The most publicized event on the planet after the Olympics and the football World Cups. Two weeks of climbing the steps, endless stars, haute couture dresses and precious jewels. Temple of a certain excess and formidable sounding board, the Cannes Film Festival, which is held from 16 to 27 May, attracts the attention of the CGT. The latter has indicated its intentions very clearly since April 22: to conduct a "grevilla" (for strike and guerrilla warfare) and plunge into darkness the major events of the spring, including the most important of all.
The American specialized magazine Variety, which closely follows the news of the Croisette, gave details on the actions planned by the union. According to the head of the CGT, Denis Gravouil, several social actions will be held during the fortnight. Starting with a gathering of employees in the hotel and restaurant sector, on Friday, May 19, in front of the Carlton - the flagship of the hotel industry that has just reopened its doors. A "departmental and inter-union demonstration with the FSU, Solidaires and UNSA", according to the website of the local CGT, should take place two days later. The meeting point was given near Le Cannet, half an hour's walk from the Croisette.
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But this event will not be allowed to join the Croisette and the Palais des Festivals, the nerve center of the city at this time. As "in previous years", the prefecture of Alpes-Maritimes has taken a decree, Thursday, prohibiting any demonstration around the famous promenade, for the duration of the festival, details AFP. The perimeter concerned includes the surroundings of the Palace, the Croisette and the streets adjacent to it.
Trade union demonstrations or not, Cannes is, every May, invested by many security forces. This year, according to Nice-Matin, a thousand police, gendarmes and private security agents will be mobilized. The attack on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice in July 2016 partly explains this vigilance, which was also made necessary by the presence of politicians and international stars.
"Drawing attention to a breakdown"
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The festival and the Cannes City Hall will do everything to avoid this, but we want to take advantage of the media exposure enjoyed by this international event to draw attention to the concerto of the pans, "continues in Variety Denis Gravouil, who sits on the Board of Directors of the Festival de Cannes as a representative of the National Federation of Entertainment Unions, cinema, audiovisual and cultural action (FNSAC-CGT). He is its Secretary General. The same trade unionist hopes that prestigious guests concerned with social issues, such as Ken Loach - twice Palme d'Or winner and again in competition - will support the movement.
The CGT has therefore also promised possible power cuts, which would make the rooms quite obscure. In April, an Alsatian factory first, Montpellier airport and then a college in Hérault, were deprived of electricity shortly before presidential visits. On April 28, the match between the rugby players of Agen and Nevers is in the dark for half an hour. An action "assumed" by Guillaume Floret, representative of the CGT Energy in Aquitaine. "Obviously, we do not want there to be an accident at the stadium or crowd movements. According to my information, it went pretty well, everyone lit with their phone, "said the unionist after the fires were extinguished.
These cuts did not last. Depending on the case, a generator took over or technicians came to replenish the stations. The staff behind these actions risks being prosecuted. And licensed. If the town hall of Cannes, held by the energetic David Lisnard, refuses to comment, it is a safe bet that it has already prepared alternative solutions. As at every festival, the mayor constantly communicates with the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes, Bernard Gonzalez.
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Environmental activists on the spot
Last possible tremor, we remember the intrusion on the stage of the César, last February, of an environmental activist from the Last Renovation movement. Dressed in a t-shirt on which was written "We have 761days left", before the threshold of global warming was exceeded at + 761.1 ° C, a young woman of 5 years had stood motionless on stage, before being dragged out of the Olympia by the security service.
Eight members of the same radical collective have just been sentenced to 35 hours of community service or 90 days-fine (a fixed sum to be paid each day). Their blockade, in October 2022, of the A6 motorway, was described as a "traffic obstruction". For their happenings in cultural events, environmental activists are not condemned. But in the run-up to the Olympic Games, some fear a tightening of legislation.
Last year, the black smoke of smoke rose above the red carpet. The gluers of the documentary Riposte féministe had deployed before the eyes of the guests a long list of the 129 femicides committed in France since the last Cannes Film Festival. Will they return this year to protest against the presence of Johnny Depp in turmoil since his highly publicized trial against Amber Heard and who plays the role of Louis XV in Maïwenn's film, Jeanne du Barry, screened at the opening of this 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival?
