Franco lobbyists cite 2 Cannes pix as TV-bound
Cannes rules state that the fest is designed to support the film industry, not the television sector. In a letter addressed to fest president Pierre Viot last week, the BLIC called for the two films concerned, Philippe Harel's competition contender "La Femme Defendue" and Robert Guediguian's "Marius et Jeannette" (unspooling in Un Certain Regard), be pulled. Both were produced by Franco-German cultural web Arte.
"Cannes is a film festival, not a television festival. This shouldn't have happened," a BLIC spokesman told Daily Variety.
However, fest programmer Gilles Jacob has been spared the stress of finding last-minute replacements for the duo. The BLIC has received letters from Viot and from Centre National de la Cinematographie (CNC) head Marc Tessier giving clear assurances that there will be no repeat performance of this kind of incident in the future.
The CNC is responsible for granting release visas for theatrical pics. It now appears that both "telefilms" will head to Gallic hardtops.
