CANNES – Cannes will be celebrating its 71st edition in May. Thierry Fremaux, head of Cannes Film Festival has this time eliminated morning press screenings of films before their evening premieres and has also banned selfies on the red carpet. He claimed that through this, they would be avoiding ‘unwanted disorder’.
“Selfies will be banned for spectators on the red carpet. The triviality and slowdown caused by the unwanted disorder created by the practice of selfies harms the quality of the climb up the steps, and so the entire festival,” Fremaux told Film Francais magazine.
Under this new plan, critics and journalists will see the film at the same time as guests watching the evening premieres, with the only separation of them being in Debussy theatre while the guests will be in the main auditorium.
This new practice has turned off a few film-makers and studios and turned them more in favour of Venice and Toronto festivals. Cannes has already been notorious for its tough critics whose early reviews can make or break a film’s prospects even before its unveiling in the Palais. We wonder if the new plan will do more harm than good to the festival
