Hello, Cannes

What’s that feeling I have as I approach my first Cannes Film Festival as editor of Screen International? Butterflies for sure, mixed with a little apprehension, but for the most part a huge level of excitement and not a little pride.

Having been to Cannes at least a dozen times before joining the title, I know what Screen means to the world’s leading film festival and what it delivers on the Croisette to the dual contingents of industry and media: an unparalleled round-up of breaking deals, incisive reviews and terrific interviews with key players and film talent.

Long before I joined, poring over a copy of Screen each morning was as essential as that first slug of espresso or that last glass of rosé before attempting to grab something in all too short supply during the festival: sleep.

Screen has been crucial to me over the years as a purveyor of festival intelligence, and I’ve always known how committed and passionate Screen’s team of correspondents, editors, designers and subs are in the Croisette trenches.

The work that goes into the dailies is awesome and reading the Cannes recollections of former Screen editors in this issue has served as a timely reminder. To a man (and woman), they all mentioned the special team camaraderie and sense of achievement that comes with covering the festival in daily editions.

As for those illustrious former editors, we’ve canvassed 10 of them for their memories for a very good reason: it happens to be 40 years since Screen International assumed its current identity, a name change brought about in 1975 when a new owner purchased what was then known as CinemaTV Today. You can read those memories including their opinions on the challenges facing the international film industry by clicking here.

In the four decades since adopting the moniker, Screen has witnessed and reported on some earth-shaking changes. But is there anyone who doesn’t feel that current times bring the potential for the greatest shifts of all?

With the debate about the proposed EU digital single market that recently took place in Strasbourg (where Screen’s intrepid Germany correspondent Martin Blaney was in attendance to report on the plenary sessions), it seems entirely fitting that one of the keynote talks at this year’s Marché is to be given by Ted Sarandos, chief content officer of Netflix.

Netflix is one of many new-horizon digital distribution entities that would benefit immensely from the demise of geo-blocking. But when territoriality is one of the fundamental building blocks underpinning the European film industry, bringing in a borderless community seems short-sighted, at least in the immediate future.

As our US editor Jeremy Kay puts it, Sarandos’s Cannes appearance has become the Marché’s hot-ticket equivalent of the recent Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao bout and I, for one, am looking forward to hearing his thoughts in an on-stage conversation - even more so if he takes questions from some of the festival’s most seasoned buyers and sellers.

And we mustn’t forget the films. This year’s Competition line-up, in my opinion, is one of the most intriguing in years (click here for a full rundown of films at Cannes).

There are always film-makers who seem guaranteed a slot no matter what, but there are interesting debutantes in Competition this year as well, two of whom we interview in this issue: Australian director Justin Kurzel, who has adapted Shakespeare’s Macbeth with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, and Norwegian film-maker Joachim Trier, whose third feature Louder Than Bombs is one of the titles I am most looking forward to.

Elsewhere in the issue, we look at the pros and cons for producers thinking about going the direct distribution route and the challenges facing the French production landscape, and we revisit one of Screen’s most enduringly popular features: Future Leaders, this year selecting 47 up-and-coming producers who we think will be the people to know in the years to come.

See you in Cannes, and beyond.

Matt Mueller is Editor of Screen International