In one week's time, the 77th Cannes Film Festival will officially kick off. As in previous years, this year's Cannes is destined to be full of controversies. In recent years, this place has increasingly become a stage for various protests, including geopolitics, world peace, environmental progress, gender equality... all kinds of civil activities have emerged in an endless stream, and from time to time they will "take the spotlight" and take away what should be the film festival and Attention to the movie itself.
The main visual poster of this year's Cannes International Film Festival pays tribute to Akira Kurosawa's "August Rhapsody".
However, it was actually the staff of the film festival who first announced that they would hold protests and demonstrations during the film festival this year. However, unlike previous Berlin Film Festival staff who did not express their political stance clearly due to senior management, as many as 200 Cannes Film Festival staff decided to take to the streets because they were dissatisfied with their pay packages. The
campaign is led by an organization called Sous les Écrans la dèche (Collectif des précaires des festivals de cinéma) (Collectif des précaires des festivals de cinéma), whose name was derived from the 1968 May festival. The protest slogan of students during the "Storm" - "Below the paving stones is the beach." It is not only a reflection of the real scenes on the streets of Paris (the paving stones on the street have become the most convenient weapons in the hands of students, and after digging up the paving stones, they found a piece of fine sand underneath, which are historical relics before the urban reform of Paris), but also a reflection of the real scenes on the streets of Paris. The contrast between stones and beach expresses their yearning for freedom. In the decades since, this slogan has become a well-known idiom among French citizens, and various appropriations have emerged in endlessly. For example, one of the slogans for this year's Olympic Games is called "Under the paving stones are the Olympics."
"There are poor people below the screen", which simply and clearly expresses the complaints of these film festival staff. On the screen are the glamorous movie stars, the glorious image of the Cannes Film Festival; but off the screen, the people who work hard for the film festival receive low wages, often have to work overtime at short notice, and do not receive overtime pay. "According to our survey, 80% of film festival staff have a monthly income of less than 2,000 euros during the contract period. It is difficult to survive on this." An insider of the film festival who did not want to be named told the media in an interview express. In addition, the unemployment insurance plan for people working in the film and television entertainment industry also excludes film festival staff for various reasons, which makes them feel very unfair and uneasy.
It is reported that this federation was established in 2020, and its members come from different units and parallel units of the Cannes Film Festival, including the main competition, film market, Directors’ Fortnight and Film Critics Week, etc. In addition, some staff from several other French film festivals, including the Bordeaux International Independent Film Festival, the Lyon Lumière Film Festival and others, have also joined.
Screenshot of the homepage of the official website of the Cannes Film Festival
This year, the organization plans to take to the Croisette, the main thoroughfare with the most traffic, to hold a demonstration during the Cannes Film Festival. In addition, at the opening events of Directors' Fortnight, Film Critics Week, and the most watched red carpet premieres such as Coppola's new film "Metropolis" and George Miller's new film "Mad Max: Mad Max", They may also appear in protest. If this approach still fails to win a positive response from the film festival organizers, they plan to escalate further and simply take full-scale strike action. If this really happens, the projectionists, subtitlers, receptionists and festival press officers may suddenly drop their picks and bring the Cannes Film Festival to an abrupt end.
Before the launch of last year's Cannes Film Festival, the organization published a public declaration in the left-wing media "Liberation", calling on the outside world to pay attention to their unfortunate experience. At that time, it also attracted a lot of media reports, and as the parent unit The French Ministry of Culture also met and negotiated with it in Cannes.
The organization's protest also attracted support from filmmakers. Director Justine Trier was on the red carpet of "" and wore a bright red pin representing the organization to show his support. The organization hopes to see more industry figures wearing the brooch at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Director Justine Trier (middle) wears a badge at the premiere of "The Trial of the Fall" to support film festival staff in fighting for their rights
As for the negotiations with the French Ministry of Culture and the Film Bureau, the French National Film Center (cnc) , although a year has passed, there has been no substantial progress at all, forcing them to choose tough measures. After all, the Cannes Film Festival is actually a government-run event, with a large amount of funding coming from the French Ministry of Culture. As for social security issues involving film festival employees, it is not something that the film festival itself can decide.
On the other hand, in the past few years, due to the impact of global inflation, prices and labor costs have generally increased in France. Depending on the original salary, various film festivals have actually encountered many practical difficulties in finding people. Therefore, the organizers of Cannes In fact, there is also a willingness to promote reforms and strive for better treatment for these essential behind-the-scenes personnel.
