The Cannes Film Festival is facing a strike ahead of its opening next week, with possible protests by projectionists, floor managers and members of the press demanding changes to the French government’s treatment of seasonal festival staff.
Festivals on France’s Cote d’Azur have faced a major strike only once, during the student movement and workers’ strike that began in May 1968.
This year, a group called Sou Les Ecrins La Deche The Poverty Behind the Screens, a group representing more than 200 workers, has called for a strike over the government’s treatment of freelance workers at festivals across France. They include projectionists, programmers, box office staff, logistics managers, floor managers, drivers, decorators, and press personnel.
The group said the government’s recent proposals to reform unemployment laws would make the livelihoods of many skilled film festival staff impossible. Workers are employed on short-term seasonal contracts at film festivals across France. However, they are not covered by France’s special unemployment insurance system for freelance performers, artists and technicians in the cultural sector. This system increases salaries to the minimum wage and provides state support during periods when there is no work.
The group said changes to France’s unemployment system, introduced in early July, would put workers at seasonal film festivals in an even tougher position and increase the threshold for applying for unemployment benefits.
A spokesperson for the organization said: “We will have to give up one job after another, jeopardizing film festivals that are already struggling to find staff.”
They added: “While the strike does not jeopardize the opening of Cannes, it could cause disruption during the festival.”
The group is calling for a meeting with key Cannes staff members, along with representatives from the economy ministry, during the first week of the Cannes Film Festival. We are calling for a commitment from the government to develop concrete plans to protect festival workers.
The Cannes Film Festival acknowledged the “difficulties” faced by some of its staff and said it encouraged all involved to “come together around the negotiating table.”
Meanwhile, as the new #MeToo movement accelerates in the French film industry, there are concerns that the festival could be affected if French media reports new revelations about sexual harassment during the festival.
Cannes President Iris Knobloch said: pari match The festival said it was “paying close attention” to the #MeToo movement and was “monitoring the situation closely.” If a person involved in showing a film at the festival is the subject of charges, “we will work to ensure that the correct decision is made on a case-by-case basis, in consultation with the governing body and other stakeholders.” But she said that films in theaters would also be considered because “the films are the real stars.”
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Cannes opens next week for the short film “ Me tooor Me Too, focuses on the stories of survivors of sexual violence.
Godreche has become a leading voice in France’s #MeToo movement after accusing directors Benoît Jacot and Jacques Doillon of sexually assaulting her as a teenager. Both men deny the charges. Prosecutors have begun an investigation.
Godreche spoke at this year’s French Film Awards Cesar and at Parliament, calling for an end to sexual abuse in the French film industry, which she described as “incestuous”.
Gerard Depardieu, one of France’s most famous actors, is scheduled to go on trial in October for allegedly sexually assaulting two women on the set of a 2021 film. He is also under formal investigation in another case following accusations from actor Charlotte Arnoor. He raped her at her home in Paris in 2018. He denies all charges.
