Cannes Lions and the Cannes Film Festival may take place in the same French town one month apart each year. So attendees of both get to enjoy the gorgeous seaside views from the Croisette, they get to complain about the overpriced food and drink options, and they must navigate busy streets and the seagulls overhead, looking to swoop in on any food that may get dropped by tired visitors.
Even some of the famous names in town this week fit naturally into either of the two big Cannes events. Take Oprah Winfrey, whose keynote appearance at Lions on Tuesday drew a huge crowd. The same applies to Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who is set to speak on Wednesday, and the likes of Jeffrey Katzenberg, founding partner of investment firm WndrCo, which has backed the likes of Latin American microdrama platform Idilio and AI animation firm Cartwheel, and Alan Cumming, who were spotted around town, among other many other boldface names.
But otherwise, the two experiences feel like worlds apart. The Cannes Film Festival is, of course, all about the movies, the stars, the directors and the glamour on the red carpet and beyond. It is about creative content and how it may end up being consumed – if it finds a buyer. Yet this year the studios largely “ghosted” the festival, betting that their more commercial launches didn’t need to be at the prestige, and perhaps more niche, fest.
