The 77th Festival de Cannes starts in four days. In a small survey, we asked fellow Cannes travelers what they expect from this year’s A-festival in the South of France. We are starting with Simone Baumann, Managing Director German Films.
The 77th Festival de Cannes and its Marché are just around the corner. Do you think it will be a good year? Is there a film you are particularly looking forward to?
Simone Baumann: The program for the festival certainly looks promising. Unfortunately, we don’t have a major German feature film in this year’s line-up. However, we are delighted that the two short films „Our Own Shadow“ by Agustina Sánchez Gavier (DE/AR, Academy of Media Arts Cologne) and „Immaculata“ by Kim Lêa Sakkal (DE/FR, filmfaust) are taking part in the Quinzaine Des Cinéastes section. In addition, there are also good minority co-productions to be seen in the various sections, such as „Rumours“ by Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson and Guy Maddin (CA/DE, Maze Pictures) in the Out of Competition section, which is 49 percent German-produced.
Unfortunately, I won’t have much time to see films in Cannes due to my busy schedule.
What are your expectations and what’s in your schedule?
Simone Baumann: The Cannes Film Festival in combination with the Marché du Film is one of the most important meeting places for the film industry every year. For me, the focus is clearly on networking and meeting colleagues on a European level, for example from European Film Promotion. It is also a meeting place for many festival and film market managers and contacts. An important point for me this year is the joint preparation of the German focus at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in November. The European Solidarity Fund For Ukrainian Films (ESFUF) will once again have an event in Cannes this year, which will certainly be in my schedule. And last but not least, we will of course continue to celebrate our anniversary – 70 years German Films – in Cannes.