65th Festival de Cannes 2012

65th Festival de Cannes

The 2012 Cannes Film Festival kicked off on Wednesday16 May with Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom.  The warm, quirky and playful film was co- written with Roman Coppola and has a star studded cast of mainstream and indie cross-over talent. Bruce Willis, Ed Norton, Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton were there to support the movie.

The Competition Jury selected, for the winner of the 2012 Palme d'Or, Michael Haneke's Amour - a tender portrait of an octogenarian Parisian couple of failing physical and mental health. The second time the Austrian won the top prize.

The UK's Ken Loach, no stranger to Cannes Film festivals and its glittering prizes, won the 2012 Jury Prize for Angel's Share - a real audience pleaser that mixes Loach's realist tradition roots with his lesser known flair for Ealingesque comedy. Produced by Sargent-Disc's client Sixteen Films - it follows a group of young offenders from court, through community service to potential redemption courtesy of Scotland's whiskey industry! The Observer newspaper critic Philip French says of this wonderful film 'Ken Loach expertly combines comedy with politics - and a drop of the hard stuff - in a warm, deftly-plotted heist movie'.

The Guardian review of Angel's Share is available here >

The Competition features and shorts are complemented in the Official Programme by five other sections  -  Out of Competition,  Un Certain Regard, Cannes Classics, Special Screenings and the Cinefondation. Directors Fortnight and Critics Week are run independently but alongside the Festival.

A Brief History of Cannes

For much of the world, the Cannes Film Festival is the red carpet and all it signifies - A-list celebrities, old style movie glamour and champagne-soaked soirées but it also remains the cinephile's festival of choice - making it the envy of so many other international film events and festivals.

It is a far cry from the Festival's beginnings. Originally conceived to counter the influence of fascist politicians on the selection and allocation of awards at the worlds only competitive film festival - the Mostra de Venice - in the late 1930's.  The first Cannes Film Festival commenced on September 1st 1939, under the presidency of Louis Lumière. The German invasion of Poland on the same day, led to its cancellation after only one screening. The Festival finally took place after the Second World War in September 1946.

A 'Palace' for Business

For the film industry today, Cannes is where primarily independent films are launched and hopefully sold for international distribution. It's delivered in tandem with the Marché du Film - the Festival's industry arm. The largest event of its type in the world, the 2012 Marché brought around 11,000 movie industry professionals representing the film services, financing, buying and selling sectors, from 99 countries to Cannes.

Essentially a tradeshow, this years Marché screened 1,528 films and incorporated special programmes for producers (Producers Network) and short filmmakers (Short Film Corner). It also organised the Village International to provide the global industry with the opportunity to network across borders in a single place. The 2012 Village International hosted 50 countries in 58 pavilions located around the Palais des Festivals.

At the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, Sargent-Disc sponsored the UK Film Centre, supported Women in Film and Television and took part in the Marché du Film's Producers Network with our affiliates Entertainment Partners. The UK Film Centre presented a full programme of seminars covering all aspects of film finance, distribution, working with the UK and UK film strategy.

Full details of Sargent-Disc's Cannes 2012 programme are available here > 

UK Film Centre Cannes Seminars are available online here >

Festival Season

The end of the Cannes Film Festival signals a break until the autumn in the calendar of events important for the international film economy. It begins again in September with the 69th Venice International Film Festival and the launch of their first film market. It's then closely followed by the Toronto International Film Festival which plays an increasingly important role in the buying and selling of international film rights.

Cannes stands out as an annual event which provides business benefits for all sectors that make up the industry value chain. The 66th Cannes Film Festival will be 15 - 26 May 2013, we hope to see you there!