From final year students to jurors for the France Culture 2023 Student Film Prize, through film school students accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, everyone was able to take advantage (a little) of the Cannes Film Festival to exercise their cinephilia.
Guests by region Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur, thehe first arrived from Grasse on May 18, by their own means, a public holiday required. When we ask these general and technological final year students about their presence in Cannes, one of them answers: “to discover films, new releases and the point of view of certain filmmakers”.
Not “set aside”
Céline Berthod, from the structure that coordinates the activity, Les Ecrans du Sud, explains the system that allows them to be there.“These are classes who participate in the year at ‘High schools and apprentices at the cinema’, an image education device. These are teachers who sign up. Their classes see three films a year. In addition to that, there is the possibility of coming to Cannes, either for a day like these classes (two films are scheduled during the day)i.e. over two days”. For these final year students, it’s the first option: two films have been scheduled for the day and they are happy to be there.
It shows “that we are not left out, that even young people from the final year are invited to places as prestigious as the Cannes Film Festival”, believes Malick, one of the high school students. They are thus delighted to have been able to have the opinions “exclusive” of the film crew Simple as Sylvain by Monia Chokri, a feature film discovered at Un certain regard earlier in the morning. A second screening awaited them in the afternoon at Cannes Classics, namely the restored copy of Owner’s story (1947) by Yasujiro Ozu.
“The chance” to participate in an international event
Some of the members of the France Culture 2023 Student Cinema Prize jury, awarded on May 20, share their enthusiasm. Margot, Pauline, Celia and Manon applied after discovering the announcement on social networks, and they are today in Cannes to attend the award ceremony. In total, the jury has more than 800 students spread over the whole territory. To reward them for their participation, places were offered to them to attend screenings at Acid and Cannes Classics during the Cannes Film Festival. However, like high school students, jurors must take care of their Cannes logistics.
What they did with pleasure. “We are lucky to be able to participate in an event that has an international scope”, says Margot, 20, performing arts student in Lyon (third year). “For me, it’s a bit of a dream”, says Pauline, a second-year political science student in Paris. “I have been watching the ceremony since I was little. I lived in New Caledonia for twelve years, so it was not possible for me to come when I was 22,000 km away. Now that I am in Paris and that I saw that we had the opportunity to come, I jumped at the chance. I’m lucky to have a friend who doesn’t live too far away who hosted me and I’m here. It’s amazing to be in a place (seen) on television for nineteen years.
Célia, 23, who came from Grenoble, thinks no less. “We have the privilege and the opportunity to meet our favorite actors, our models in the cinema, especially for me”, says the performing arts student, who has chosen cinema as her specialty. “It’s a great pleasure to see in real life the directors, actors and actresses that I love”, pOurs is the one who wants to be a director (and who has already signed her first short) and an actress. “For me, she adds, itis an opportunity to expand my address book” and meet industry players. “As young people, if we don’t go to the elders, they won’t come to us because they don’t know our potential, our talent”. Taking part in this activity, completes Margot, we “grow and we just have to take flight”.
At the rhythm of the festival
Returning to the ceremony which took place in the afternoon of May 20, Manon, 23, reiterated her joy at having had this experience. “The ceremony was superb and I am very grateful to have taken part in it. I found the speeches very touching and I am very happy with the choice of the winners. I had voted for aya which I found moving, but I also liked Atlantic Bar (director Fanny Molins is the favorite of young ACID – France Culture)giving visibility to these films is a great gesture”, commented the young woman who has just obtained her diploma from the Beaux-Arts de Lyon, “As for Annie Colère (whose director Blandine Lenoir won the France Culture Student Film Prize), I found it sublime and I am happy that the subject of abortion and the feminist fight was so well put forward”. Because for Manon“cinema is the way to make people think, to dream, to identify themselves too”. And while all of these budding jurors belong to a generation that grew up with video-on-demand, there’s still “essential” to see films at the cinema, assures Margot.
Maïlys, Agathe and Nils, in their second year of production in Lyon, did not hide their pleasure. And, unlike the jurors of the Prix France Culture, they were able to do so throughout the duration of the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, which granted them “Cannes Cinéphiles” accreditation. To get it, “you have to prove that you are a cinephile. When you are not in film school, a yearly subscription can be proof”, explains Maïlys, 21 years old. To obtain the famous sesame, you must also send a cover letter to the festival. As for all young festival-goers, the question of accommodation remains the most crucial. “My family lives here”, specifies Nils, 21 years old. The conditions are thus met to try to see “two to three films a day, as soon as there is space (on the ticket office)“, says Agathe, 23. In total, Maïlys, Agathe and Nils will have seen “18 movies” on the Croisette this year.