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CANNES 2021 Marché du Film

Pre-Cannes Screenings to take place in late May and the Marché du Film in July

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- Four days of online screenings in May will pave the way for the Croisette-based rendezvous for international professionals from 6-15 July, as part of the 74th Cannes Film Festival

Pre-Cannes Screenings to take place in late May and the Marché du Film in July

UPDATE (15 April 2021): The Pré-Cannes Screenings will finally take place from 21 to 25 June (read news).
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UPDATE (29 March 2021): The dates of the Pre-Cannes Screenings have been set for 25-28 May.
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The scenario had been mooted for a few weeks already, and an informal consultation with sales agents and distributors from all over the world was recently organised behind the scenes by the team behind the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film in order to get a better handle on the short-term needs of professionals in these peculiar global circumstances. Circumstances that have, for the past year, been disrupting the calendars and inner workings of a film industry that has been forced to adapt and be flexible on a permanent basis. And what is the result of these exchanges and reflections? The traditional Cannes Marché du Film will indeed go ahead as usual on the Croisette, as an integral part of the festival (the 74th edition of which will unspool from 6-17 July), but also on the cards at the end of May are four days of online activities dubbed the Pre-Cannes Screenings, which will unfold on a platform dedicated exclusively to hosting sales agents’ virtual booths and screening rooms for streamed films.

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According to a press release sent out by the Marché du Film, "Due to the unusually long delay between the EFM in Berlin and the Marché du Film in Cannes, many international sales agents have expressed the need for an intermediate event in the spring, which will allow them to do business and to network virtually, while awaiting the big rendezvous in July when the film industry will meet up again in large numbers."

This prospect obviously depends on the strategy adopted by the various different sales agents (according to their hopes, or lack thereof, of having one or more titles set to enjoy their world premieres in the different Cannes selections in July) and on the volume of the stocks of films already amassed by the different distributors and sales agents under pressure from the continuous shuttering of movie theatres in many countries, which has been happening for many long months now as a health-and-safety precaution. According to certain sources, nor is it out of the question that these Pre-Cannes Screenings will also serve as a kind of “parry” (or a gentlemen’s agreement) with a hypothetical American initiative, like the one organised online last year (at the same time as the 2020 Marché du Film, which also unspooled virtually).

Access to the Pre-Cannes Screenings platform will be strictly reserved (at no extra cost) for buyers already accredited for the Marché du Film. The latter will offer all of its usual activities during its physical version in July: stands, screenings, the Village International, networking programmes and conferences, among others. Interestingly, professionals unable to travel will still be able to take part via the virtual screenings of certain films, conferences that will be broadcast simultaneously and some of the networking programmes.

Registration for the Marché du Film is already open, with an early-bird rate in place until 15 April 2021: this is €349 (excluding taxes) for the on-site event in Cannes and €129 (excluding taxes) for the online Marché alone. So as to enable registered participants to adapt their plans up until the last minute, it will be possible to change from an online to an on-site accreditation and vice versa without incurring any penalties.

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(Translated from French)

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