Young talents showcased at the Festival

This year, the Young Actors Office of the Festival launches the Portrait Gallery. The aim is to create a dynamic between actors and directors by bringing them into contact in a simple and aesthetic way within the festival.

A patchwork of film posters has taken over the walls of the Short Film Corner. In all sizes and colours, they are all given equal importance. When Mathilde is in the corridor of level 01 of the Palais des festivals, a wall attracts her eye which is different from the others: “You see it from a long way away, it makes me want to go and have a look.”

Photos of young actors, mostly from Paris and currently present in Cannes, are exhibited in large frames. They are placed in full view at the Short Film Corner, a major Festival thoroughfare, where they have every chance of being spotted by a producer or director.

The principle is simple. A filmmaker who is doing a casting for his upcoming film has access to the Portrait Gallery, with the names and photos of young actors. If one catches his eye, he can go to the Young Actors Office on the floor above where he will find the CV of the actor in question. He is then put into contact with him: they are free to meet and possibly agree on a collaboration.

Annabelle Milot, director of the Actors Office gives an example: “If a director is looking for the new Angélique Marquise des Anges, he’s going to look for young blondes. He comes with an image and an age in mind.” This year, two hundred portraits comprise the Portrait Gallery. More than twenty meetings have taken place in ten days of the Festival.

T.K.