Cannes Festival president Gilles Jacob has unveiled a new digital initiative aimed at encouraging more young people to go to the cinema.

He made the announcement at the launch of the festival’s official selection today (April 23).

Filmmakers with a title in one of the official selection berths will be offered the chance to stream the first five minutes of their film on the Cannes website at the time of its theatrical release.

Jacob announced the initiative as he spoke about the need to keep independent cinema alive.

Jacob said: “The idea is to present to the public, and particularly young audiences, the first five minutes of a film and not the ceaseless trailers that ultimately end up extinguishing desire…We hope Internet users will leave their consoles and game-boys and be tempted to run out to the nearest theater to discover the rest.”

The move follows a the redesign of the festival’s website, which was unveiled earlier this year.

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