Cannes Recap Part One: Palme d’Ors & Oscars; France’s Bolloré Drama

Quite a few people commented to me that this was a strange year in Cannes. The market was dead for the first few days; kicked into high-gear frenetic meeting activity towards the weekend, then fell silent again in the second week – during which the spotlight belonged to the tech companies. There was a flood of announcements to keep us trade journalists busy, but actual deals didn’t start to materialise until the end of the festival. All this seemed to speak to the huge uncertainty in the market, the spectre of another wave of disruptive tech changes, and the high costs of attending Cannes, which means many people are keeping their trips as short as possible.

And yet so much happened that I’m spreading the analysis over four newsletters. This first one will look at reaction to the Cannes official selection, recent changes to the Oscars submission process and France and the EU’s off-screen dramas. Other newsletters this week will look at updates in various Asian, African and Middle East territories; the sales activity at the market; and what we learned about AI. If you’re not yet subscribing to Streamlined, please consider taking a paid subscription – in addition to Streamlined Insights, you’ll also have access to the Streamlined Guides, containing in-depth territory reports and analysis of funding, tech and other issues impacting the global content industries.