David Lisnard, the mayor of Cannes who is the driving force behind TV event Canneseries, has unveiled massive plans to revamp the city, including its Palais des Festivals, the main venue of the Cannes Film Festival and other entertainment gatherings such as Mipcom.
Lisnard, who is currently campaigning for reelection next March, outlined the ambitious project, called Cannes on Air, during a presentation hosted at the CNC (National Film Board). The presentation was attended by Maxime Saada, the CEO of Canal Plus Group, and Sidonie Dumas, the chairman of Gaumont, among others.
With an estimated budget of about €500 million ($555 million), Cannes on Air would significantly upgrade several key sites, including the Palais des Festivals, which would get a new 11,000-square-foot theater and a renovation of the Salon des Ambassadeurs for an estimated cost of €62 million ($69 million).
Among the other plans is construction of a multiplex called Cineum Cannes, with 12 state-of-the-art screens and a total of 2,426 seats. This multiplex, which would boast the biggest screen in southwestern France, would open in June 2020.
Cannes on Air also calls for the creation of studios and production and post-production services to tap into the large volume of film and TV shoots, which amounted to 607 days in Southern France last year. An international museum dedicated to the history of film and the Cannes Film Festival is also part of the initiative, along with the Bastide Rouge, a technology park featuring a new university dedicated to film, TV, video games and web creation.
Located on the French Riviera, Cannes has been the home of the world’s most famous film festival since 1946, as well as the TV markets MipTV, Mipcom, Midem, Cannes Lions and most recently Canneseries since 2018.