See-Saw Films brings an Australian touch to the strangest Cannes Festival of all

The appearance of Ammonite at the Cannes Film Festival is just words on a piece of paper, but they cast a spell to break a viral curse.

The Cannes Film Festival is now more like a discussion between existentialist tragics in a smokey cafe as they wait for Satre and Simone Beauvoir to order a glass of wine and an expresso. 

It has become a conversation about a festival rather than a festival itself. Deprived of the opportunity to actually screen films, it has published the official program and is hoping that other gatherings later in the year will take on the cuckoo program themselves. First cab off the rank may well be the Melbourne International Film Festival. 

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David Tiley was the Editor of Screenhub from 2005 until he became Content Lead for Film in 2021 with a special interest in policy. He is a writer in screen media with a long career in educational programs, documentary, and government funding, with a side order in script editing. He values curiosity, humour and objectivity in support of Australian visions and the art of storytelling.