The Deauville Festival faces the delicate equation of American cinema

Passing through the Deauville American Film Festival (held from September 3 to 12), 47e Of the name, we will have been surprised by the unusual number of non-American films selected here. Last year, as a sign of solidarity with the Cannes Film Festival, which could not be held, the programming of several titles that had been selected there was inaugurated.

The idea pleased, it was approved this year, even though Cannes took place. In addition, Deauville becomes the launching pad for a number of French films whose release is imminent.

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An allogeneic presence which encourages the director of the festival, Bruno Barde, to recall that “DNA remains overwhelmingly American”. The pole is stretched, you might as well grab it. Does the DNA have some flaws? One would think, a priori, that the organization of an American film festival is playing on velvet, so much this one has attractions, between independent cinema, studio cinema and stars galore. But these three strengths, on which Deauville has always relied, it is clear that they are no longer offered with the same obviousness.

The studios, more formatted than ever, are now calibrating the release of their blockbusters while avoiding any risk factor, and therefore European festivals, where the ambition is still to express a judgment of taste on films. The stars, subservient to the studios and their brazen marketing, naturally follow the movement. As for independent cinema, a name sufficiently vague to include a large number of more or less established applicants in Hollywood, it rarely produces authors worthy of the name, who could moreover afford to survive in the American system. Add to that a pandemic that cripples travel, and you have a complicated picture.

Representation of minorities

Bruno Barde admits it bluntly: “It’s more and more difficult. I love my job as an editor and film passer. But I see it more and more as an act of resistance. We stopped moving to Los Angeles, finding that it was no use. The owners of the studios are charming, they welcome you and rock you with promises, but, behind, nothing ever moves. The level of American film production is also not what it used to be. “

This does not prevent the public from responding enthusiastically, not to say greedily, to the proposal made to them. The 1,500-seat hall of the Deauville International Center was almost full from morning to night, and even stoically refused to empty itself when one of the stars of this edition, Johnny Depp, appeared before the public an hour late, as a flower, to introduce City of Lies, by Brad Furman.

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