ARRI Reflects on an Eventful Cannes 2018

Every spring, the film industry travels to the Croisette for the Festival de Cannes. ARRI, one of the world’s largest manufacturer of film and broadcast equipment, also takes part in this global film industry gathering.  

The Cannes International Film Festival has proven to be an important place for ARRI to meet with directors, producers, cinematographers, associations, film schools, and other industry professionals from around the world, to exchange information, talk about new projects, and the usage of our equipment. We welcome world sales opportunities and engage with the up-and coming.

We appreciate the broad usage of ARRI equipment by cinematographers from all parts of the world. We strive to develop reliable products, which offer creative choices in the highest quality—since 1917. We promise to work hard to continue this legacy.

The majority of films shown at the Cannes festival, from the main competition through to “Un Certain Regard” and “Director´s Fortnight” to “Critic´s Week,” were shot with ARRI equipment, in particular the ALEXA Mini. Out of the 21 films selected for best picture at the 2018 Cannes main competition, 15 were shot with ARRI cameras and 11 of these were captured with ALEXA. “Once again, ARRI’s digital cameras reign supreme as the choice of international auteurs and their cinematographers” remarked “Indiewire.”

The top prize at Cannes, the Palme d’Or, went this year to "Shoplifters" by Kore-Eda Hirokazu and was shot on ARRICAM ST. The Jury prize (3rd place) went to "Capernaum" by Nadine Labaki and was shot on ALEXA Mini & XT while Best Director was awarded to director Pawel Pawlikowski for "Cold War" and was shot on ALEXA XT with ARRI Ultra Prime lenses.

During the festival, ARRI took the opportunity to produce several video interviews with filmmakers. ARRI had the pleasure of interviewing Danish Cinematographer Mattias Troelstrup DFF about his work on director Eva Husson’s "Girl Of The Sun," a drama about Kurdish female fighters beautifully lensed by him. During the interview, he talked about his work and explained how ARRI technology has helped him.

Christopher Wessels, DP on "Rafiki,", which was screened in the “Un Certain Regard” section of the festival, spoke about his work with ALEXA Mini on this film. "Rafiki" tells the love story between two Kenyan girls and the difficulties they encounter in an environment hostile to homosexuality. It was the second project to benefit from ARRI´s International Support Program (ISP) with picture post production by ARRI Media. 

ARRI also met with Tatjana Krstevski, Serbian cinematographer of "Teret" showing at Director’s Fortnight, who was one of the few females whose film was nominated for the competition. Other interviews include French DP Eric Dumont and his work on Stéphane Brizé’s "At War," which deals with themes such as workplace closings and worker’s strikes, and Federico Cesca´s work on Egyptian director Abu Bakr Shawky's debut "Yomeddine" which tells a touching story with an uplifting message that champions society’s underdogs.

ARRI Media’s International team also had a strong presence at the Marché du Film during the festival. Current project highlights of the group, such as "Little Miss Dolittle" (family entertainment from Germany), "Party Hard, Die Young" (genre cinema from Austria), and "The Aspern Papers" (drama from UK), were featured. 

Another important announcement happened at Cannes, when producer Tianying Media announced that the suspense drama "June," directed by Wang Yang and starring Aaron Kwok and Miao Miao, would be co-produced with ARRI China. This will be ARRI China’s first co-production endeavor and ARRI Media will be handling European sales.