David Lisnard: Last News

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Michel Merkt, the Monaco-based producer and consultant who’s played a key behind-the-scene role in bolstering Cannes’s profile post-pandemic, has been named honorary citizen of the city of Cannes Merkt, an AMPAS voter who has produced over 50 films, was awarded the diploma prize by Cannes Mayor David Lisnard during an intimate ceremony on May 23. Lisnard paid tribute to the Swiss-born consultant and benefactor’s crucial backing for the city’s cultural and social initiatives. In the last few years, Merkt has helped reinvigorate Critics Week, the Cannes Film Festival’s sidebar dedicated to first and second films, by financing the renovation of its venue, the Miramar theater. He also lent a precious financing hand to the Cannes Film Festival, Directors Fortnight, as well as Canneseries and helped enlist top-level executives for its industry program, on top of being involved in the city’s plans to build a college campus. He also contributed to initiatives to welcome Ukrainian refugees.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The sixth edition of Canneseries, the international festival for premium series, kicked off Friday with the world premiere of the first episode of Apple TV+’s sci-fi show “Silo.” Lead actor and executive producer Rebecca Ferguson, director and executive producer Morten Tyldum, and screenwriter and executive producer Graham Yost walked the pink carpet at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, and spoke about the show on stage, before attending a party at an exclusive beach-side venue. It was standing room only in the 2,300-seat Louis Lumiere auditorium, where the dress code was described as “creative chic,” as the evening got underway with opening remarks by the mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, Canneseries president, Fleur Pellerin, and “Fauda” actor and co-creator Lior Raz, who is the president of the main jury. The ceremony, hosted with aplomb by French comedy actor and writer Camille Chamoux, aired on pay TV service Canal+.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Midem conference, which ran for 55 years before its owner canceled the 2022 edition, will return in 2023, according to a report in Music Business Worldwide.While the 2022 event was officially canceled by Reed Midem in December, it was reported at the time that the city of Cannes, which has hosted the event since its inception, would take it over, and that appears to be the case: according to the report, the Midem brand was recently sold to the City of Cannes Municipality by RX France, Reed Midem’s parent company.“In order to rediscover this emblematic event on the Cannes calendar, the City of Cannes is taking over the Midem so that it once again becomes the essential meeting place for music professionals from all over the world,” said the city’s mayor, David Lisnard, in a statement cited by MBW. “Maintaining this show in Cannes represents an economic challenge for local employment and attractiveness for the destination.” Lisnard said the city consulted with “several professionals” representing the French and global musical businesses, including major and independent record labels, concert promoters, streaming platforms and others “in order to offer a qualitative program [for Midem] that is as close as possible to the realities and developments in the [music] sector.”The city’s statement added that “the health crisis, as well as the reorganization of the activity of the RX company led [the firm] to give up the organization of Midem.”The conference launched in Cannes in 1967 and for decades was a showcase for the world’s biggest artists and executives.

annual event on the Riviera will file past a pair of sniffer dogs posted at the entrance to the Palais where screenings are held, Cannes town hall has said. The hounds handled by the local Municipal Police have been trained to detect Covid-19 through human sweat as part of a prevention program trialled in France.

A new breed of Cannes chienne has arrived at the film festival this year, joining the various pampered pooches that are paraded up and down the Croisette and the occasional canine red carpet star (RIP Uggie).

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentBest known as the glamorous backdrop to the world’s biggest film festival, Cannes has become one of France’s wealthiest cities thanks to the yearlong parade of markets and conferences it hosts. But with many of these events going entirely digital or having been called off altogether due to the coronavirus pandemic, the city’s restaurant and hospitality sectors are enduring heavy losses.“This pandemic is having a catastrophic impact on the local community,” Cannes Mayor David Lisnard tells Variety.