Cannes canned

[fiona savage]

Why has the Cannes Film Festival been so slated in the press?

[andy hughes]

Because Cannes is a traditional gathering of the great and the good in the film industry, it does tend to turn into something of a 'luvvy' festival - lots of parties, and mutual back-slapping. As with any festival where like-minded people gather, behaviour tends to become exaggerated, and is an easy target for the press who love to puncture the egos of the film gliterati. The festival is probably a valuable and valid shop window for the film industry, but it also a gathering for rich film stars, and artistic film-makers, who provide plenty of column inches for the cynical hacks to chew over. We do get the press we deserve - the annual ritual of sniping at Cannes merely enforces that fact.