Guillaume Esmiol: Last News

Marta Balaga Participating in the Goes to Cannes initiative for the very first time, Australia’s Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival has unveiled titles selected for its works-in-progress showcase: Four feature films and one documentary. “It is the first time that Goes to Cannes has a partner from Australia and it’s also the first time when we have a festival dedicated to LGBTQ films and content. It’s also a part of our impACT initiative, which supports diversity, inclusion and sustainability in the film industry,” observes Guillaume Esmiol, executive director at Marché du Film. Fawzia Mirza’s “The Queen of My Dreams” and Poppy Stockell’s dark comedy-drama “Triple Oh!” – “about a mismatched pair of queer ambulance paramedics who get hands-on with life, death, and each other,” teases the director – will be presented, as well as “Sunflower” by Gabriel Carrubba. 

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Seen from the 14th floor of its Radisson Hotel, Montevideo’s skyline, bristling with white marble high-rises and monuments, looks like a very different scenario for Ventana Sur, Latin America’s foremost film-TV co-pro forum and market, relocated from its chic Buenos Aires setting for the first time since 2009. Yet in many ways, this is the same Ventana Sur, playing to its strengths and galvanized by its context, Uruguay, one of Latin America’s fastest-growing film-TV hubs, both as a big-shoot locale and home-grown movie industry.

Marta Balaga HanWay Films’ Head of Production Katie Ellen, microfilm producer Ada Solomon and Co-Head of WME Independent Alex Walton will address the audience during Locarno’s StepIn opening keynote. According to this year’s theme “The Ground Is Shaking,” they will take on four topics: A.I., current challenges in independent production and financing, the traditional theatrical model and gender equality and diversity representation.

The Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film is gearing up for a 6% hike in attendance with numbers expected to hit close to 15,000 participants, according to projections revealed by executive director Guillaume Esmiol in the run-up to its opening Tuesday.

Ellise Shafer The second annual Cannes Investors Circle has revealed its lineup, including films from Ruben Östlund and Lorcan Finnegan. Taking place at the Marché du Film during the Cannes Film Festival, the Investors Circle showcases 10 never-before-seen films in various stages of development to an exclusive group of film financing experts and investors.

The Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film is launching a new initiative, bannered Cannes Remakes, aimed at fostering remake opportunities for European feature films that have proven successful in their home territories.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Fantastic Pavilion, the genre hub launched last year in Cannes, saunters back to the Croisette for its second edition, returning with a host of activities that include the Fantastic Galas, cocktails, and a showcase of genre video games as well as the second edition of the Fantastic Latido Award. Welcomed by the Marché du Film as part of its ecosystem, the Fantastic Pavilion will pay tribute to this year’s country of honor with a cocktail celebration alongside the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFF) as well as a spotlight on Swiss films and Switzerland as a filming location in The Fantastic Pavilion Rue Morgue special edition magazine.

Switzerland has been named as the Country of Honor at the 2024 edition of the Cannes Marché du Film, running alongside parent event the Cannes Film Festival from May 14 to 22.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While the lineup of Cannes Film Market’s newly launched initiative Cannes Investors Circle has remained under wraps, Variety has learned about four of the nine projects which were pitched during the invitation-only event. The initiative was created by the film market’s new executive director Guillaume Esmiol to connect VIP private investors with select filmmakers and producers boasting a stellar track records. Curated by experts such as Medici’s Tamara Tatishvili, Arte Cinema’s Rémi Burah and financier Serge Hayat, the nine projects are budgeted between €2 million and €12 million. Among these are “Dracula. The Second Coming” directed by Radu Jude, the Romanian helmer of Berlinale prizewinning “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn,” directed by Ada Solomon at microFILM; “Rivo Alto,” directed by Clément Cogitore (“The Wakhan Front”) and produced by Jean-Christophe Reymond at Kazak Productions (“Titane”); “The Girl” directed by Marina Ziolkowski (“But You Look So Good”) and produced by Philippe Gompel (“Cherry”) at Manny Films, and “The Birthday Party” directed by Miguel Angel Jimenez (“Chaika”) and produced by Giorgos Karnavas (“Triangle of Sadness”) at Heretic.

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here, and with Cannes just a few days away we’ve got plenty for you to digest in this week’s newsletter. You can subscribe here.

Naman Ramachandran The Cannes Film Market has launched Cannes Investors Circle, which will commence with a keynote introduction by Liesl Copland, Participant’s executive VP, content and platform strategy, who will offer her perspective on the modern media landscape. The initiative will also feature a panel discussion titled Navigating Film Finance in a Changing World that aims to offer insights on global financing and market trends in 2023 and beyond. The panelists will include Elisa Alvares, finance expert at Jacaranda Consultants; Rikke Ennis, CEO of REinvent Studios; Emilie Georges, co-founder and CEO of Paradise City; Mike Goodridge, U.K. producer at Good Chaos who is also presenting Jessica Hausner’s “Club Zero” in the festival’s official competition; with film festival consultant Wendy Mitchell moderating.

Pierre Lescure said at a packed farewell cocktail on Monday to Jerôme Paillard.Many will share Lescure’s sentiment. The drinks party was meant to be a farewell.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentOver the past nearly 30 years, as the international film business became more complex, two certainties remained: the Cannes Film Market still ranked as the biggest movie emporium in the world, and overseeing it was the energetic Jérôme Paillard.Now, having driven attendance up from 2,000 in 1995 to over 12,500 in 2019 and year-on-year growth for every edition save 2002’s and 2008’s, Paillard is stepping down. The 2022 Cannes Film Market — Marché du Film in French — will be his last, as he passes the baton to its new executive director, Guillaume Esmiol.For many, it will seem like the passing of an era.“I’m not that young anymore.

Naman Ramachandran The Cannes Film Market has added to its previously announced Ukraine in Focus program, which will provide Ukrainian filmmakers and producers with networking, pitching and co-financing opportunities over two days during the Cannes Film Festival, on May 21 and 22. A panel discussion titled “Ukrainian Cinema: From Surviving to Thriving Again: How the Global Film Community Can Come Together to Support the Country’s War-Torn Industry” will take place on May 21.In addition the market has confirmed the full endorsement and patronage of Ukrainian Films Now, an initiative promoted by EAVE, First Cut Lab, and When East Meets West, which aims at gathering a pool of European regional and national film funds to support Ukrainian films at a late post-production stage to complete the final financial gap.

Cannes Film Festival says it is anticipating in-person industry attendance at its 2022 edition to be “much higher than last year”, with the vast majority of delegates set to make the trip.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentCannes’ Marché du Film, the world’s biggest film market, is set to change leadership in 2023 with its long-time, charismatic executive director Jerome Paillard due to exit after this year’s edition. Guillaume Esmiol has been named co-executive director for this edition and will fully take over in 2023. Esmiol joined the Marché du Film in 2020 to spearhead the development.

Guillaume Esmiol has been named the successor of Cannes Marché head Jérôme Paillard, who will step down from his role after this year’s edition. Esmiol will serve as co-exec director of the Marché this year, where he will work in tandem with Paillard, before taking on the role entirely from 2023.