Plot

Cannes Uncut revels in the glamour, red carpets, movies, craziness, stunts, deals, parties and personalities that have been part of the Cannes Film Festival over the last eight decades, as well as looking to the future.

In the years following its launch in 1946 the Cannes Film Festival established itself as the world's pre-eminent film festival, and has grown to define sophisticated film glamour as the world came to love the images and stories of the stars, starlets and personalities as they romped the sunny Cannes beaches by day, and looked resplendent in sparkling jewelry and the finest, most outrageous and eye catching fashions on the red carpet and the parties that followed through the night.

Over nearly eight decades this once art-house orientated festival has developed and morphed into an event where the marketplace of buying, selling and marketing films sits alongside festival glamour and high art. It has introduced not only some of the most critically acclaimed movies of all time, but equally some of its most commercially successful and popular. It is where culture and commerce go hand-in-hand and the world watches.

The glorious excesses, triumphs and failures of Cannes is a story that demands to be told. Cannes Uncut revels in the glamour, red carpets, movies, craziness, stunts, deals, parties and personalities that sees the business of show business implant itself for two weeks every year on the French Riviera. It offers an exciting high-adrenaline, roller-coaster experience of what the festival has come to represent over the years and what it might offer in the future.

From the movie stars and filmmakers, through to the critics and the hard-nosed, party-loving, film executives who have helped set Cannes and the film world alight, this is their story. A story of their highest of highs and lowest of lows. Cannes Uncut explores how Cannes has reacted and adapted over time to the social, political, financial and technical changes within society. From the protests of 1968 and the recent pandemic, to the advent of video, digital and the streamers. From shoes and selfies on the red carpet, to #MeToo and an increasing call for diversity in the representation of filmmakers both in and out of competition.

Cannes Uncut goes behind the scenes to reveal just how Cannes has become the most important film festival and market in the world, and continues to be so. With insight from the head of the festival, Thierry Frémaux; Cannes regulars Tilda Swinton, Juliette Binoche and Léa Seydoux; filmmakers such as Oliver Stone, Lynne Ramsay, Mike Leigh, Quentin Tarantino, Sean Baker, Ken Loach and Wim Wenders; and a cast and crew including producers, journalists, photographers, executives, festival programmers, fashion designers, party organizers and hotel managers.

The documentary is brought together by a band of brothers and sisters who have spent far too many decades pounding the Croisette, sweeping up the red carpet, hiding in the sales bunker, and drinking and carousing late into the night. Cannes veterans, one and all.