Tick-tock, tick-tock… For the cinema planet, the biggest festival in the world begins in exactly ten days, in Cannes, with the opening ceremony, broadcast for the third year, live, on France 2. On the program ? Stars of course: from Meryl Streep to Camille Cottin, Gilles Lellouche, Léa Seydoux, Louis Garrel, Francis Ford Coppola, the list is immense, as Cannes becomes, for a fortnight, the epicenter of world cinema.
After years of Canal+ exclusivity, the rights to the festival are now in the hands of the public service. This year again, the latter offers new products to best shine the magic of cinema. “There are two aspects of our coverage of the event,” explains Manuel Alduy. The former head of Canal+ cinema (he stayed for twenty-two years, and since 2021 moved to France Télévisions) knows the subject by heart. “The first is to echo it, without the glitter, while keeping the colors of each show that comes to the Croisette: “Télématin” does “Télématin”, the same for “C ce soir” (with Karim Rissouli , Editor’s note) or “C à vous”, “Beau Geste” by Pierre Lescure or “La Grande Librairie” with Augustin Trapenard: these will be the guests who will be from Cannes. » To these already existing broadcasts, we can add, this year, the arrival of “Quelle époque”, piloted every Saturday by Léa Salamé.
“Cannes are our Olympic Games”
“The second aspect is the surge of films to discover on the France Télévisions platform and on the group’s channels,” continues Manuel Alduy. “France Télévisions is the leading cinema in France, and a new one has opened on Francetv with 15% more viewers in 2023 and an eclectic and varied choice of programming. A real educational journey,” adds Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez, director of antennas and programs at France Télévisions.
From May 9, around twenty masterpieces will be available on the France TV platform, such as the Palmes d’Or “I, Daniel Blake” by Ken Loach (2016), “The Taste of Cherry” by Abbas Kiarostami (1997), “Disappeared” by Costa-Gavras (1982), but also notable films by great directors like “Cosmopolis” by David Cronenberg or “Paterson” by Jim Jarmusch or even tributes to Xavier Dolan, president of the Un Certain Regard jury, Greta Gerwig (director of “Barbie” and president of the competition jury) or Quentin Dupieux whose film “The Second Act” opens the festival.
In all, around forty feature films, apart from those which will be offered on the air, including “Elvis” by Baz Luhrmann (Sunday May 19) and a daily film from May 14 on Culturebox, after the ceremony. opening on France 2. “Cannes are our Olympic Games,” concludes Manuel Alduy, recalling in passing that France Télévisions is also “the leading financier of free-to-air cinema” with, to its credit, “Anatomy of a Fall” , by JustineTriet, last year’s Palme d’Or…
A month of cinema on Arte
On Arte, another historic partner of the festival, the programming already started last week and can be found on the air, throughout the Cannes event, as well as on the Artetv platform with very beautiful palmed works, from “ Titane” to “White Ribbon” including “Amour”, a special Vincent Lindon evening and classics, such as “The Law of Silence”, by Alfred Hitchcock in official competition in 1953 and broadcast, Monday May 6, at 8 p.m. 55. Red carpet!
