‘Anatomy of a Fall’ director Justine Triet (middle) and Swann Arlaud (right) wore “Sous les écrans” badges in support of festival workers at last year’s Cannes festival.

Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

A French collective representing the interests of French film festival workers has called for a general strike of “all employees of the Cannes Film Festival and of its sidebars.”

The Sous les écrans la dèche (Broke Behind the Screens) collective made the call in a public statement Monday.

The group has long been sounding the alarm about the precarious nature of film festival work, which typically involves short-term freelance contracts. But unlike other so-called intermediate workers in the entertainment industry, many festival workers are not covered by France’s unemployment insurance program, meaning they do not qualify for unemployment benefits in between jobs or projects.

The Sous les écrans noted that the latest set of benefit reforms, set to go through July 1, will further tighten the rules for employees.

“These reforms are throwing festival workers in such precariousness that the majority of us will have to give up our jobs, thus jeopardizing the events we take part in,” the group said.

So far, the group said, the Cannes festival, the French ministry of culture and the French film board, the CNC, have greeted worker concerns “with polite consideration [but] not concrete measures have been offered. That is why the upcoming opening of the Cannes festival is leaving us with a bitter taste.”

A strike could disrupt the Cannes festival, which kicks off May 14 and runs through May 25, as well as associated sidebars including Directors’ Fortnight, Critics’ Week and ACID Cannes. The 12-day event includes the starry premieres of such hotly anticipated films as George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis and Kevin Costner’s Western epic Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1.

The Sous les écrans la dèche movement has considerable support within the French industry. At the red carpet for her Palme d’Or winning film Anatomy of a Fall last year, French filmmaker Justine Triet and Anatomy actor Swann Arlaud pinned the group’s bright red button on their lapels. Strike or no, expect to see a lot more Sous les écrans pins on the red carpet this year.

Asked to comment, the Cannes film festival sent the following statement to The Hollywood Reporter:

“Further to the press release circulated by the “Sous les écrans la dèche” protest group, the Festival de Cannes, the Quinzaine des Cinéastes, the Semaine de la Critique and the ACID wish to emphasize that they are aware of the difficulties faced by some of their staff who, working on strings of contracts for film festivals, are affected by the reform of the French unemployment insurance scheme, and must grapple with a drop in their benefits.

Faced with this situation, we hope that solutions will be found, and are prepared to set up lasting dialogue conditions to support them.

Aware of the sounding board that the Cannes Festival and its parallel selections represent, we understand the timeliness of these demands. But in order to undertake a constructive reflection aimed at reforming the status of these workers, all the festivals concerned, the institutions and the unions need to come together around the bargaining table. This is the work that must now be undertaken collectively.”

You can read the full release from the Sous les écrans la dèche below:

For a year now, we, members of the Sous les écrans la dèche (Broke Behind the Screens) collective, have been warning about the growing precariousness of the people working in film festivals.

We go from short-term missions to periods of unemployment and despite the intermittent nature of our profession and our striving for the circulation of cinematographic work, our activity does not fall within the French intermittent status benefit plan for show business workers!

The latest reforms of unemployment benefits in France and the one scheduled for July 1st of this year, which will be passed by decree, are further hardening the benefit rules for employment seekers.

These reforms are throwing festival workers in such precariousness that the majority of us will have to give up our jobs, thus jeopardizing the events we take part in. Therefore, we demand that the organizations which employ us be affiliated to a collective agreement allowing us to be hired under the status of show business worker’s intermittence and that our positions be integrated to the unemployment benefit system, retroactive to the last 18 months.

Our warnings and demands have been received with polite consideration so far, but no concrete measure has been offered by the CNC or the Ministry of Culture. That is why the upcoming opening of the Cannes festival is leaving us with a bitter taste.

In a context of extreme vulnerability and absolute emergency to protect our work, and after consultation and vote of the members of the collective, we call for a strike of all employees of the Cannes Film Festival and of its sidebars.

Sous les écrans la dèche collective
festivals.collectif@gmail.com

May 7, 6:45 a.m. This story has been updated with the Cannes Film Festival statement.