Cannes Competition jury president Greta Gerwig addressed freelance festival workers considering a strike, saying “I support labour movements.”
“I hope that the festival workers can form an agreement that is good for them and supports them and supports the festival,” said Gerwig, responding to a question from Screen about what message she has for the freelance group.
French collective Sous les ecrans la deche (Broke Behind The Screens) is preparing to protest labour reforms that would cut their unemployment indemnities.
A representative for the group told Screen it was awaiting a meeting between the CNC and the Cultural Ministry during the first days of the festival and would strike if their demands were not met.
“It’s very important people have protections and a living wage,” said Gerwig.
The conference maintained an open, professional tone throughout despite questions on topics including #MeToo, strikes, the war in Gaza and Donald Trump. It ran in contrast to the tense opening press conference for this year’s Berlinale, where Competition jurors expressed disagreement with each other, and their frustrations at having to respond to political questions.
#MeToo
Gerwig and jurors including French actor Omar Sy and Spanish filmmaker JA Bayona fielded questions on the #MeToo movement, following rumours of a major report on the issue that will be published in a French publication during the festival.
“People in the community of movies telling their stories and changing things for the better is only good,” said Gerwig. “I’ve seen substantial changes in the American film community. I think it’s important to expand the conversation.”
“It’s only moving things in the correct direction, keeping those lines of communication open.”
Sy disagreed with the idea that France has been slower to recognise the #MeToo movement than other countries. “I’m not under the impression that we’re broaching the topic late,” said the Jurassic World actor. “There are more women who have the courage to speak out [around the world]. We can say perhaps this is coming late but this movement is underway now, and it’s clearly growing in strength.”
Gerwig said that cinema being “a slow art form” in both its construction and consumption meant films were not reacting immediately to topics such as #MeToo, but rather were part of the wider conversation through their existence.
“One thing we spoke about as a jury and with Thierry [Fremaux, festival general delegate] – the marvellous thing about cinema is it’s a slow art form. It can often take years for a movie from the inception to when you see it. Every time we watch a film it represents years of work. In that space, artists from all over the world get to say something extremely specific.”
Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki, whose 2018 film Capernaum depicted child refugees, was asked about being on the jury while the war in Gaza continues.
“To change something around us or change something in the world – these are the films that I’m interested to watch,” said Labaki. “We all expect to come out of it most of the time being shaken or wanting to change something in our lives. I truly believe in the power of cinema.”
The nine jurors will watch films including Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice, starring Sebastian Stan as former US president Donald Trump. Asked how she felt about watching a film about the controversial reality star-turned-politician, Gerwig said, “I don’t make any assumptions about what it is, but I very much look forward to it like I look forward to all the films.
“Sometimes the surface of something is about this or that, then you get in the movie theatre and it’s about something you had no idea it was going to be about.”
The 2024 Competition jury is rounded out by American actress Lily Gladstone, French actress Eva Green, Spanish director and screenwriter Bayona, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, Turkish screenwriter and photographer Ebru Ceylan, and Italian actor Pierfrancisco Favino.
The festival gets underway this evening (May 14) with the world premiere of Quentin Dupieux’s The Second Act, screening out of Competition.
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