Who Cares About Cannes?

While the 51st Cannes Film Festival will feature a strong lineup of American films, including Primary Colors and Godzilla, the Academy Awards aren't in danger of being eclipsed.

Tabloid headlines aside, the French film festival has little chance of drawing the 87 million television viewers enjoyed by the 70th Annual Academy Awards. Nor will Cannes' highest prize, the Palme D'Or, or Golden Palm, touch off a 30 percent increase in box office receipts the way an Oscar can.

The Palme D'or, with its reputation as an "art for art's sake" award, does sometimes get handed to films most Americans have heard of. Palme D'Or winners rarely break the $30 million mark.

However, two recent Palme D'Or films have been financially successful. Jane Campion's The Piano took in US$40.2 million and the Palme in 1993, while Quentin Tarantino's 1994 Pulp Fiction rang up US$108 million. Of course, these successes barely hold a candle to James Cameron's Titanic, which took in 11 Oscars and, so far, US$800 million worldwide.

But in addition to serving as a 10-day booze and schmooze-fest for the entertainment class, Cannes functions as an important stage for the smaller film maker. With international dollars becoming increasingly important to a film's bottom line, filmmakers all over the globe use Cannes as a means to get their films pre-sold in countries outside the U.S., thereby strengthening their bids for stateside distribution. After all, without the promise of profits, many of these films would never get seen outside the art house circuit.

Similarly, many U.S. studios come to Cannes, checkbooks in hand, on the lookout for new films to acquire and new talent to hire. Ditto for rising starlets, who have found that playing to the paparazzi can help land them film roles, or at least headlines.

Ultimately, for those who find the Hollywood formula for movie-making more trite than true, or feel that Oscar jilts movies which aren't also smashing commercial successes, Cannes continues to offer powerful international recognition for excellence beyond the box office.

Think of it as the antidote to Oscar fever.

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