Cannes Film Festival Leads to International Production Avenues

The Marche du Film (Film Market), held in Cannes, France during May 12-23 brought 40,000 film industry professionals from around the world together to support the financing, production, and distribution of films and series on the international stage. This year, there was a notable presence of faith-based filmmakers and distributors. Angel Studios, EKKL/Pinnacle Peak, Hawk Hill, and the Wonder Project were all in attendance. Leading the forefront of innovation in AI-assisted production, Jon Erwin of Amazon/Wonder Project’s House of David presented how they were able to produce The Old Stories: Moses in one week! Interestingly, the winner of the Palme D’Or for best feature film was Fjord, a film about a Christian Romanian family that immigrates to Norway and suffers religious persecution under the guise of “tolerance.” With rising global interest in stories about faith, representatives from Hope Studios were proud to attend the festival to explore new international production and co-production models and distribution.

Exec Notes

It was a brisk evening as the head of international distribution for Angel Studios and I sat down for dinner on one of the busy walking streets a few blocks away from the bustle of reporters, photographers, and the parade of black cars at the red carpet of Cannes.

“This is the space more of us, as believers, need to be in,” he said. Having both attended every major faith-based film festival/market in the U.S., and him still being on the board of one, I understood what he meant. It wasn’t that the faith-based festivals aren’t valuable; but attending them is not enough.

He had a point. If we are to let our light shine, we can’t stay within our comfort zone. The Christian community has a history of creating “alternatives” and then living exclusively in that alternative space. Initially Christian bookstores, record labels, radio and TV stations, and streaming services were created out of necessity because there were no avenues for faith-based content to obtain distribution and reach anybody. Today, that landscape looks different. Musicians like Amy Grant and Lecrae hit No. 1 on Billboard, Lauren Daigle wrote and performed the credit song for Blade Runner 2049, and Brandon Lake collaborated with Jelly Roll to top mainstream charts. In film, The Forge was the #1 movie in Brazil, House of David became the #2 show on Amazon Prime, and Light of the World just released theatrically in Japan. The gates are open and it’s time to let our light shine. It can be done, but it takes getting outside the bubble and forming new relationships.

If you are a faith-based storyteller, I hope this perspective both encourages and challenges you. Find community in the Christian film festivals, markets, and events, but don’t let that be the end. Allow it to be the fuel in your tank to go out to wider spaces. Submit to broader festivals, reach audiences in another continent through sites like FilmFreeway.com, connect with mainstream publishers and distributors at places like MIPCOM, the American Film Market, or Cannes. You might be the only representative of faith-based storytelling in conversations…but isn’t that why you’re there?