Cannes Film Festival Workers Call For Strike Action Over Pay Dispute 

The strike is on. 

After days of tense discussions, we can confirm that the collective French film festival workers we first reported last week have set plans to mount a widespread strike action during this year’s Cannes Film Festival over pay. 

The group, Collectif des précaires des festivals de cinéma (which translates to The Collective of Precarious Workers at Film Festivals), confirmed their plans this morning with an open letter sent to Deadline.

“In a context of extreme vulnerability and absolute emergency to protect our work, and after consultation and vote of the members of the collective, we call for a strike of all employees of the Cannes Film Festival and of its sidebars,” the group said.

The collective includes up to 200 French film festival workers — a combination of Cannes workers, including those who work on the Official Selection, the festival’s Marché du Film, and parallel sections of Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week — and workers from other festivals across France. Potential strikes include festival projectionists, press officers, and admin staff.

The group’s strike action is the result of two central issues. They are first rallying against the pay packages they receive from their employers, which they say are inadequate and often do not account for arduous overtime hours frequently clocked due to the demands of their jobs.

The second bone of contention is France’s unique unemployment insurance program for entertainment workers and technicians. Known as Intermittence de Spectacle, the scheme supports entertainment workers on short-term contracts with an unemployment benefit when they are between jobs or projects. To qualify, workers must be able to prove they have worked a certain amount of hours over the financial year. The payments are funded through taxes paid by employers. But due to quirks in the regulations, many workers at French film festivals are excluded from the unemployment benefit. Instead, they are hired and handed flat short-term contracts. The collective is campaigning to now be included in the scheme citing the inherent seasonal nature of the work.

The festival has yet to comment on the strike action.