On May 16th, the film world will hold its breath and live to the rhythm of the 76th Cannes Film Festival and its parallel sections (Filmmakers' Fortnight, Critics' Week). While not the only prestigious event of the year for the sector, this international gathering is simply considered "the must" within the industry, explains François Yon, CEO and co-founder of the Playtime Group, an international distributor and producer. This year again, one of his films, Dry Grass , by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, is in competition. "We all want the Palme d'Or," he jokes… only half-jokingly. More than just a consecration for the team behind the winning film, the Holy Grail of film awards ^also means a real spotlight on the work, for future viewers as well as distributors.

Is La Palme synonymous with success in theaters?

“ It’s a very strong selling point for distributors who might not have been convinced by the script or the promotional reel ,” confirms François Yon. “An award dramatically increases the attention a feature film receives. ” A prime example is Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite , which won the unanimous jury prize at Cannes in 2019, was released in 179 theaters in France, and enjoyed immediate and sustained success, accumulating 376,842 admissions in one week and 1,914,377 in total. More recently, Ruben Östlund’s film Unfiltered , winner of the 2022 Palme d’Or, also benefited from this boost. “ It didn’t necessarily do well in France, but it outperformed in the rest of Europe, particularly in Germany, Spain, and the Scandinavian countries. ”

The Palme d'Or certainly played a role in this situation, but another important factor influences how these films are received by audiences once they hit the big screen. " Both were ultimately very commercial and mainstream ," explains the CEO of Playtime. " If we take Julia Ducournau's Titane , the Palme d'Or certainly attracted media attention, but less so the general public, because it's a genre film, which isn't as universally appealing. " Despite the visibility, the film only managed 303,610 admissions after 18 weeks.

Streaming platforms, new players in an industry in full upheaval

Awards from major European festivals are therefore not always sufficient catalysts to create phenomena, although their role is significant in the fate of films upon their release. " And conversely, films that do not benefit from this exposure undeniably suffer ," adds François Yon.

The film industry and its major events are undergoing profound transformation. Heavily impacted by COVID-19, both in terms of production and box office, the sector must now also contend with the rise of streaming platforms. These platforms have radically changed not only consumption habits but also the conventions of audiovisual media, through the new narrative formats offered by their original productions. While the Cannes Film Festival now refuses to screen films produced by these platforms, whether in competition or not, the Venice Film Festival has embraced them wholeheartedly. In 2022, it hosted no fewer than four films in competition, after having awarded the Golden Lion to Alfonso Cuarón's Roma in 2018 and the Grand Jury Prize to Paolo Sorrentino for The Hand of God in 2021, both Netflix features.

Unwelcome competition or, on the contrary, a boon for a sector destined to evolve? According to François Yon, the coexistence that is gradually taking hold is certainly a disruption, but it is healthy, even advantageous for so-called "traditional" cinema: " The success of the platforms and their productions has brought a lot of money to the system, to the benefit of creative work. " Referring to the "porosity" of these newcomers, he explains that the big-budget films of Netflix and other streaming services involve well-paid technicians who can then afford to work on more specialized projects. And it must be said that despite their share of highly formulaic films, streaming platforms are also capable of presenting films that rival those intended for theaters. Is this enough to imagine that, in the near future, the number of views generated will become the official metric for cinema, alongside the number of tickets ^sold?