2018 Cannes: Press Screenings Shuffled Ahead of World Premieres; Selfies Banned

In an announcement a few years in the making, Cannes Film Festival head Thierry Frémaux revealed today that press screenings for main gala premieres won’t be held before those premieres but will instead happen simultaneously. The press will see the 7pm showings at the same time as filmmakers, stars and audiences in the Lumiere theater watch them, but from the smaller Debussy. In the past, reviews for world premieres would hit newsstands and online publications ahead of their showing, sometimes glowing but sometimes outright pans that cast a shadow on the star-studded red carpets.

For the 10pm galas, the press screening will occur the next morning, said Frémaux in an exclusive interview with French trade magazine Le Film Français, which was published today (in French, with a paywall).

Also, selfies on the red carpet will be officially banned for the first time. Frémaux continued, “With (festival president) Pierre Lescure, we decided to totally ban them. At the top of the red carpet the triviality and slowdown of flow provoked by the disorder of selfies ruins the quality of the red carpet, and thus the festival entirely.” The ban includes both film fans as well as celebs.

Additions to the fest this year are more Masterclasses (at the request of festival attendees) and a new Three Days At Cannes initiative for 1,000 people aged 18-28 who will be invited for the last three days of the festival.

The 71st Cannes Film Festival runs May 8-19. Two-time Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett will head this year’s jury (which will be announced next month) and the official lineup will be revealed on April 12th.