“But who will look after the children? » In 2005, Laurent Fabius (who has always denied the authorship of this sentence widely relayed by the press) was concerned about the childcare method chosen by Ségolène Royal if she decided to run for the presidential election. Unwelcome in the context, the question nevertheless does arise for many working parents. And cinema professionals are no exception.
Since 2019, in Cannes, the association The Red Balloon Alliance – Le Ballon rouge, in homage to the short film (1956) by Albert Lamorisse which follows the cavalcade of a little boy through the streets of the Ménilmontant district, in Paris – attempts to provide a response by providing festival-goers with childcare for their little ones. And since then, babies and young children have been arriving in increasing numbers on the Croisette.
At the origin of this initiative (alongside three other cinema professionals), Olimpia Pont Cháfer, a Spanish film distributor based in Berlin, wanted to find a concrete solution to this material difficulty which often hinders women’s careers. “This also concerns men, of course, but it is clear that the responsibility for small children in the home still most often falls on the mother,” notes this mother of two girls aged 11 and 8.
Make themselves available for their professional life
Directors of selected films, producers, distributors, salespeople… Four thousand professionals are accredited each year to come and work on the Côte d’Azur, and the subject of the place of women arises there in an important way. recurring, both on the red carpet and behind the scenes. This year, films directed by women will account, all selections combined, for 27% of the works presented (a drop of four points compared to 2023).
“In film schools, 50% of students are women, but on the sets, there are less than 25% female directors, less than 15% female directors of photography… Just like the discrimination at the time of recruiting or obtaining funding, parenthood is one of the obstacles that professionals encounter in their careers,” explains Fanny De Casimacker, the general delegate of the Collectif 50/50, which acts to promote “equality, parity and diversity in cinema and audiovisual”.
The idea of the Red Balloon, therefore, is simple: open a place which welcomes, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and during the two weeks of the Festival, children from 6 months to 12 years old. For a reasonable amount (100 euros for three days, 140 for six days, 200 euros for a fortnight). The little ones are left in the care of qualified childcare workers in a suitable setting. Because in Cannes, if the stars often travel with family and nannies, the other parents often have to juggle childcare arrangements (on site or at home) to make themselves available for their professional life made up of screenings, meetings and evenings.
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