How Trump's tariffs could violate the Cannes Film Festival

Tom Bernard is not just not only dragging his smoking with him when he travels to the film festival in Cannes this month; The co-president of Sony Pictures Classics also fills his suitcase full of jerseys and T-shirts, which are decorated with logos of Canadian hockey teams such as Toronto Maple Leafs. “I want people to know that I am Canadians, not Americans,” says Bernard. “I've been to Cannes since 1985 and when things in the world are not going well, they feel it. It changes the atmosphere.”

Bernard may be Canadian from birth, but how many in the indie film business he earns his living in the USA, that could be a problem because the country has initiated a trade war with everyone. And Trump's bomb announcement on May 4 About the truth social that he introduced 100% tariffs for all films that are “produced in foreign countries” should lead to unpleasant moments in the Croisette.

“You will treat us like Teslas,” predicts a studio manager and refers to the electric vehicles where sales have decreased by 70% since Elon Musk Trump has been in the White House.

However, there is a lot to distract from geopolitical awkwardness. This year's festival offers a dazzling representation of Star Power. Tom Cruise, who was last seen in Cannes and looked out of the levels of the Palais, as fighter jets in the homage to “Top Gun: Maverick” across the sky, returns with “Mission: Impossible – The End Reckoning”. The film acts as a farewell to Cruise from The Spy-Franchise, in which European cities such as Venice, Paris and Vienna were used as a backdrop for its largest action set pieces. Then there are Harris Dickinson and Scarlett Johansson, who let the red carpet run to present another side of themselves – the couple makes their functions with debuts with “Ururchin” or “Eleanor the Great”. And Wes Anderson will bring his latest “The Phoenician Scheme” to Cannes. The author's new ensemble film moans practically under the weight of A-List headliners such as Benicio del Toro, Benedict Cumberbatch, Riz Ahmed, Jeffrey Wright and Tom Hanks.

Pulling a premiere in Cannes is an expensive offer. Smaller Indies with large stars will spend in the low six figures for private trips, makeup artists and stylists as well as security. The climbs over 1 million US dollars for an ensemble that is occupied in a studio image such as “Mission: Impossible”, which also has to tow with publicists and managers. It is a check that most are willing to write, since Cannes' status was confirmed as a flavors after it was organized by the youngest Oscar candidates such as “Emilia Pérez” and last year's Best -Picture “Anora”. His ability to attract attention for films that have its premiere at the festival justifies the costs for shipping stars and their entourage of the Riviera.

“Cannes marks the beginning of the price race,” says Bernard. “It is perfect to start a film because it is difficult to find many other festivals where you have the attention of global media to one place.”

Despite all the glamor that makes cannes such a unique experience, there is noticeable fear when the festival is ready to start its 78th edition. Many managers fear that Trump's tariffs will endanger their business. There is widespread confusion about how the tariffs are administered for foreign films. If you come into force, you threaten to disguise a network of foreign subsidies, to the studios and islands to finance your films. The wider tariffs already have the potential to increase production costs, since materials for sets and costumes that are delivered from countries such as China are heavily taxed. If interest rates rise or stay at their relatively high level, this increases the capital costs, which makes it more difficult to secure the financing required for the production of films. The falling value of the dollar also means that picking up films abroad becomes more expensive.

That means nothing about the Spillover effect of the tariffs, such as the potential for global recession. The situation will continue to complicit how these tariffs are implemented – they are switched on – they are switched off – which makes it almost impossible for companies to plan.

“Tariffs are the outstanding macroeconomic thing that has just happened, but there is so much shift that it is difficult to know how it will be in three or four months, let alone next year,” says Glen Basner, founder of Filmnation. “The only thing you can do is to draw and ittery while going.”

Gaëtan Breel, President of the French National Film Board, says that the positions of the Trump government “create a lot of discomfort in Europe”. When the film-oriented tariffs go forward, he predicts that “everyone would lose with the US industry themselves. Europe and France in particular are important markets for American works.” Films from the USA make up about 60% of the content that people consume in Europe.

Sarah Lebutsch, Senior Vice President for Sales and Sales at Protagonist Pictures, does not believe that buyers will deviate from American films. It is careful that the best stories all over the world will find distribution, regardless of where they are manufactured. “We have not yet seen politically motivated decisions about films from certain areas,” she says. “For distributors, it is more about the strength of the package or the finished film.”

If the world taps into the recession, international boundaries will not be enough to withstand economic pain. Everyone will be affected. What does that mean for the cinema? Films are still affordable forms of entertainment. A ticket for the latest blockbuster costs a fraction of what people spend on a concert or a ball game. The hope is that when the economy begins to limit itself, the films that have its premiere in Cannes or are sold to distributors as packages (industry feeling for a script that is supplied with a director and connected on the market) on the market that accompanies the festival.

“I think that it will always be true is that people like to go to the cinema when there are good shit,” says Scott Shooman, head of the IFC entertainment group. “Films are still cheaper than a vacation or a fancy meal. They are still a really good price -performance ratio.”

When pandemic decreased, older adults who once bought tickets for more unusual films did not come back in the same numbers as younger cinema goers. But last year, independent studios achieved big hits. In some cases, they have built up their slates in favor of more genre tariff and less Oscar bait. This worked with “Late Night with the Devil” and “Longlegs”, horror films published by IFC and Neon and were accepted by the audience. But dramas and comedies such as “Anora”, “Conclave” and “The Brutalist” have also put together impressive gross and proves that there is still an audience for the kind of AUTE-powered projects that contain Cannes, especially if they offer something special from the generic action films and comic adventures that produce large studios.

“You have seen how so many other independent films broke through in a significant way,” says Basner. “These were challenging films that inspired the audience. What that tells me is that we have to stop thinking about what the audience asks and concentrating more on what the filmmaker's vision is. This is a great way to success.”

If you don't participate Preming for your films or watching other films looking for talents with which you want to work. Managers like Basner spend their time at Cannes meeting with distributors and sales employees from all over the world in cafes and hotel bars. The film industry is a relationship business. For years, these connections are forced to travel from one festival to another and to check a global network of business people and creative talents in order to evaluate the health of an art form that they love. Many managers believe that these ties are strong enough to withstand the cultural tensions that are triggered by the actions of the Trump government. In addition, Hollywood's liberal politics deviates from those of the President, what managers believe that they give cover.

“I will insert on the market early when there is hostility,” says Kent Sanderson, the President of Bleecker Street. “Maybe I'm just optimistic, but I think the spirit of our conversations may be a feeling of guilt in view of the political inclinations of most American film business.”

Charles Gillibert, a French producer, will be in Cannes with Kristen Stewart's directorial debut “The Chronology of Water” and Jim Jarmussch's “father, mother, sister, sister, brother”. He plans to continue working with American talent, because what matters is “not nationality – it is the worldview.

Although Hollywood may not be ideologically aligned with Trump, many celebrities and managers have decided to keep their objections to themselves when his second term begins, perhaps afraid of the career they could suffer. Gillibert was surprised to see that “some reactions in the United States in the United States are quite shy about the latest events”.

VIP+ Analysis: Approaches for Showbiz as a scary sequel

Trump's return to power and his willingness to use it to punish enemies has a terrifying effect when it comes to producing more controversial films. In 2004 Cannes awarded the main prize, the Palmen D'Or, with “Fahrenheit 9/11”, Michael Moore's blasty exam of George W. Bush's decision to penetrate Iraq. Today, politically charged documentaries, especially those aimed at the current president, are an endangered species.

“Care on the management of the tools that are made available to them against people who make films with messages that they do not like harms the market for documentaries of social interest,” admits a sales employee.

But this coin has another side. The agent states that films that solved the president and his inner circle, like Brett Ratner's upcoming documentary about Melania Trump, which was sold to Amazon for 40 million US dollars.

“If you want to pay tribute to the king, it is a pretty good way to do this,” says the agent.

Additional reporting by Matt Donnelly and Elsa Keslassy