos’ drama starring Colin Farrell. The buzz is that Nicole Kidman is a shoe in for award season nominations for her role in the film. The drama centers on an open-heart surgeon and by all accounts is as horrifying as it is riveting.
Loser: How To Talk To Girls At Parties
Conversely, the biggest loser at Cannes 2017, in terms of reviews is John Cameron Mitchell’s sci-fi dramedy. It sees an alien fall in love with a 70’s punk in England. It stars Elle Fanning and immensely talented cast, however, that apparently isn’t enough to save the film. Multiple sources say it’s the worst film to be produced in quite some time.
Winner: Netflix
There’s been quite a hubbub about Netflix having two films in competition at Cannes 2017. Many of the French distributors aren’t fans of how Netflix is handling distribution rights in France. The jury president even went so far as to say that he couldn’t imagine giving any awards to a film that hadn’t opened in theatres. At multiple screenings, the Netflix logo even got booed the moment it rolled by on screen. But the dust has settled and Netflix has come out on top. Both of Netflix’s competing films, The Meyerowitz Stories and Okja, walked away with sterling reviews.
Since the 1930’s Cannes has been a behemoth in the world of cinema. Synonymous with art, money and culture, this storied beach in the South of France is where you go to play with the big dogs on a global scale. If you have any chinks in your armor, they’ll be exposed and exploited at Cannes. Both spotlight and beacon The Cannes Film Festival is one of the few filmic institutions that’s weathered nearly every industry storm. Will streaming and in-house development deals by players like Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix change the festival in years to come? We shall see.