Money talks, and no entity in the film world talks louder than Hollywood, says The Daily Telegraph's David Gritten. But you can't help feeling irritated by the fevered hype surrounding these expensive movies - in a place where the quality, not the potential box-office returns of films should be under scrutiny. It's doubly annoying that these films aren't even entered in competition.
"Festivals are primarily
about quality. A Cannes prize should carry significance"
You can see their thinking. Why risk spending all those dollars making
these movies, only to have them lose out to some low-budget effort from
Paraguay or Turkey? Why trust their fate to a jury mainly composed of
Europeans?
"Hollywood weighs in with bigger, slicker films withheld from
competition"
There's a sadder truth here. Not winning the Palme d'Or would be simply
embarrassing, but winning it would make little impact on a film's
commercial success.
We're accustomed to seeing posters for films with those little
announcements, surrounded by garlands, of what prizes it has won. But
in marketing terms, they make little difference.
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