Main entrance for the 77th Cannes Film Festival.

Loic Thébaud

The Association of Film Commissioners International is heading to Cannes.

For its 77th edition in May, the festival — in partnership with AFCI — will debut the Global Film Commission Network Summit. It’ll discuss “selecting locations for authentic storytelling, indigenous community engagement and dismantling location stereotypes,” among other things, AFCI said. Attendees will include film commissioners, policymakers and production executives.

In a statement, AFCI executive director Jaclyn Philpott said AFCI’s presence at Cannes marks the growing significance of film commissions in production. “Our expanded presence at Cannes underscores AFCI’s important role in the global screen sector,” she said.

Amid slashes in content spend by most studios, tax incentives granted by film commissions to shoot in certain jurisdictions are becoming more vital than ever. States and countries across the globe are increasingly creating tax credit programs to vitalize local economies. Last month, Japan opened its first round of applications for incentives in a scheme offering reimbursement of up to 50 percent of qualified expenditures, with a cap of roughly $6.5 million for each project.

Marché du Film executive director Guillaume Esmiol said in a statement that the “rise of film location importance is a growing topic” and is quickly “becoming a key focus within our industry.” He added, “As film commissions become increasingly crucial to getting productions off the ground, we look forward to supporting AFCI’s future ventures and encouraging this dialogue and growth at future market editions.”

The 2024 Cannes Film Festival runs May 14-25. The annual AFCI Week conference is set for Aug. 25-28 in Los Angeles.