Last week, I shared a breakdown of which French products would likely see price hikes should Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs go into effect. This week, a different set of hypothetical tariffs completely overtook the Cannes Film Festival, which will run through Saturday.
France’s most prestigious film festival, which serves as a celebration of international films, has been wrapped up in discussions around Trump’s May 4th statement that he would implement a 100% tax on foreign-made films. With little context provided for what, exactly, this would mean, how it would be rolled out, or who would pay for it, Hollywood and global film industries alike have been sent into a tailspin.
As I recently noted in my review of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s new bilingual show, Étoile, the last few years have seen an uptick in American TV shows with episodes or storylines set in other countries. I would attribute this to two things: Parasite’s 2020 Oscars upset, which sparked new interest in non-English films within the U.S.; and Emily in Paris, which premiered later that same year and was able to slide in and fill a pandemic-driven collective need for armchair traveling.
Since then, we’ve gotten bilingual and even trilingual TV shows (Transatlantic, Drops of God), American shows with single episodes or partial storylines filmed abroad (Atlanta, Survival of the Thickest), and three internationally-shot appointment-TV seasons of The White Lotus. Which doesn’t even touch on film!
It’s become extremely common for American movies to film abroad, as tax incentives and low labor costs in other countries make it far more enticing to hop on a plane than dole out for a hefty Hollywood budget. While this practice does have its casualties—predominantly local laborers who do much of the day-to-day work that brings movies to life—it’s hard to argue with the effect filming abroad can have on a production company’s bottom line. Because of this, a major tariff on production outside the U.S. would drive up the cost of making Hollywood films, severely hindering how many of them can be made.
There is also the logistical end of executing such a mandate. “Can you hold up the movie in customs? It doesn’t ship that way,” commented Wes Anderson at Cannes this week. Several of the American director’s films have been shot, at least partially, in Europe, including The Phoenician Scheme, which premiered at Cannes, and will enter U.S. theaters starting May 30th.
Other high profile figures at Cannes, including Robert De Niro and Richard Linklater, have also said their piece on the matter. Important French political players have weighed in as well, including France’s Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, who was quoted as saying, “In the end, the American film industry would be penalized the most, and obviously not ours.”
I would add that, particularly for lovers of foreign films, it is us, the viewers, who will be penalized the most. It would be a shame to lose out on the opportunity to experience new stories and perspectives from around the world, and the chance to visit other countries via the magic of the silver screen. In the meantime, I guess it’s time to start hoarding DVDs of my favorite French films…
Eurovision…
This weekend saw the Eurovision Song Contest finale in Basel, Switzerland, where the French artist Louane performed “maman,” a tearjerker of a ballad about the singer’s journey through motherhood after losing her own parents at a young age. Louane, who hails from the northern Hauts-de-France region, is known for popular songs like “Si t’étais là,” “Avenir,” “Jour 1,” and “Derrière le brouillard.” You can watch her performing “maman” live for Eurovision here, and see the official music video here.
