Your Cannes Questions, Answered. Plus: Our Way-Too-Early Oscar Predictions

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1:17Hello and welcome to Little Gold Men, Vanity Fair's podcast for film, TV, and awards lovers. I'm Rebecca Ford. And I'm John Ross. Well, my predictions came true. I had to unpack and repack my bags at the Burbank airport in front of everyone to distribute the weight on my way to Cannes. John, I was thinking about this, and I don't understand how you have so much stuff. Men can wear the same tuxedo every night. I have like eight red carpet dresses I have to pack. What I packed is outrageous. What I packed. I packed things for like weather that ranges from like Arctic to like we're alone on a desert island.

2:03I packed so much stuff that the people in the airport were laughing. Like they were waving as I like walked into security. They were like, goodbye, like at the end of like Wizard of Oz. Well, I mean, Can is tricky because the weather is very unpredictable. I've been checking it like every five minutes and it changes every five minutes. So I get it. But we are bringing so many nice things to wear because we have some very special Vanity Fair events that you've been working very hard on planning. You want to talk about the big ones? Yeah, we're doing our party on Saturday night, which is super exciting and will feature a lot of the talent and directors attending the festival.

2:44We're doing a nice, really intimate dinner beforehand. And we're going to this restaurant, Taitou, which is this old, can-famous hangout that's been closed for many, many years. But it's reopening this year, and we're like the first thing going into the space, which is very cool. I'm also excited because we'll be releasing a couple of bonus episodes this week with dispatches from the festival, where we'll talk about what we've seen, what we're hearing on the ground, which celebrities are running around in the south of France. So watch out for those right here on the podcast feed. And of course, please keep sending us questions to littlegoldmen at vf.com.

3:28Today on the show, we're answering your questions about the Cannes Film Festival. Plus, by popular demand, we're going to do a look ahead at what we think 2026 will look like in film and give some far too early predictions about what we might be seeing at the Oscars next year. And to help us out, she needs no introduction. And yet, you persist. Our best friend in the world, Hilary Bucis. It's me. I should say John is in New York right now before he goes to Cannes, and we are recording in the studio together, and we're sorry that you're not here too, Rebecca. We miss you terribly. Well, let's get into it.

4:06We got some really great questions from the listeners. So I'm going to go ahead and read the first one here. This first one comes from Beth, who writes, What do all the different categories at the festival mean? In competition, uncertain regard, out of competition, can premiere, can classics? Obviously, I assume only the in-competition ones can win the Palme d 'Or. But what differentiates the others in both the eyes of the festival and the attendees? Wait, what about Director's Fortnight? Well, we'll talk about Director's Fortnight. We've got to talk about Director's Fortnight. That's the one none of us know what that means.

4:39Director's Fortnight. Well, I guess I'll start by saying Beth is correct. If you are in competition, you can win the Palme d 'Or or, you know, best director, best actor, those things. So that is the lineup that we look at most closely, obviously, when trying to figure out who might win the Palme this year. John, you want to break down another category for us? Okay. Out of competition means you're usually studio film, doesn't want to compete with the other films, and you're like rolling out a big premiere. That's like your Mission Impossible. Yes, although there is not a Mission Impossible this year, but that's where they put the Mission Impossible.

5:22The mission was too impossible. Yeah, the Elvis premiere, usually a big animated film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Killers of a Flower Moon. Those are out of competition. I'd say the second most important category is in certain regard. And that's for up and coming filmmakers and slightly like it's like one notch below maybe in competition. It's a lot of first time. It's not all the regard. It's a specific sort of regard. However, if you look back, for example, Ryan Coogler had Fruitvale Station in Uncertain Regard the year that it came out. It was in Sundance first, and then they screened it in that section.

6:12So if you look back at films that were in Uncertain Regard, you'll see like a lot of big filmmakers have come out of that section. I call it the like minor leagues before you go to the majors. And this list didn't even include, there's also like midnight screenings. That's horror. Yeah, that one's sort of obvious, but it is a separate section. I never make it to those films because they're A, scary, and B, late at night. So that's not my section. Midnight is like horror or lots of sex. That's how I feel. Or both, as the case may be. Or both. Right. Okay, what other categories do we have? Oh, can premiere.

6:49So Cannes premiere is usually like a director they would like to have at the festival or like a notable director. But similar to like out of competition, does not want to screen in competition. Like John Travolta has his film this year in that section. And like they want John Travolta, but he's not exactly probably ready for competition with his film. So it's a good way to get other sort of big directors to the festival or big names to the festival. And then Directors' Fortnight is interesting because it's not run by the Cannes Festival proper. It's called like a parallel series. And so it's not even chosen by the same people who choose, you know, what's in the festival.

7:34But they do often have like, I think, up and coming international directors a lot. And then there'll be movies that have like American stars. So it's worth keeping an eye on. But I think with, you know, with our focus, I don't make it to a lot of the Directors' Fortnight films. yeah there's so many films it's it's it's a big festival yeah it's and that like premiere it's somewhere in the palais that they're screening those movies but it's hard to find and the palais as we all know is the place where they screen all the movies so the palais is um where the red carpet steps are but inside of it it's a it's a um conference center yeah okay You know, I never knew that.

8:20I've been covering this for a while, but I haven't actually been to Cannes. And, like, hearing you talk about the layout is interesting because I don't actually know what it looks like. Cannes is Atlantic City in the south of France. That makes it sound so much less classy than it is in my mind. Well, they make it classy. But throughout the entire year, they're hosting conferences and all this stuff. That's like Cannes Lion and things like that. Cannes Lion is, like, the second nicest thing. They have like evidently from what I've heard from locals like the biggest thing out of Cannes is some sort of like real estate conference that like is like a bunch of European real estate agents getting trashed for a week.

9:03And like that's like the most sold out. And it's all centered around the Palais, which has like a bunch of different conference rooms and this giant theater where they either hold talks or the Cannes Film Festival. Okay. But there's also within the Palais other smaller theaters that you can go to for screenings. And I every year go to the wrong theater, can't find the theater. Like I've been there 10 times and I still cannot figure out the lay of the land of that Palais because it is actually quite big. It just looks small. It looks like it's just the steps in the theater. Yeah, it's deceptive.

9:38Okay. Should we jump to the next one? Sure. Okay, so this one is a question from Jasper. When producers take films to Cannes, what are they hoping for? Distribution? Awards? A splashy international premiere? What differentiates Cannes from the other major film festivals in this regard? In certain regard, what differentiates Cannes? This one I can take on. Well, it's in France. Yeah, it's in France. It's in the south of France. So Cannes actually is unique compared to a lot of the other festivals that we speak about. Aside from Sundance, because Cannes has something called The Market, where there's two different tracks.

10:19There's what's premiering in Cannes, and producers take those movies to get sold for a bunch of different rights. So either you're trying to like get it sold for U.S. distribution, you're trying to get it sold for like various different territories in Europe or Asia. That's all the films that you're seeing at the festival. The market is where people are selling film packages that have not been filmed yet. They're like a script or an idea. And you read a lot about that. And, like, do you guys remember the year where all the women came together? Jessica Chastain. The Jessica Chastain spy movie? Yes.

11:03The 355. And it was made. It was not successful. But it was this big, splashy, like, market title where they were selling it to different distributors internationally. And they all came together. No, it was just a concept. Was there even a script at that point? It was just a concept. But they all came together and did a press conference. and that's like an example of like one of the splashiest, I think, can market titles to ever sell. But there's a lot of them. So like when you start reading about like so-and-so is putting together a film and can't, that's all the market stuff. But producers take it to the festival for everything that has been listed.

11:48Yes, awards. Yes, distribution. Yes, because it's the most glamorous. premiere. But I think what differentiates Cannes the most is the market element, the glamour element, and the distribution element all in one festival. I mean, Rebecca, the awards piece of it is bigger now, I feel like, than it was even, you know, pre-pandemic. Yeah, I was about to say, John, I think the other thing is the focus on international auteurs and filmmakers compared to a lot of the other festivals. And that, I think, ties to what you're saying, Hilary, because the Academy is now more global. These films are often getting a Best Picture nomination, definitely appearing in international feature, like getting nominations in other categories where international features used to not be considered.

12:40So the importance of it to the awards race has definitely increased over the past years. I mean, of course, Anora won the Palm and then won the Oscar. And so there's a lot more focus on what could make its way to Oscars from Cannes. The interesting thing is I did an interview with James Gray, which is up on the site now, about his new film, Paper Tiger. And he was saying for American directors, Cannes is tough because he pointed out that an American filmmaker has not won the Palm outside of a year when the jury president was American. And I, like, fact-checked it because I couldn't believe that.

13:18But he's right. You know, Greta was the president when Anora won. Everyone should read my piece because he had some really thoughtful ideas about why he's going to this festival. Because he says it's not the easiest one for an American filmmaker. But he wants American film to still, you know, be playing in this field and be at this level. And he's like, if that means me and Ira Sachs have to be the filmmakers who show up, then, like, I'm going to do it. So it's really interesting about how, like, Americans are kind of the underdog at this one, I would say. We should mention Park Chan-wook is the jury president this year.

13:50Demi Moore is on the jury. Stellan Skarsgård is on the jury. Ruth Negga. It's a good jury. I'm excited about it. Do you think that that's why there aren't as many big-name American movies in the festival this year? I think that's part of it. I mean, the way he pointed it out, it seems like people are aware of this challenge. so I think that might be something Candace to figure out well I also think there is a little festival fatigue PTA Paul Thomas Anderson doesn't like to take his film to festivals he had one battle he made a big stink about it about like he's like you know I don't like festivals because it's just a lot of like critiquing and so I think filmmakers they'd rather just do the rollout like a normal theatrical film.

14:39So it'll be interesting to see if that trend goes to Venice, Toronto, and Telluride. It won't for a lot of them, but I had heard that Digger is also not going to the fall festivals, and that's the inner E2 Tom Cruise movie, which feels very Venice-y, but the rumor is it's not. Yeah, I think watching Venice closely will be the key, because a lot of films that premiered there last year didn't work. Well, can we take a little detour? Can you tell us kind of what's the thing about Venice? Like, what's the thing about the Toronto Film Festival? Kind of what are the things that each of these is known for?

15:18Well, traditionally, Venice of the fall festivals is the most glamorous, right? It's black tie. They care about applause like Cannes does. And I think for a while, that was sort of the best place for your film. A lot of filmmakers, I think, prefer Venice. There still are some that do. And then Toronto, I think, has a lot more commercial films. Like if you have maybe awards contender, maybe commercial film, it's a good place to go. And Telluride is, it's hard to explain what makes a great Telluride film. But you know it when you see it, if that makes sense. Like The Holdover's premiered there, and I actually thought that's kind of, it's like a smaller auteur-y film that maybe wouldn't work at Venice with an international audience, but works with the sort of more domestic audience of Telluride.

16:09And so they all have like different personalities. But last year at Venice, we saw quite the Catherine Bigelow film premiere. There were quite a few that premiered there that just got kind of buried because there were so many awards contenders premiering there. So I feel like I'm wondering if some distributors are rethinking what goes where, as John was saying in general this year, because it's expensive and it has to be worth, you know, paying all that money to get everyone to Italy. It has to sort of get the narrative it needs for awards season at that point.

16:44We're going to take a quick break. When we're back, more listener questions about the Cannes Film Festival.

16:59Hi, I'm Nicole Phelps, the Global Fashion News and Features Director and co-host of Vogue's podcast, The Run-Through. Each week on the show, our listeners get an all-access pass to the world of Vogue with the latest fashion news and the most exciting voices in the industry. on Tuesdays join me to hear interviews with influential leaders in the industry like Calvin Klein Daniel Roseberry and Jonathan Anderson on Thursdays join head of editorial content at Vogue Chloe Mao and head of editorial content at British Vogue Chomanadi as they explore style and culture through the lens of fashion with guests like Martha Stewart Kamala Harris and Tracy Ellis Ross the run through with Vogue new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday wherever you get your podcasts

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19:02Welcome back to Little Goldman. Okay, this is from Jenna. What are the awards given out at Cannes, and what matters for the long-term success of a film. Well, there's Best Smile. There's Cutest Couple. They do give out those made-up awards. The Dog Award? Oh, the Palm Dog. Didn't they give out, like, an award when they were, like, gave out an award to Nicole Kidman just for, like, being in a lot of movies? Do you remember that? Just because she's Nicole Kidman. The Nicole Kidman Award for being Nicole Kidman. She had, like, a lot of movies in the festival, and they were, like, they just, like, made up one.

19:36And they were like, and the award for somebody who's really been working a lot. Uncertain Nicole. Yeah, Uncertain Nicole. Yeah. But the biggie, obviously, is the Palm. Yes, the Palm is the last award given out during the awards ceremony. It's Cannes Best Picture. It's Best Picture. When I talked to Sean Baker, he won, you know, before he had won all those Oscars, he was like, this is the only award I've ever wanted. Basically because, like, in the global filmmaking community, it's the top award. You know, like the Oscars are global now, but, you know, technically are an American award. This is like he considered it the best award you could get.

20:14So it's very important to filmmakers, I would say. If you win, you know, an acting award at Cannes, does that change the chances for your campaign moving forward? Like does that put you in a better position? It means you will have a campaign moving forward. And in some years, it is more indicative of your Oscar chances. In some years, it's a stranger pick and the person is in a film that is just too small or too international and a break in to the U.S. Oscars. But it has changed over the years. Wagner Mora received it last year for The Secret Agent, and he got an Oscar nod. Yeah, that's, I think, a great example.

21:00Now, more and more, the acting awards and directing is looked at as a precursor. All right. The next one is from Craig. Although I am neither important nor powerful enough to receive an invitation to the Cannes Film Festival, I will be in that general area shortly after this year's festival ends, and I have a quick question. What would the Cannes area be like a couple of weeks after the festival ends? Would I be able to see remnants of this year's festival with souvenirs, potential screenings still happening at local venues, or at least be able to soak up some of the post-Cannes flavor? I'm just trying to figure out if you have any sense of what an early June day in Cannes might be like.

21:41Well, that's an interesting question. I get out of Dodge so fast, I have no idea what it's like even a day after the festival ends. I mean, Cannes is a beautiful place It's on the French Riviera It's a wonderful place to vacation And I think, I believe all year round You can take pictures in front of the Palais There are souvenirs And Cannes Film Festival Items you can buy So it's not like it disappears But my suggestion for you, if you're going to do a day in Cannes To experience the festival Even though the festival isn't happening Sadly, no, there won't be Screenings at local venues once the festival ends, they don't screen the movies.

22:20But you can go to the Palais, go to the Carlton, and you'll see, like, the vision of the Carlton, which you've seen in movies and in photos, and you get the feeling. And then go to Old Can and go to La Pizza for pizza for lunch or something. I'm sorry, it's called La Pizza? Yes, and it's got really, really good pizza. It's big, it's huge, everyone goes. It's like a festival hangout. I'm very controversial, and I think that pizza is very mediocre. I don't understand why everyone loves it. They just put a ton of cheese on it. I think it's one of those things where you get festival fever and you— Well, you haven't eaten a real meal in three days.

22:58Yes. And you're like— The pizza is one of the only places where you can kind of eat a meal in less than four and a half hours. Right. That's true. So that's part of the charm. But it overlooks the water. That seems lovely. You're going to get, that's my day itinerary. And if you are looking at the water, might you see Helena Bonham Carter slowly sailing away from France as she flees the set of The White Lotus? She also got out of Dodge. Yeah, I think she's gotten out of Dodge faster than Rebecca. But The White Lotus is in fact filming in Cannes this summer. So there is a chance. I don't know how like hermetically sealed that set is if you'll see people walking outside.

23:42I'm fascinated to see what happens there. Yes. Because evidently they're arriving basically after the festival ends to recreate the festival for the show. So actually you will get probably more Cannes flavor this year than necessarily any other year because otherwise all that stuff would be gone. All right. Hilary, you want to do this one? Sure, I'll take it. This is from Alex. I'm a journalist going to cover Cannes for the first time ever. I'm extremely excited to see films and catch the French five, but also very, very is in capital letters nervous about it because it seems like there is so much going on.

24:16Is Cannes crazier than other festivals? Do you ever sleep? Question mark exclamation point. Would love your tips for surviving Cannes. My first tip is to remember that it is Cannes and not Cannes as the people who don't cover movies always call it. Like, if I ever talk to people who are not in this business about the festival, they will say Khan because it seems fancier, but it's actually not pronounced that way. Yeah, good first tip. That's a good tip, yeah. I think Khan is crazier in the way that it is more challenging logistically than other festivals. The press badges are a hierarchy where you have a certain level of access based on the color of your badge.

24:58But we don't get the colors anymore because it's digital. Do you not know what priority bucket you're in? So it used to be you didn't get the tickets until you got your physical badge and then you saw the color and that's how you knew what you were getting. Now digitally you do it before you even arrive. So like you're in the dark and like you start to get a feeling like I don't think they think I'm that important. Right. But like you don't know until you get. Get there and get the badge. They won't tell you ahead of time. Yeah. Yeah. I've tried. It feels very French. It is very French. Everything about this is French.

25:34Like any other festival, I think we have a pretty easy time of getting where we need to be and getting what we need. But in Cannes, everything is more challenging, I think. But to me, at a certain point, that becomes part of the fun of it is like, am I going to get into the screening? Because the badges also give you, based on your color, like you can go into a press conference first or you have to be in the third line waiting to get into a press. Like everything is very hierarchical there in a way that it's not at other festivals. So that part of it is challenging. But I think once you do it once, you kind of learn how to do it.

26:10John, do you have any like bonus tips? No, I want to gatekeep. I'm sorry. I don't care. I know it's wrong. Gatekeeping's back. Right? I heard that somewhere that gatekeeping's back and I'm gatekeeping. Nobody's telling me that. I do have a tip and I don't want to say it. I do recommend if you have the time, those screenings on the beach, they do are really fun. Like if you're just there for fun, I think that's really special to sit on the beach and watch a movie on a big screen. It's usually an older film. And I've never actually been able to do it because I'm always covering premieres and events, but it looks like it would be really fun.