When it comes to this year’s hot potato topic of Donald Trump‘s tariffs on movie imports, Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Fremaux would like to table the discussion.
For at least a year.
Of Trump’s declarations over the last three months, Fremaux says: “He started off by saying one thing, then contradicts himself.”
“I can’t answer your question at this stage,” the festival head asserted to a journalist about their U.S. tariff impact question on global cinema.
“The idea that American Cinema would be penalized by foreign countries, I think that is an idea worth discussing,” said Fremaux.
“There’s something we noticed the year and months after Covid: There were fewer American films in the world; therefore local production –national production–became more successful.”
“Cinema always finds a way of existing and reinventing itself,” was essentially Fremaux’s verdict as of right now on the whole brouhaha of Trump tariffs.
“If I say one thing, I would say here at the Cannes Film Festival, we wouldn’t want the American cinema to cease to be strong, that’s what really counts.”
“I can’t talk about these custom duties, it’s too early in the game,” Fremaux continued to assert.
Earlier today, a group of more than 100 global film and TV bodies signed an open letter appealing to governments to “safeguard the systems that support independent film and audiovisual creation.”
The letter clearly targeted Trump, but also challenged “algorithm-driven platforms, and the growing dominance of global entertainment conglomerates,” along the rise of AI in production.
In the wake of declaring tariffs on film imports on May 4, Trump and the White House cooled on the idea of them by May 5.
“I’m not looking to hurt the industry; I want to help the industry,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We’re going to meet with the industry. I want to make sure they’re happy with it, because we’re all about jobs.”
Jon Voight’s pitch to POTUS to make “Hollywood Great Again” and to spike U.S. production stateside included a clause for a 120% tariff on film and TV offshore shoots receiving foreign tax credits.
Outside of tariffs, ironically, there aren’t any mega controversies heading into this year’s 78th edition à la last year’s rumored #MeTooWave Mediapart expose that was set to name several filmmakers with films in the festival.