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"In
the past, people only talked about the cinema. We as organizers
only had one anxiety - the films: will people like them, will
people hate them?" Fremaux said at a news conference with
journalists on Monday.
Fremaux made the comment in response to a question about a
report in French newspaper Le Figaro last week that said Cannes
had hired a crisis management team to deal with possible fallout
from a list that could be published of 10 film industry figures
who have been accused of sexual abuse.
"It's not polemics that actually spring from the festival,
that's something we want to avoid," Fremaux said.
However, he said it felt was important to show at the festival
the new short film "Moi Aussi" ("Me Too") by Judith Godreche, a
French actor who has been a major voice in the country's #MeToo
movement. The global #MeToo movement has exposed men accused of
sexual harassment in fields including entertainment, politics
and business.
Last week, the festival announced that the 17-minute short
featuring the testimony of some 1,000 victims of sexual abuse
would be shown at the "Un Certain Regard" competition's opening
ceremony on Wednesday evening.
Fremaux repeatedly stressed that films were chosen for their
cinematic qualities - whether on Ukraine, Gaza or former U.S.
President Donald Trump.
From the start, "Cannes has reflected the upheaval in the world
because that's what directors do in their film," he said.
Fremaux is also dealing with a possible strike by festival
workers that threatens to shut everything down at Cannes, which
runs from May 14 to 25. Fremaux said that Cannes was discussing
matters with workers' representatives on a daily basis.
Fremaux said that the festival had workers that staff interacted
with every day who were calling for better conditions. "Everyone
wants to avoid a strike," he said.
(Reporting by Miranda Murray and Alicia Powell, Editing by
Rosalba O'Brien)
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