The jewels that
get selected for the Cannes Film Festival has to pass through the keen eyes of Christian Jeune, a
man who has been with the festival for the past 20 years and who heads the Film
Departments of the festival. From scouting for films, negotiating with
filmmakers and organizing screenings and pressers, Christian starts his work
early in the year. Film Bazaar is one of his hunting grounds.
“I am mainly coming
to the Film Bazaar because this is the best event organised in India when it
comes to meeting film makers. They are doing a great job here to show the works
in progress and the new projects. Usually the films that are shown at the Film
Bazaar are those which will travel for film festival all around the world.
‘Titli’, ‘Masaan’, ‘Lunchbox’ was here, so there is no secret about the quality
of work,” says Christian talking about the Film Bazaar organised by NFDC.
“I have been coming
to India for festivals for the last 20 years and I have been to different
places like Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai for MAMI. I think they are doing a good
job and they will grow and it is becoming quite exciting. I have never been to
Kerala but I love the selection of films at the festival. Unfortunately, I
cannot attend it because the festival is held in December which is too late for
me,” he adds.
Selections for films
for Cannes Film Festival starts at this time of the year, “We start from now as
we keep receiving films till mid – April and even after the press conference,
we are still watching films. Some people say to me, ‘you are not watching our
films’, what do you think we are doing? Everywhere in the world, we are
searching for films like finding pearls, of course, we watch every film. We
receive almost 1700 films every year. We don’t reject films as it is a strong
word but we are choosing films which we think are the best, which can be
questioned, which is another story. But we don’t select films which we don’t think
is suitable for the selection,” he says.
What is lacking in
India when it comes to films that make it to world festivals. “It is question
Indians should ask themselves. The first cinema in India developed from theatre
while in Europe it developed from photography. I would have said with such a
big audience in India, you don’t need to reach the world but as an artist you
have to. They should look at what is working outside especially the Indian
films that have worked well and are lauded. If you are a real artist, you can
be great in your own world. However, cinema is not like being a writer or
painter where you can be on your own. It is an expensive art and it involves a
lot of more individuals to form an artistic team. A prophet has no honor in his
own country,” explains Christian.
He further adds,
“Bollywood films cannot travel because they are longer, even if I enjoy
Bollywood films, for my personal pleasure. There is no problem for Indian films
to reach the Cannes Film Festival. Cannes is a profession film festival. It is
the only film festival in the world that doesn’t sell tickets.”
Speaking about the
magnitude of the Cannes Film Festival and its success, he says, “It cannot grow
more than it is in terms of attendance and infrastructure. It is a festival hat
is evolving with the times and what cinema is becoming. We are not making
films; we are showing what the world of cinema is. The transformation is coming
from the society itself,” says Christian.
Christian
doesn’t have any interest in directing, producing or acting in any films.
However, he owns a firm that subtitles and translates films into French, which
includes Sam Mendes’ ‘Skyfall’ and Nicole Kidman starrer ‘Stoker.’ “It is a
different way of watching a film. The worst thing for me in life is reading a
script, which I don’t have to but sometimes, when my friends ask me, I do. But
it is a painful experience,” concludes Christian.
