The City of Cannes’ cultural roots are embedded in its history as much as its DNA.
…
It is by allowing the widest possible spread of art and culture through a policy combining that culture with supply and demand that we will give everyone the tools to flourish and remove themselves from the unfortunate destinies that may be foisted on them.
David Lisnard,
Mayor of Cannes,
President of the Cannes Lérins
Agglomeration Community
The City of Cannes’ cultural roots are embedded in its history as much as its DNA.
…
It is by allowing the widest possible spread of art and culture through a policy combining that culture with supply and demand that we will give everyone the tools to flourish and remove themselves from the unfortunate destinies that may be foisted on them.
David Lisnard,
Mayor of Cannes,
President of the Cannes Lérins
Agglomeration Community
These cities throughout the world are each, in their own way, making culture and creativity the cornerstone rather than an adjunct to their strategy. This encourages political and social innovation and is particularly important for the younger generation.
Audrey Azoulay,
Managing Director,
UNESCO
Cinema is deeply rooted in the history of the city. Since the creation of the Cannes Film Festival in 1939, Cannes has become a world capital of cinema. In 1959 the Festival saw the arrival of the inaugural International Film Market, the first gathering of cinema professionals of the 7th Art. In 2018, CANNESERIES was added to celebrate film series from all over the world.
A pioneering city in Artistic and Cultural Education (EAC), Cannes became a pilot city paving the way in France for the generalisation of EAC in 2017. The city has 6 theatres, 2 museums in France, a contemporary art centre, a music and theatre conservatory, 5 media libraries, 2 national art schools, a symphony orchestra, creative spaces, a festival hall, and 8 cinemas.
In 1939, the first edition of the Film Festival was launched
by the French government in opposition to the then fascist- led Venice Film Festival. It is the most publicised event in the world after the Olympics, drawing 4,000 accredited journalists from more than 150 countries each year.
The city’s audiovisual emphasis is now at the heart of a global Cannes On
Air growth strategy. Cannes On Air’s provisional schedule provides for a total budget of €500 million for public and private investments, of which €175 million have already been completed, committed or planned.
It is important to build a sustainable city model which simultaneously considers social, economic and environmental issues in order to improve our quality of life, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, stimulate the local economy whilst preserving natural resources and the landscape.
« I have received your letter of 19 April, in which you inform me of the wish of the City of Cannes to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the “film” category.
The Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC), a long-standing partner of the Cannes Festival, also stands by the Cannes exhibitors, who are today the fervent defenders of diversity in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
Your city has the largest number of cinemas classified as «Art & Essai» in the region. It is in Cannes that exhibitors are most concerned with transmission, especially with young audiences.
I am sincerely grateful to you for this, because renewing audiences is a major challenge.
It is also your city which, along with the International Film Festival, evokes the magic of cinema for the whole world. For the general public, the name of your city resonates first of all as an invitation to dream but also to excellence.
To love the cinema is to love the actors and actresses, to love the directors, who would not miss their appointment with Cannes for anything in the world. For film professionals around the world, Cannes is the most important time of the year, the time of art, the time of business and of course the time of celebration.
You are not only a showcase, but your whole city lives for cinema and creation. Thanks to your determination, you are one of the first cities to be 100% Artistic and Cultural Education. All the children in your city benefit from image education. Your ambition does not stop there, as you have become a major training centre for the creative industries. The thousand students on your brand new campus, trained in writing and audiovisual creation, will invent the stories of tomorrow.
Finally, you have committed your city to a very large-scale architectural and cultural project, which will offer the public of Cannes, and more broadly the inhabitants of the region and all visitors passing through, permanent exhibition spaces entirely devoted to world cinema, to its heritage, to its entertaining and educational dimension and to its greatest festival.
This is why your approach seems to me both natural and necessary, and the inclusion of your city in this network seems to me to be self- evident, so symbolic is Cannes of the cinema. »
Dominique BOUTONNAT
President of the Centre National du Cinéma et l’image animée (CNC)
On the eve of its 74th edition, the Cannes Film Festival remains a benchmark cultural event - the most important film festival in the world and one of the most highly publicised events internationally. It is with deep conviction that I support Cannes’ candidacy to join ” the network of UNESCO Creative Cities in the film industry in order to promote cooperation with cities who have placed creativity at the heart of their development plan.
Thierry FREMAUX
General Delegate of the Cannes Film Festival
Lisa AZUELOS
Director
Pascal BRETON
CEO of Fédération Entertainment
Frank CADORET
Director of Vivendi
Véronique CAYLA
President of the César Academy
Marco CHERQUI
Producer
Stéphane COURBIT
Chairman of Banijay Group
Xavier COUTURE
Former director of national television channels
Florence DORMOY
Producer
Fabrice LARUE
Président and Managing Director of FLCP
Sidonie DUMAS
Managing Director of Gaumont
Toufik LERARI
President and Managing Director of the Tequila Rapido Agency
Benoît LOUVET
Managing Director of the Association française du Festival international des séries
Patrick NEBOUT
Managing Director of Dramacorp
Pauline ROCAFULL
Member of the Scriptwriters's Guild
Maxime SAADA
Chairman of the Board of the Canal+ Group
Catherine JEAN-JOSEPH SENTUC
President of the Mirror School
Christophe TARDIEU
Deputy Chairman of the Committee for the Classification of Cinematographic Works
Alain TERZIAN
Movie producer
A priority for Cannes, cinema is now at the heart of a global growth strategy. With an action plan aimed at fostering the creation of a large audiovisual centre, Cannes is acquiring all the links in the cinema and audiovisual production chains. Cannes’ inclusion in the UNESCO Creative Cities network is consistent with this ambition and would promote international exchanges in this sector.
Véronique CAYLA
President of the César Academy
« The City of Cannes was a pioneer in France in generalising artistic and cultural education and has an ambitious image education programme, giving a major place to cinema as a force for bringing together and understanding cultural diversity. Its actions to raise awareness among young people beginning in kindergarten to creativity and the development of the imagination through this are undoubted assets of this candidacy and deserve to be shared with the network of UNESCO Creative Cities. »
Emmanuel ETHIS
Vice-President of the High Council for Artistic and Cultural Education; Rector of the Academic Region of Brittany
« La Quinzaine des Réalisateurs wants to play an important role in promoting exchanges between international festivals as part of its ‘Programmers’ Lunch,’ organised during the Cannes Film Festival. Many directors and programmers of foreign festivals of UNESCO Creative Cities are invited each year to meet to discuss the artistic choices of their festivals, including those of Sarajevo, Cairo, Sofia, Busan, and Berlin... So the Directors’ Fortnight team enthusiastically supports Cannes’ candidacy to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in order to promote international exchanges and sharing on cinematographic creation. »
Paolo MORETTI
Delegate General of the Directors’ Fortnight
« I fully support Cannes’ candidacy for the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Cannes Cinéma is in charge of the development of annual cinematographic creations and events in the city of Cannes for the benefit of all audiences. The association, a regional centre for audiovisual education, also coordinates and develops systems, tools and training for film education from kindergarten to post-baccalaureate levels as well as for adults and professionals. »
Gérard CAMY
President of the Cannes Cinéma Association
« It is with great pleasure and enthusiasm that I support the candidacy of the City of Cannes to join the UNESCO Network of Creative Cities in the film category. Indeed, as a member of the Cannes On Air committee, I am keen to support the development of the audiovisual sector on this cinema-rich region, which not only hosts the largest film festival in the world, but also many other creative industry events such as CANNESERIES, Lions, MIPCOM, and MIPTV. The entire CANNESERIES team is mobilized to help this application succeed. »
Benoît LOUVET
General Manager of CANNESERIES
The French Syndicate of Cinema Critics supports the candidacy of the City of Cannes to join the UNESCO Network Of Creative Cities in the film category. Since 1962, Cannes has hosted Critics’ Week, a parallel section of the Festival which is dedicated to discovering young talents in cinematographic creation around the world by highlighting their first and second feature films. In 2021, the City of Cannes completely renovated the Espace Miramar, which hosts the Critics’ Week each year, once again demonstrating its unwavering support for creators and conveyors of culture. The integration of Cannes into this international network will be an indisputable asset in strengthening the openness, diversity, and richness of the intercultural exchanges which are the raison d'être of Critic's Week.
Philippe ROUYER
President of the French Cinema Critics’ Union
Charles TESSON
Film critic, General Delegate of Critics’ Week
« Firstly, I would like to congratulate you for considering the inclusion of the City of Cannes in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.
In the application of the cultural program adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union during the 34th ordinary session held in Addis Ababa on February 6 & 7, 2021, His Excellency the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, current President of the African Union, has agreed this year to sponsor the African Pavilion, organised by my agency, the African Cultural Agency (ACA), during the next Cannes Film Festival this July 6-17, 2021. I can only celebrate your cultural ambitions, which match my own, and laud your openness to develop the cinema industry internationally. This is because I am convinced that culture is a lever for social emancipation, economic development, union, and transmission.
I am also delighted with Cannes’ willingness to support ACA in the development of the African Pavilion during the Cannes Film Festival, in order to promote initiatives in the field of cinema and to strengthen the visibility of young talent and creative richness from the continent, in particular through the screening of African short films during the event.
For all these reasons, and because we are leading the same fight for the promotion of culture, I fully support Cannes’ candidacy to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. »
Aminata DIOP JOHNSON
Director of the African Cultural Agency Founder of the African Pavilion of the Cannes Film Festival and the Paris Book Fair
« I fully share the conviction of the mayor of Cannes, who rightly sees that culture is in fact a source of individual fulfillment, collective bond, social emancipation, economic development and engenders a sense of unity and belonging. I therefore support Cannes' candidacy for the UNESCO Creative Cities network. It's clear that this intégration will be an appreciable contribution within the framework of our multilateral organisation and that of the other Creative Cities, of which 11 belong to the sphere of the African Union. »
Catherine KATHUNGU FURAHA
Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage of the Democratic Republic of Congo Country holding the Presidency-in-Office of the African Union
« Firstly, I would like to congratulate you for considering the inclusion of the City of Cannes in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.
In the application of the cultural program adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union during the 34th ordinary session held in Addis Ababa on February 6 & 7, 2021, His Excellency the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, current President of the African Union, has agreed this year to sponsor the African Pavilion, organised by my agency, the African Cultural Agency (ACA), during the next Cannes Film Festival this July 6-17, 2021. I can only celebrate your cultural ambitions, which match my own, and laud your openness to develop the cinema industry internationally. This is because I am convinced that culture is a lever for social emancipation, economic development, union, and transmission.
I am also delighted with Cannes’ willingness to support ACA in the development of the African Pavilion during the Cannes Film Festival, in order to promote initiatives in the field of cinema and to strengthen the visibility of young talent and creative richness from the continent, in particular through the screening of African short films during the event.
For all these reasons, and because we are leading the same fight for the promotion of culture, I fully support Cannes’ candidacy to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. »
Aminata DIOP JOHNSON
Director of the African Cultural Agency Founder of the African Pavilion of the Cannes Film Festival and the Paris Book Fair
« I fully share the conviction of the mayor of Cannes, who rightly sees that culture is in fact a source of individual fulfillment, collective bond, social emancipation, economic development and engenders a sense of unity and belonging. I therefore support Cannes' candidacy for the UNESCO Creative Cities network. It's clear that this intégration will be an appreciable contribution within the framework of our multilateral organisation and that of the other Creative Cities, of which 11 belong to the sphere of the African Union. »
Catherine KATHUNGU FURAHA
Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage of the Democratic Republic of Congo Country holding the Presidency-in-Office of the African Union
