Will Tariffs Loom Over the Cannes Market and 3 Other Burning Questions

In the 24 hours after President Trump declared he would be putting 100 percent tariffs on all films produced in foreign lands, and with little clarity about what that even means, the gut reaction was to declare it a death sentence for independent films looking to get funding from international pre-sales. It seemed like a scary coincidence that the announcement came a week before the industry jetted off to France for Cannes, the biggest global film market of the year.

“It’s not helpful,” one sales agent told IndieWire, adding that anything that creates more uncertainty isn’t a good thing, especially for international folks who are only responding to a headline. The agent said he received a lot of worried calls and emails on Monday.

Now, a few days removed from that initial panic, the industry is approaching the Cannes Market as “business as usual.” Another agent told us they wish the press would stop taking Trump’s bait and that there’s “no logic” to whatever he’d actually be taxing. It’ll still be the talk of the market, but whether it scares financiers off is another story.

“Fortunately, we work in a very educated business, and hopefully they recognize we should not overreact to this,” producer Jason Michael Berman, who is coming to the festival with Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest,” told IndieWire. “This is what was on the top of the president’s mind, and he made a comment about it, and it just happened to be right before the Cannes marketplace.”

“It feels a little premature to panic. It’s just another work day,” added Kara Durrett of Pinky Promise, which has “Eleanor the Great” in Un Certain Regard. “Whenever there’s information to be taken to actually put into action, then there will be a different conversation.”

To that end, the Marché du Film may have more buzzy packages available than in most recent years, with each of the major sales agencies touting beefy slates, as well as a plethora of available films playing in the festival. Actors like Kristen Stewart and Harris Dickinson are coming to the festival with their debut movies to sell. Contenders like Neon, A24, and MUBI each have multiple films already playing in the festival, but no one expects that means they’re sitting on the sidelines if another discovery emerges.

“Buyers are so clear on what’s working for them right now that it feels … there is a lot of confidence for them to jump into something that they want, and we’re continuing to see a lot of momentum there, and we’ll see a lot of activity in the packages,” said Ryan Heller of Topic Studios, which is backing “Splitsville,” along with Neon.

But questions still abound, and there’s no guarantee that optimism will translate into actual sales.

Can Neon Find the Next “Anora”?

Between “Anora,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” “The Substance,” “Parasite,” and many more, the influence in recent years of Cannes on the Oscar race has been undeniable.

“Whether you’re a buyer or a producer, the way that the festival has lined up with the taste of the Academy is hard to ignore,” Heller said. “It creates a lot of anticipation for the same reason. Everyone’s looking for what film or handful of films will save the conversation. But it’s also cemented Cannes as a very powerful platform to get these movies out into the world in the right way.”

Neon is riding a five-year streak of their films winning the Palme D’Or, but other distributors have emerged in a desire to land the latest discovery. We wrote last year about how Metrograph, MUBI, and Sideshow were the new faces making moves after the likes of Focus Features or Sony Pictures Classics for so long were the dominant names in the market.

“How much pressure is Neon going to have on themselves? They’ve picked the winners so many times, at a certain point it starts becoming this weird expectation,” Durrett said. “Are they walking in with very little expectation, following the talent that they see, or are they trying to pick the winner again?”

The first agent argued the market for finished films playing in the festival is as strong as its ever been, with Cannes leaning more commercial and programming films seeking distribution while Sundance has skewed toward more intimate titles or TIFF has opted for films looking to launch an awards campaign. And while Neon and A24 will always be competitive, the agent wouldn’t be surprised to see others looking to get in that race.

Will a Slow Sundance Mean a Slow Cannes?

Even in just the last week, some big movies that made their premiere at Sundance in January have finally closed domestic distribution deals. It was an especially slow market, but as we had previously noted, not necessarily an unhealthy one.

“This is exactly what the independent film business is; it’s constantly pivoting,” one agent said. “It’s not like movies are not getting made, and it’s not like distributors are falling apart, they’re just pivoting along with us.”

Cannes, though, is a different animal, with way more films on offer that have more theatrical potential. The types of packages too have a higher quality than what you might generally find at AFM in the fall, and agents felt the fires slowed a lot of activity in the early part of the year for projects that might’ve otherwise been packaged at Berlin.

“We don’t have a fear or scarcity market, but for us, we’re doubling down, because whenever any market dips down like this, you have to be building at the same time. Otherwise, when it goes back up, you’re going to miss it,” Durrett said. “We talk a lot about how we want to plan better and be lighter on our feet because things are changing so quickly, but I’m curious to see if more buying becomes more competitive because production has been down.”

But the problems that slowed buyers at Sundance could have similar fears going into Cannes. Sarah Lebutsch, Acting SVP Sales & Distribution, Protagonist Pictures, told IndieWire that for most U.S. distributors, the Pay-1 window is disrupted, and it’s harder than ever to calculate how a film will perform downstream on VOD, meaning that these films have to work theatrically.

“That’s a big focus because of the insecurities of what will happen on VOD and Pay 1 windows, and that impacts Sundance films specifically,” Lebutsch said. “I think we’ll see the same in Cannes again, with the domestic buyers needing to be careful.”

Is the Cannes Market “Too Healthy”?

Part of the reason the industry is generally bullish on Cannes is that there’s little else to be bullish about. With AFM moving to Vegas and other festivals leaning away from their own markets, Cannes has become the de facto market on most agents’ calendars. Lebutsch called it a “behemoth” post-pandemic, with over 100 packages launched at Cannes last year and the year prior.

To her, it’s become the one stable market where they know everyone is attending. “The buyers I’ve been speaking to over the course of this week, they are feeling it will be very, very busy again,” Lebutsch said.

Another agent described the Cannes market as almost “too healthy” and a moment when many buyers feel underwater with the number of titles they have to screen and read. TIFF starting in 2026 will be launching its own market, which hopefully will give filmmakers another window to secure pre-sales before a fall production start date, something that hasn’t been the case before when there’s a six-month gap between Cannes and AFM in November.

“A lot of us in the industry, we would love for things to be a bit more spread out, it’s not necessarily something that we think is the best solution that everything is so focused on Cannes,” Lebutsch said.

On the next page, read up on 11 hot Marché du Film packages to keep your eyes on.

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