Thierry Frémaux defends theatrical cinema

Movie theaters were the real subject of Thierry Frémaux’s Cannes remarks this week — more than any one film. The festival’s longtime chief used his pre-opening press conference to make a broad case that theatrical cinema still matters, and that Cannes intends to act like it matters. But he also stepped into a familiar fight. When asked about the male-heavy Competition lineup, he said selection is based on the quality of films, not gender. That landed exactly how you’d expect at Cannes — as both a defense of principle and a fresh provocation. ### What did Frémaux actually say? The core message was simple: theaters are still the center of the movie experience. In a Cannes interview published ahead of the festival, Frémaux said even streamers are fighting for theatrical releases because the cinema run creates everything else — reviews, audience response, public visibility, and the sense of event that turns a film into something larger. Then, at Monday’s traditional press meeting before the May 12 opening, he kept returning to the idea that Cannes exists to define what cinema is right now, not just to mirror industry drift. (deadline.com) ### Why is “theatrical cinema” the pressure point? Because the business is wobbling. Hollywood studios are making fewer movies that fit Cannes, fewer mid-budget auteur projects, and in some cases fewer movies full stop. Frémaux acknowledged that this year’s lineup is lighter on major U.S. studio premieres and said he hopes those films come back. That is the backdrop for his theater-first line — it is not nostalgia for red carpets, basically, but a claim that cinema loses status when the theatrical window stops mattering. (festival-cannes.com) ### Why did the gender question flare up again? Because the numbers are awkward. Only five of the 22 films in Competition this year are directed by women. Last year there were seven out of 22. So even after years of pressure on Cannes to broaden representation, the flagship section moved backward by that measure. Frémaux’s answer was that films are chosen for their artistic strength, not to hit a gender target. Supporters hear that as a defense of curation. (deadline.com) Critics hear the old gatekeeping argument in a tuxedo. ### Is this just a Cannes culture-war moment? Not really — though Cannes does love turning programming into philosophy. The deeper issue is who gets to define prestige cinema in a fragmented market. If Hollywood is sending fewer obvious contenders, and streamers still sit awkwardly inside the festival’s theatrical ideals, then Cannes has more room to elevate international auteurs and co-productions. Frémaux seems comfortable with that. He has described the current trend as “audience-friendly auteur films,” which is a neat way of saying Cannes wants serious cinema that can still feel like an event. (philstar.com) ### Why does Cannes care so much about being the place that “defines” cinema? Because that is its power. Cannes is not just a showcase — it is a sorting machine. A premiere there can change distribution plans, awards positioning, financing prospects, and the whole conversation around a filmmaker. So when Frémaux says the festival’s mission is to define what cinema will be in 2026, he is making a territorial claim. He is saying the future of movies should still be argued in theaters, on big screens, in public. (filmofilia.com) ### What is the catch in that argument? The catch is that “theatrical cinema” sounds universal, but access to that prestige system is not. If selection is defended entirely as pure quality, then structural imbalances can be brushed aside as unfortunate but natural. That is why the gender question keeps returning. Frémaux is defending a model of cinema that many filmmakers still revere — but he is also defending the gate through which that model gets validated. (festival-cannes.com) ### So what changed this week? Frémaux made Cannes’ stance explicit at the exact moment the 79th festival opened. Instead of soft-selling the lineup, he framed the festival as a bulwark for theaters, auteur filmmaking, and artistic selection unconstrained by quotas. In a year when Hollywood’s presence is thinner, that is more than festival rhetoric. It is Cannes choosing to sound less like a market and more like a doctrine. (deadline.com) ### Bottom line? Frémaux is betting that the best defense of Cannes is also the best defense of movie theaters — but that bet comes with an argument about who still gets invited inside. (deadline.com)