Martin Moskowicz is well known to many in the industry attending Cannes. An ever-present at major festivals and markets for close to 50 years, he is best known for his decades steering German production and distribution giant Constantin, producer of the Resident Evil franchise. Last year Moskowicz moved away from his role as CEO and is now producing. In an exclusive guest column for Deadline, the respected industry vet gives his take on this year’s Cannes Film Festival and market. It’s a market that many we’ve spoken to have been down on, in part due to shifts in the global business. The festival, conversely, has kicked off with a string of well-received movies. Here’s Moskowicz’s take on the current landscape and the need to stay level headed but also to be bold.
After nearly 50 years of attending the Cannes Film Festival and its ever-evolving Marché du Film, I can say with conviction: Some things never change. Each May, as predictably as the sun rises over the Croisette, the annual chorus of complaints begins. Distributors — dear friends and colleagues — lament the same familiar woes: not enough films, or too many; the best titles are overpriced; the coffee is terrible; the weather is unbearable — too hot, too cold or both. It’s tradition. Almost comforting in its predictability.
And yet, Cannes itself is never static. It reinvents, reflects and reshapes itself in step with the beautiful, ever-shifting rhythm of our industry. What was once a marketplace of faxes and frantic phone calls has become a digital, global arena — shaped by streaming platforms, changing release strategies and a new generation of auteurs redefining what cinema can be.
This year, the selection of Mascha Schilinski’s new film In die Sonne schauen (Sound of Falling) for the Official Competition is a perfect example of Cannes at its best — sharp, responsive and artistically bold. What an inspired, timely choice. In a world full of noise, the ability to recognize a singular voice and give it the spotlight it deserves is a reminder of why Cannes still matters.
But allow me a moment of directness: Listen up, my friends — especially those of you in the large companies working in both production and distribution. The market is what we make of it. This isn’t toothpaste. It’s not screws. There is no fixed demand curve for cinema. We define the size of the market through the stories we choose to tell, the risks we take and the quality we deliver.
If we stop making bold, distinctive films, the market will shrink — and then you shrink your operations, and the market shrinks even further. A downward spiral. But if we commit to excellence, originality and emotional truth, the audience will follow. They always have.
So complain about the coffee if you must. But don’t lose sight of this: The future of our industry is in our hands. And Cannes — for all its flaws, its chaos, its maddening logistics — remains the one place each year where that future still feels genuinely possible.
The post Martin Moszkowicz: “Listen Up, My Friends, If We Stop Making Bold, Distinctive Films, The Market Will Shrink” — Cannes Guest Column appeared first on Deadline.
