Cannes Recap

Now that I have had a minute or two to sleep off Cannes, the jet lag, and the French wine that is required in order to be considered polite, I am considering what the take-aways were for this festival.  I have come up with the following, as a start:

1.  Creativity in funding and distribution are the new games across the land.  The old studio method of thinking and doing are really becoming archaic.  Thinking outside of the box is now a survival requirement.

2.  Violence, and more specifically, violence towards women, just never seems to go out of fashion.  The coveted premieres were blood, guts, and torture.  I suppose that fact that we are a world constantly at war, somewhere, will always make this so.  I am not against all violence in film.  I love a good cutting off of the ear when needed.  If the story warrants it, full-speed ahead.  But lengthy scenes of genital mutilation as torture?  Seems like lazy storytelling and filmmaking to me.

3.  The Asian market is about to take over the industry.  The infusion of huge capital alone will make this so.  Should be interesting to see the effect on "Western" product.

4.  American filmmakers need to organize themselves as a group, in order to take advantage of the European short film market.  In a big way.

5.  Hilary Swank knows how to work a red carpet.