The Cannes Film Festival has been taking measures to reduce pollution associated with its activities. For several years, a local association in Marseille has been collecting waste from the event. After sorting through the items, they were then recycled. The festival’s glittering dresses were also taken away.
The Cannes Film Festival is an enormous event that generates over a thousand tonnes of waste in just 15 days. The festival tries to minimise its impact on the environment each year. The event poster, unveiled on May 12, was taken down on Wednesday, May 29, after it was displayed on the palace’s facade.
But what happens to all these materials?
Second life for Cannes Film Festival poster and the Red Carpet
In an effort to reduce its impact on the environment, the festival has been following an economic approach for several years now. La Réserve des Arts is a group in Paris that aims to recycle theatre, fashion show, and film sets. It offers these items at discounted rates to help artists. In 2020, Ali Baba’s cave in Marseille also started implementing this concept.
Benefit other people
“Upcycling” or recycling with high added value is a way of avoiding the trash bin by promoting the circular economy. In short, it can benefit other people.
Paul Gomez, one of the members of the Réserve des arts, was present in Cannes during the start of dismantling this Tuesday, May 28: “This is the 4th year that we are doing Cannes. We are the ones organizing the transport . We help with loading.”
Nearly two tonnes of various materials have arrived in the Marseille warehouse of this artistic resource center which benefits from new premises.
Paul Gomez explains: “the idea is to make the red carpet clean so that it can be reused by cinema professionals.” He notes that “the last rolls from last year were sold out two weeks ago. There, we have a restock.”
And there is work! The poster weighs 400 kilos, the carpet 1500 kilos… The festival estimates all the materials recovered at 7.2 tonnes.
Materials that are re-used
For several weeks, four individuals are hired to restore the red carpet. They are known as “Valorists.” They will remove the hair strands, eliminate the holes in the carpet, and cut the plastic sheet that adorned the palace’s facade. Another tedious task is removing the staples from the Cinéma De la Plage battens.
These items can be reused for various projects, and they are offered at discounted rates. The association is also taking apart the festival’s stands to recover fabrics. All of this work will be carried out outside the warehouse. It is estimated that these items can be used for multiple projects such as
- Handbags made during an artist residency
- Miscellaneous, creative objects
- the Kourtrajmé film school graduated with the Cannes red carpet
- Scenography, sets
A Cannes la Bocca Association collected the posters from the festival last year. They were then used to make various accessories, such as makeup bags and shopping bags. The repurposed posters served as a way to make the Cannes Film Festival more eco-friendly.
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