Cannes Film Marché to Run Alongside Agency-Led Virtual Initiative in June

With the Cannes Film Festival now in limbo due to France’s ban on events with big crowds until mid-July, the Marché du Film is now setting up a full-on virtual market from June 22-28, Variety has confirmed. In addition, the Marché du Film, which has always run alongside the festival, will this year run at the same time as a CAA-led virtual market, according to an industry source close to both initiatives.

Jerome Paillard, head of the Marché du Film, is to communicate details about the virtual market on Friday.

Paillard had previously said he was considering using the Marché du Film’s own digital tool Cinando, as well as other apps such as Zoom, to put together a virtual confab allowing for screenings, which would be complementary to the CAA-led initiative which will focus on presentations around packaging of projects and promoting movies.

The Marché du Film’s virtual market will cater to a wider array of sales agents and target arthouse distributors, whereas the U.S.-driven initiative will be geared towards bigger projects with high-profile talent.

Last year’s Marché du Film drew a record 12,527 participants. It’s considered to be the world’s biggest and most important movie markets for the independent film sector, ahead of the EFM in Berlin and the AFM in Los Angeles.

The Cannes Film Festival, meanwhile, won’t take place in late June or early July due to the coronavirus pandemic, though organizers have said they continue to explore different options for 2020.

More to come.