It is the film festival, which I think is of marginal importance,' suggests Ealing boss Barnaby Thompson, producer of St Trinian's, of the art/commerce dichotomy. That, at least, is the theory, but sometimes, amid the relentless photo opportunities, publicity stunts, junkets and trade announcements, the 'art' gets swamped. The festival confers a little class on the market the market, in turn, provides the bustle and vulgarity that gives the festival its colour. While the official festival showcases cinema as art, the Cannes market (set up in 1961) is an old-fashioned bazaar in which everything is for sale – arthouse, porn, horror pictures, documentaries, action movies, even auditorium seating. Juries will ignore what later come to be regarded as the finest films (the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men was given nothing at last year's festival). Festival programmers will overlook gems (for example, the Oscar winner The Lives of Others was rejected by Cannes). Distributors may pay fortunes to acquire titles that it turns out no one wants to see. Critics will praise as masterpieces films that appear nothing special when seen a few months later in the cold light of a London screening room. In the hyper-charged atmosphere of Cannes, judgement can become erratic.
