The Cannes Market has responded quickly to reports of long lines to access the Palais and brought in measures to alleviate delays.
Organisers have added an extra Fast Track line at the Jetée Albert-Edouard and doubled existing entrance routes at the Main Entrance and Mediterranean Access.
The move comes after market attendees reported long lines and missed meetings during the first four days.
Cannes visitors generally acknowledge that security needs to be tight, but several have voiced their frustrations after lengthy experiences.
Ida Martins of Cologne-based Media Luna said she had “lost a lot of meetings because people cannot come in”. She added, “Then when they come, the next meeting is [already] there and so we need to reschedule.”
“I missed at least 15 minutes of the panel I was supposed to be on because they wouldn’t let me in,” said veteran Dutch producer-distributor San Fu Maltha of Periscoop, who had been due to speak on Wednesday’s market session ‘Beyond Borders: The Power and Prospects of Japanese Film Content’.
The fact many buyers do not list themselves as buyers is adding to the problem as a buyer’s badge confers priority access.
“You can choose if you want to list yourself as a buyer – and a lot of buyers didn’t want to because then they just get flooded with emails – so a lot of buyers who don’t want to get inundated are now standing in line forever,” said Danielle Gasher, vice president of acquisitions and international sales at Los Angeles-based Gravitas Ventures.
Lee Hae Won, manager international marketing & distribution at Seoul-based Lotte Entertainment, said many meetings had to be shortened because of the delays. “When [the buyers] are late, we have a quick meeting. If the meeting slot was for 30 minutes, we had to reduce it for five or 10 minutes… I see lots of buyers got frustrated and so I feel bad for them.”
Nonetheless, most sellers to whom Screen has spoken said they had managed to cope and had not lost business because of the delays.
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