Latest news with #Croisette
Forbes
24-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
AI Is Ending Marketing As We Know It - So What Comes Next?
Marc Andreessen's 2011 prediction that "software is eating the world" has proven prophetic, but nowhere has the transformation been more complete than in marketing. At this year's Cannes Lions - advertising's equivalent of the Oscars - the technology takeover that's been building for years is now complete. Walking down the Croisette, the traditional advertising agencies that once dominated have been replaced by tech giants: Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix, Pinterest, Reddit, Spotify, and Salesforce now command the iconic boulevard. But this shift represents just the beginning of a far more fundamental transformation. We're witnessing the death of marketing as we know it, replaced by an AI-driven paradigm that's rewriting every rule in the playbook. IDC predicts that by 2028, three out of five marketing functions will be handled by AI workers, while businesses will spend up to three times more on optimizing for AI systems than traditional search engines by 2029. This isn't a gradual evolution but rather a complete reimagining of how brands and their marketing teams will connect with customers. The Demise of the Search Paradigm For two decades, search engine optimization anchored digital strategy. Companies invested billions in the $90 billion SEO industry, obsessing over Google rankings and keyword strategies. That playbook is becoming obsolete. Search is rapidly migrating from traditional browsers to AI platforms. Apple's integration of AI-powered tools like Perplexity directly into Safari represents just the beginning of Google's declining monopoly on discovery. What's emerging is what venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz calls "Generative Engine Optimization" - optimizing for AI-driven answers instead of clickable links. Search volume is down, with AI chatbots increasing providing "answers" directly to consumers The implications are staggering. Instead of ranking high on search results pages, brands now need to be featured directly in AI responses. Traditional SEO tactics become worthless when AI models synthesize answers from multiple sources while maintaining context across conversations. "How you're encoded into the AI layer is the new competitive advantage," explains Zach Cohen from a16z. Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch recently noted that ChatGPT was already referring 10% of his company's new customers simply by mentioning it in AI responses. This organic referral power represents a glimpse of AI's customer acquisition potential. Success metrics are fundamentally changing. Page views matter less than "reference rates" - how often AI systems cite your brand when answering customer queries. Companies are already deploying specialized tools to track AI mentions and optimize content accordingly. The Rise of AI-to-AI Commerce The next wave is even more disruptive: autonomous AI agents that act on behalf of both consumers and businesses. Every major tech company is focused on bringing agents to life - from global giants like Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce to the Frontier Models like Anthropic, OpenAi, and XAI, to AI-native startups like Glean, Sierra and Writer. They are racing to deploy agents that can make decisions, execute transactions, and interact with other agents with minimal human oversight. A recent PwC survey reveals 35% of companies are broadly adopting AI agents, with another 17% implementing them across nearly all workflows. While still early days, this isn't experimental technology - it's becoming operational reality. The AI Agents are coming - and both consumers and brands will have not just one, but dozens of ... More agents. Consider the customer journey transformation: Your customer's personal AI assistant might research products, negotiate prices, and complete purchases without the customer ever visiting your website. Meanwhile, your company's AI agent handles inquiries, provides recommendations, and closes deals 24/7. The entire transaction could happen between two AI systems. "Previously, marketers would target campaigns directly at customers, but now the shortlisting and decisions are made by the AI," notes a recent IDC report. This represents a fundamental shift in where influence occurs - companies must now market to algorithms as much as humans. The speed of this transition is remarkable. What took decades with previous technology shifts is happening in months with AI. Companies that don't adapt risk becoming invisible in an AI-mediated marketplace. The Convergence of Marketing, Sales and Customer Service AI agents are erasing traditional boundaries between marketing, sales, and customer service. When a customer's AI communicates with your company's AI, it doesn't matter whether the inquiry is about product features, pricing, or technical support - it's all one continuous conversation. This convergence creates unprecedented opportunities for customer experience optimization. A well-designed AI agent can greet customers by name, recall purchase history, answer technical questions, process returns, and suggest upgrades within a single interaction. The result is more efficient operations and significantly improved customer satisfaction. However, it also demands organizational restructuring. Companies can no longer operate with siloed departments when AI systems need unified customer data and consistent messaging across all touchpoints. Early adopters are already reorganizing around integrated AI platforms rather than functional divisions. The Workforce Reality The employment implications are substantial and immediate. A 2024 industry survey found 78% of marketers expect at least a quarter of their tasks to be automated within three years, with over one-third anticipating more than half their work becoming AI-automated. Meta's public roadmap discusses fully automating advertising campaigns, where humans only set budgets and high-level objectives. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are developing systems that handle targeting, creative generation, and optimization without human intervention. But this disruption creates new opportunities for professionals who adapt. As AI handles routine tasks, human expertise shifts toward strategy, creativity, ethics, and managing hybrid human-AI teams. Tomorrow's marketing leaders will be part creative director, part technologist, part data scientist - orchestrating AI systems rather than managing manual processes. What Assets Matter Now In this AI-driven landscape, two assets become disproportionately valuable: brand strength and first-party data. Strong brands gain significant advantages in AI-mediated interactions. When AI systems trained on billions of data points make recommendations, they naturally favor well-known, trusted brands. This creates a compounding effect where established brands become even more prominent in AI responses. First-party customer data becomes the fuel for competitive AI systems. Companies with rich, consent-based customer information can train more sophisticated AI agents that deliver superior personalized experiences. In an era of privacy regulations and disappearing third-party cookies, this data represents a crucial competitive moat. The Strategic Imperative AI is growing exponentially, like a snowball gaining size and speed. In tasks like language and image generation, performance is doubling roughly every six months, driven by massive computing power, huge datasets, and smarter algorithms. Companies that wait for certainty will find themselves permanently behind. AI agents will transform consumers - and marketing as we know it. The strategic response requires three parallel efforts: experimenting with AI tools and agents, retraining teams for hybrid human-AI collaboration, and rebuilding systems around unified customer data and experiences. Most importantly, leaders must recognize this isn't about adopting new tools. It's about reimagining customer relationships in an AI-mediated world. The companies that thrive will be those that ensure their AI agents deliver genuine value, maintain trust, and enhance rather than replace human connection. We're entering a world where billions of people will have trillions of AI agents. The question isn't whether AI will transform customer engagement - it's whether your company will lead or follow in that transformation. The rules of marketing are being rewritten by AI. The winners will be those who write the new playbook.
Campaign ME
18-06-2025
- Business
- Campaign ME
Here's a front row seat of what the industry is talking about at Cannes Lions 2025
Campaign Middle East reports live from Cannes Lions 2025, covering key conversations, exclusive interviews, and on-the-ground insights from industry leaders shaping the future of advertising, media, and marketing. Across the week, our team is speaking with regional and global leaders, attending panel discussions, and spotlighting emerging trends —from purpose-driven creativity to AI-powered campaigns. Here are all the sharp insights, real-time reflections and unfiltered takes from the Croisette. Through Day 1 at Cannes Lions, Campaign Middle East interviewed: Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer at Impact BBDO Mike Khouri, CEO of Independent Agency of the Year-winning Tactical; Matt Manning, President, dentsu Sports International Aude Gandon, Global Chief Marketing Officer of Nestlé; Tor Myhren, VP of Marketing Communications, Apple helped set the tone for the week; reflecting on the heartfelt keynote presentation, Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer at Impact BBDO welcomed the focus on creativity, emotion, and storytelling in an increasingly tech-driven industry. He saw it as a strong reminder that human-centric narratives still hold power – even as AI takes center stage. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Campaign Middle East (@campaignmiddleeast) Tactical's Founder and CEO Mike Khouri reflected on the ongoing push-and-pull between creativity and technology. He emphasised the importance of using tech as an enabler – not a replacement – for original thinking. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Campaign Middle East (@campaignmiddleeast) Speaking to Campaign Middle East, Matt Manning, President of Dentsu Sports International, discussed the company's latest announcement: officially launching its MENA headquarters in Saudi Arabia as part of its broader global expansion strategy. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Campaign Middle East (@campaignmiddleeast) Aude Gandon, Global CMO at Nestlé, reflected on her key message from Cannes Lions 2025 which is that creativity is fundamental to driving growth and ROI. She emphasised that creativity is not just a brand-building tool, but a business accelerator. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Campaign Middle East (@campaignmiddleeast) Through Day 2 at Cannes Lions, Campaign Middle East interviewed: Melissa Hseih Nikolic Director – Product Management, YouTube Ads Reda Raad, Group CEO of TBWA\RAAD Melissa Hseih Nikolic, Director of Product Management at YouTube Ads highlighted the power of open calls and creator partnerships and explained how bringing brands alongside creators helps uncover authentic stories that truly resonate with audiences. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Campaign Middle East (@campaignmiddleeast) Reda Raad, Group CEO of TBWA\RAAD, reflected on the buzz around AI in the industry. While acknowledging its potential, he cautioned against over-reliance, warning that excessive use risks flattening culture and making creative work look increasingly similar. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Campaign Middle East (@campaignmiddleeast) Follow our real-time coverage across Campaign Middle East's social media channels. Stay updated on the latest of what's happening at The Palais, the Rotonde, The Carlton Hotel and stay tuned for exciting events at the Campaign House Hilton Canopy.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Eddington' Trailer: Ari Aster's Western of Pandemic Paranoia Hits Theaters After Dividing Cannes
A24 has dropped the trailer for 'Eddington,' Ari Aster's modern western that divided the Cannes Film Festival after its Croisette premiere. The film will hit theaters nationwide July 18 — and it very well may 'hit' with heated debate. The film takes place in 2020 — yes, that 2020 — in the most visceral way, with the anti-mask local sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) of the fictional Eddington, New Mexico, facing off against the town's COVID-guideline-advocate mayor, played by Pedro Pascal (the second of his three summer releases). The heavy-hitter cast also includes Emma Stone, Austin Butler, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O'Connell, Micheal Ward, Amélie Hoeferle, Clifton Collins Jr., and William Belleau, all of whom represent various perspectives on the pandemic spectrum. More from IndieWire Pedro Almodóvar's Next Movie 'Bitter Christmas' Set for Spanish Theaters and Streamer Movistar Plus+ 'Pinch' Review: Taut Debut Highlights One Woman's Response to Sexual Harassment - and Complicity IndieWire reported last month on the film's polarizing audience response, with people truly either loving or hating the film, and few in between. The cast and crew addressed the controversial COVID epic's hot-button reactions at a Cannes press conference. 'It's very scary to participate in a movie that speaks to issues like this,' Pascal said. 'It's far too intimidating a question for me to address. I'm not informed enough. I want people to be safe and protective. I want very much to be on the right side of history … I felt like [Aster] wrote something that was all our worst fears as that lockdown experience was already a fracturing society. This was building toward an untethered sense of reality. There is a point of not going back. I was overwhelmed by that fear, and it's wonderful that it was confirmed by Ari.' 'I wrote this movie in a state of fear and anxiety. I wanted to try and pull back and show what it feels like to live in a world where nobody can agree on what is real anymore,' Aster added at the same presser. IndieWire's David Ehrlich wrote in his A- review that the director is 'exclusively interested in making the kind of films that should be reviewed straight onto a prescription pad, is too beholden to his neuroses for his latest movie to play like a cheap provocation. This time, however, there's a good chance those are your neuroses, too.' Prior to its release, 'Eddington' will open the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 16. It will be in theaters everywhere July 18. Watch the trailer below. Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie Nicolas Winding Refn's Favorite Films: 37 Movies the Director Wants You to See
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
13 Best Movies at Cannes 2025
'Is this the most political Cannes festival since 1968?' asked a headline in a Hollywood Reporter article, shortly before the 2025 film fest's halfway mark. It's a legit question. Historians may remember that '68 was the year that protests rocked the Croisette, filmmakers occupied the Palais, four jury members resigned, and the official competition was eventually shut down by organizers. Nothing of that magnitude happened at this year's Cannes, which concluded yesterday — though there was a five-hour blackout right before the closing ceremony that, it was suggested by local media, might not have been accidental per se. More from Rolling Stone Mia Threapleton Idolized Wes Anderson. Then She Became the Breakout Star of His New Movie 'Titan': See Trailer for Netflix Doc That Dives Deep Into OceanGate Disaster Martin Scorsese's Career Goes in Front of Camera for Five-Part Apple TV+ Documentary But you could feel a sense of instability and unease in the air, made all the more potent by a certain authoritarian president's threat to level '100-percent tariffs' on movies produced outside of the U.S. Throw in Robert De Niro trolling the POTUS by name at his honorary Palme d'Or speech during the opening night's ceremonies, and close to a dozen films playing throughout the main fest's lineups (and Cannes-adjacent festivals) that directly took aim at both past and present fascist regimes, political strife, and the overall sense of IRL doomscrolling that is our collective reality right now, and it was hard not to wonder if the answer to that query was, to quote the title of one of the more incendiary films in the 2025 edition, 'YES!' Cinema continues to be a passport, an empathy machine, a way of bridging the gap between cultures and regions, a way of letting you walk kilometers in other peoples' shoes a million times over. That was readily apparent to those of us stuck in the bubble of cinephilia that Cannes offered, especially since that bubble was anything but impermeable to everything happening elsewhere in the world. And while the baker's dozen of movies that we'd argue were the best that this Cannes had to offer weren't all explicitly political, they all served to underline that fact that the movies continue to be both an urgent reflection and a necessary refraction of the world around us. Here are our picks for the highlights of this year's festival. (And some quick shout-outs to: The Chronology of Water, The Plague, The Sound of Falling, Two Prosecutors, and Urchin.) The opening night movie of Semaine de la Critique — a side festival that, like Directors' Fortnight, runs parallel to Cannes yet has also been folded into the main event; it's complicated — Belgian filmmaker Laura Wandel's medical procedural takes what might have been an E.R. subplot involving a doctor (Léa Drucker) and a single mother (Happening's Anamaria Vartolomei), going head to head over the care of the latter's son (Jules Desart) after a court ruling, and uses it to examine how institutional protocols can both protect and cause irreparable harm. Like Wandel's previous film Playground (2021), this dual character study knows how to dig into a hot-button social issue and peel back the layers in a way that seems intimate instead of dogmatic. And it's also the perfect showcase for both actors, especially Drucker; paired with her turn in the competition entry Dossier 137, this year's festival makes a strong case for the César winner being one of the best French actors currently 2025 festival certainly had its share of Cannes-troversies (if we never get roped into another heated discussion about Julia Ducournau's hot mess Alpha ever again, it will be too soon). Ari Aster's fever dream of an Op-Ed on American carnage circa right-fucking-now had the honor, however, of being the single most divisive film in this year's edition. Which, frankly, fits Aster's crackpot vision of a nation fatally at odds with itself — a macro-narrative boiled down to a showdown between a sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) and a mayor (Pedro Pascal) in a small, fictional town in New Mexico. Here, all progressivism is performative, all red-pilled right wingers are one red cap away from going full MAGA, all painful personal experiences are ripe for political exploitation, all both-sides misanthropy is dialed up to 11. What starts as a broad parody soon reveals itself to be a paranoid conspiracy thriller eerily attuned to our country's center-cannot-hold bad vibes. We're still processing the overabundant all of it. We can't wait to see it 11th hour addition to the festival's Midnight Selection (a far better place for it than the special screenings or competition lineups, to be honest), the sophomore entry in Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke's self-proclaimed 'lesbian B-movie trilogy' centers around one Honey O'Donoghue (Margaret Qualley) — a crime-solving, wisecracking gumshoe trying to figure out who left a burnt corpse in the New Mexico desert. The case soon turns out to be anything but open and shut, and ends up involving a popular local preacher (Chris Evans), mobsters, missing teens, and a mysterious French femme fatale (Lera Abova). Unlike the duo's seven-car pile-up Drive-Away Dolls (2024), this still somewhat messy attempt to mix Coen-esque mayhem with Sapphic erotica shakes the ingredients into a far more satisfying cocktail; you'll likely be talking about the sex scene between Honey and Aubrey Plaza's tough-talking cop for a while. What really earns it a place here is the way Qualley turns this private investigator into an update of an old noir staple that's equal parts screwball and hardboiled. It's some of the best work she's ever done, and we'd gladly watch a whole other trilogy just devoted to this sultry, take-no-shit if Jafar Panahi's extraordinary revenge parable hadn't won the Palme d'Or (and made him one of the very few filmmakers to take home the top prizes at Berlin, Venice and Cannes), it would still be considered a major victory: This was the first time in over 20 years that the politically persecuted Panahi had walked the red carpet at the festival. Seriously, you'd have thought Mick Jagger had entered the building when the Iranian writer-director walked into the Lumière for the movie's premiere. The overall premise is simple: A man (Ebrahim Azizi) finds his family trip interrupted when his car breaks down. A mechanic (Vahid Mobasseri) thinks he recognizes him as the person who tortured him for years in prison. He abducts the traveler, and then proceeds to round up several other former inmates to confirm that he is indeed the culprit. It plays at times like a nailbiting thriller, an elliptical road movie, and a sort of backstage farce revolving around a payback killing instead a theatrical production. Every moment of it attests to the work of a master, however, right down to one sublime gut punch of a final shot. The win was more than deserved. Set in 1993 Nigeria, Akinola Davies Jr.'s drama follows two preteen brothers (Godwin Egbo, Chibuike Marvellous Egbo) who go on a rare trip from rural Nigeria to Lagos with their father (Sope Dirisu) as he tries to collect backpay. Over the course of a day, they get to know him in a way that opens their eyes regarding their dad's long absences from home. The turmoil surrounding the presidential election of MKO Abiola, however, is about to come to a full boil. Partially a memory film of sorts — even if you didn't know that the director wrote it with his brother, or that one of the boys shares his first name, it feels achingly personal — and partially one of those films that frames historical upheavals through the eyes of children, this is the sort of discovery that reminds you why Cannes' Un Certain Regard section devoted to new filmmakers is such a vital part of the Peck returns to the festival with a look at George Orwell's transformation from a cog in Britiain's colonialist machinery (he served on the police force in Burma in the 1920s) to political critic, essayist and world-renowned author of Animal Farm and 1984. Had the filmmaker merely delivered a documentary on the writer's radicalization and warnings about power, corruption, and lies this would still make for essential viewing. But he goes several giant steps further, borrowing the expansive design of Exterminate All the Brutes (2021) and connecting the dots between those two dystopian novels, the 20th century's totalitarian regimes, and the ways in which history tends to repeat itself. Like, say, in contemporary America. It's a virtual firehose of doubleplusbad information on how fascism insidiously takes hold, collapsing the gap between then and now in a way that's damn near overwhelming. You would not call the outlook 'good.' You would recognize this dour primer as absolutely vital at this particular moment in could technically craft a behind-the-scenes recreation of the making of Jean-Luc Godard's gamechanging debut feature Breathless. Only Richard Linklater could turn it into a glorious hang-out movie, in which you get to ride shotgun with the critic-turned-cineaste-in-sunglasses as he and his fellow band of film-mad outsiders make history 24 frames per second. The way Linklater identifies everyone from 1960s Cahiers du Cinéma legends (Chabrol, Rivette, Truffaut, Rohmer) to deep-cut scenesters, then gathers all of the players together feels a little like he's making The Avengers for the hardcore Letterboxd crowd — here's all your favorite superheroes of the French New Wave, assembled for one great big collective adventure. Guillaume Marbeck's take on Godard as a quote-spouting enfant terrible is priceless; Zoey Deutch chronicling Jean Seberg's conversion from skeptic to true believer is sublime; Aubry Dullin's Jean-Paul Belmondo is one big, goofy grin of a tribute. (Our vote for MVP: Matthieu Penchinat's comic interpretation of Breathless cinematographer Raoul Cotard.) Pure Anderson scores big with this mix of corporate-espionage thriller, slapstick comedy, and father-daughter family drama, centered around Anatole 'Zsa Zsa' Korda (Benicio Del Toro), international business-magnate of mystery. He's trying to make sure his dream project involving a multinational transport system becomes a reality before he's assassinated by rivals; if he can also mend fences with his estranged daughter (Mia Threapleton), who wants nothing to do with her dad and yearns to become a nun, that's simply a bonus. It's got all the usual hallmarks of an Anderson project, from an all-star ensemble cast to the meticulously composed imagery that's made him a film-nerd idol. But this new film gels in a genuinely satisfying way that several of his recent works haven't. And it gifts us with a real discovery in Threapleton, whose deadpan reactions, comic timing and chemistry with Del Toro make this feel like there's a heart beating underneath it in Brazil circa 1977 — 'a time of great mischief' — Kleber Mendonça Filho's portrait of a fugitive (Narcos' Wagner Moura, who won the Best Actor prize) feels like its setting you up for a paranoid political thriller. It soon adopts a kitchen-sink approach that incorporates everything from outré horror-movie sketches (watch out for that hairy, dismembered killer leg!) to musings about the joys of remembering old movie theaters. You can tell this is the same filmmaker who made the pointed, character-driven drama Aquarius (2016), and co-directed the modern exploitation-cinema nugget Bacurau (2019), as well as the person who penned the elegiac love letter to Brazilian cinema, Pictures of Ghosts (2023). Yet the scope and ambitiousness of this extended period piece feels new for him, and a cryptic aside around the halfway mark soon turns into a revelation about what Filho has been chasing all along: the passage of time, and how it never really heals any or all closest thing to a consensus pick for the best movie at the festival — you could practically hear the whoops of joy across the pond when this won the Grand Prix — Joachim Trier's family drama continues his winning streak after the highly praised The Worst Person in the World (2021) hit his creative reset button. It also reminded many of us why we initially fell in love with the Norwegian filmmaker's work in the first place, dating back to his gobsmacking first feature Reprise (2006). Once again working with his longtime cowriter Eskil Vogt and his TWPITW star Renate Reinsve, Trier carefully constructs a morality tale around a once-prominent movie director (Stellan Skarsgård) hoping to make a comeback with a new project. He offers the role based on his daughter to his actual daughter, an anxiety-prone stage actor (Reinsve) with a grudge against dad. Then he decides to cast an American movie star (Elle Fanning) instead, and film the whole thing in their actual family house. Fanning wore a 'Joachim Trier Summer' t-shirt during the movie's photocall. That season can't come soon of the early breakout sensations of the festival, Oliver Laxe's woozy, epic thriller plops a concerned father (Sergi López) into the middle of the Moroccan desert, as he tries to find his missing daughter amidst the nomadic hipsters frequenting underground trance-music concerts. You initially brace yourself for a riff on The Searchers, redone for the 21st-century rave-scene set. Then things take an extremely lysergic, extra-dark turn, and suddenly everything plunges into pure nightmare territory. No movie made better use of music and sound design as a way of immersing viewers into a world that somehow simultaneously utopian and dystopian, and you'll want to see this in a theater with the best speaker get-up possible. A trip, in too many ways to who doesn't love a Thai movie about possessed household appliances and horny ghosts fucking everybody in sight? The winner of the big prize at this year's Semaine de la Critique, Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke's unclassifiable, truly wackadoo mix of comedy and supernatural shenanigans starts with a factory accident that traps the spirit of a dead worker into a vacuum cleaner. It ends with a moving meditation on memory, grief, and the lengths one will go to keep a deceased loved one from going gently into the night. In between all of this is a number of hilarious vignettes involving randy machinery, some sideways class commentary, a haunting (in more ways than one) performance from Thai actor Davika Hoorne, and a shit-ton of paranormal sex. No filmmaker Nadav Lapid has always cast a critical eye on his country's political stances and social policies — see: Policeman, Ahed's Knee, Synonyms… his whole filmography, really. His latest will not win him any friends among the more conservative side of the tracks back home. A songwriter (Ariel Bronz) and his wife (Efrat Dor) enjoy every hedonistic pleasure that's available to the nation's military, media and right-wing elite. When he's asked to write an anthem extolling the nation's moral superiority, he takes the gig. Soon, the combination of that commission and reconnecting with an old musical partner/friend-with-benefits (Naama Preis) begets a serious crisis of faith. It's an angry scream-into-the-void of a movie, and one that rages against the normalization of daily atrocities and escalating death tolls blaring out from people's phones. Not even the gonzo early scenes of sex, drugs, and dance battles with a gaggle of army generals can temper the sting. 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Forbes
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Neon, Mubi, A24: The Buyers That Won Cannes 2025
Cannes Film Festival 2025 The Cannes Film Festival is officially over and last night's list of winners is already giving us an overview of the next awards season. While some movies are still looking for a home, the biggest titles of this year's edition such as Die My Love, Sentimental Value, Palme d'Or's winner It Was Just An Accident, Sirat or The Mastermind, quickly became the most coveted titles on the Croisette and inside the Marché du Film. Over the years, Neon has become an incredibly powerful buyer and the possibility that they might get their 6th Palme d'Or in a row became a reality last night, when It Was Just An Accident, directed by Jafar Panahi, was announced by the President of the Jury, Juliette Binoche. After Anora, Anatomy of a Fall, Triangle of Sadness, Titane and Parasite -movies that all led a major awards season- Panahi's film as well as Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes last night, are already some of the strongest contenders that Neon just added to an already impressive track record. On top of these two films, Neon also acquired the rights to Oliver Laxe's Sirat, winner of the Jury Prize last night, Kleber Mendonça Filho's The Secret Agent, who won the Best Director award, Julia Ducournau's Alpha, Michael Angelo Covino's Splitsville and Raoul Peck's Orwell: 2+2=5. However, the first big sale that everyone was talking about on the Croisette last week came from Mubi, which acquired the rights to Lynn Ramsay's Die My Love, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson for $24 million. These past few years, Mubi led a strong awards season by acquiring some big titles during the Cannes Film Festival, like Coralie Fargeat's The Substance last year, and Magnus Von Horn's The Girl with the Needle. This year, the distributor also acquired the rights to the Palme d'Or winner for the distribution in Latin America, U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria, Turkey and India. Mubi will also distribute Sirat in Italy, Turkey and India. Another big buy from Mubi was last night's second winner of the Jury Prize -a tie with Sirat- The Sound of Falling directed by Mascha Schilinski. On top of that, Mubi also acquired The History of Sound, directed by Oliver Hermanus and starring Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor, and Kelly Reichardt's The Mastermind, also starring O'Connor. For now, A24 will distribute Ari Aster's Eddington, Spike Lee's Highest to Lowest, and Harry Lighton's debut feature Pillion, starring Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling, which won Best Screenplay in the Un Certain Regard competition. This article will be updated as additional sales are announced.
