| The 77th Festival de Cannes will be held May 14th-25th, 2024 |
| As we have been doing for the the last two years we would like keep on expanding the presence of young cinephiles at the Cannes Classics section (restored heritage films screened in exclusivity, documentaries about cinema, Cinéma de la plage, masterclasses) at the Festival de Cannes and allow them to attend screenings in privileged conditions as well as to give them access to the Festival de Cannes thanks to an accreditation which will gives them access to the Palais des festivals, the Marché du film and to the screenings. The principle of this collaboration will be based on the presence of students at the Cannes Classics screenings first and foremost. The students who have been taking advantage of this project have been very interested and eager to participate and see films. We have had significant and appreciable feedback. We are eager to renew the contribution with the schools we collaborated with in 2022 and 2023 and find new partners. All the films are screened in their original language and subtitled in French and English when the films are in another language, in English when the films are in French and in French when the films are in English, thus making films easily accessible. We select about twenty-five heritage films and five documentaries on cinema at Cannes Classics. Besides there are masterclasses, a music masterclass, events and tributes to artists. As far as we are concerned, we do not require any kind of work, our wish being that the students can see a large number of classic films in optimal conditions and enjoy the Festival as much as possible afterwards and discover the professional part of the event and the organization required. Here is a practical description on the process: The school selects a certain number of students (this number may be easily discussed with me) according to the rules it wishes, puts me in contact with a university official at the beginning of the year (before March is ideal and before mid-April is compulsory so that the students can organize their going to Cannes-their transportation, meals and lodging costs being at their expense) and they are then accredited by our services. The person from the school is in charge of filling in the forms on the Festival de Cannes website according to the procedure that I communicate to him/her and of paying the ecological contribution. The accreditation that we will deliver to them is at our charge, only the ecological contribution is to be paid for all the participants to the Festival de Cannes, including the staff, the professionals, the members of media outlets and the artists. The ticketing manager will allow them to reserve seats for the Cannes Classics screenings they choose seventy-two hours before the screenings. I usually meet with them and present the selection in order to give them the editorial programming structure and make it lively. With their badge and tickets, they can also then attend screenings at Un Certain regard, the Special Screenings, the Next Day Screenings and the Closing weekend within the limits of available seats, for which I do not have tickets, unlike Cannes Classics where we can issue tickets more easily. Moreover, the accreditation to the Festival de Cannes has a professionalizing aspect as the access to the Film Market is open to them, the meetings with specialists of the film industry remaining a part that we wish to develop in the future as well as meetings between the students, which we organized last year. The essential conditions are that the students have a desire to discover classics and events such as A-list festivals and that they have a minimum of maturity in order to avoid the temptations inherent in events of this magnitude. The desire for cinema in such a setting is commonly shared. We created this program and then worked with some forty-five schools, universities and preparatory classes from the United States, Europe and France in 2023 thanks to schools like yours. We have made a positive assessment of this extension after the 75th Festival de Cannes, which made it possible to combine the arrival of students in a festival that is mainly open to film industry professionals and media representatives from around the world. They are future professionals who saw many films, went to the Film Market and had the impression of sharing strong moments of life, which sums up the idea of a festival. I am of course at your disposal so that we can cooperate together in 2024. I do hope it will be the case. Yours sincerely, Gérald Duchaussoy Head of Cannes Classics gduchaussoy@festival-cannes.fr |
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