Morning Update: Postcard from Cannes

Good morning. The trade war made an appearance at Cannes – more on that below, plus an escalation in Donald Trump’s battle with Harvard University and Western premiers come to an agreement. But first:

Today’s headlines

• Canada Post workers stay on the job but refuse overtime as contract talks fall short
• The shooting of Israeli embassy staffers in Washington sharpens fears of rising antisemitism in the U.S.
• Sources say that Prime Minister Mark Carney has been unable to find a permanent chief of staff
• G7 countries pledge to tackle ‘excessive imbalances’ in the global economy

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Film

Reporting to you from the heart of global cinema

Hi, this is Barry Hertz, film editor at The Globe and Mail.

Attending the Cannes Film Festival for the first time is a bit like walking into a new high school. You’re unsure where you’re supposed to be, you feel like you’re wearing the wrong thing and all the cool kids are smoking.

Even though I’ve been covering the film world for more than two decades – including reporting from festivals and industry conferences everywhere from Berlin to Las Vegas to Austin to, of course, Toronto – Cannes is the top-tier event on the global film calendar. The “Big Show,” to use baseball language that surely wouldn’t pass muster on the Croisette, the fabulously tony beachside promenade where most of the festival action happens.

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The hundreds of reporters and critics who have been coming to Cannes for decades have the edge when it comes to navigating such an immense and intense affair. I didn’t even realize that I would need a tuxedo (or at the very least a black suit jacket/black pant/black shoe/bow-tie combo) until just a week before from my flight. (Shout-out to the good folks at Moores near Toronto’s Yorkdale mall for the quick fit. Someone there needs to give Tony a raise!)

So, after finally touching down in the south of France and running into my more Cannes-familiar colleagues – some of whom I know personally, others whom I only recognize by their bylines – I felt that slow itch of imposter syndrome start to burn. (Also burning: my bald scalp, with my packing skills having underestimated just how much sunscreen I would need.)

As the first Globe and Mail staffer on the ground in Cannes in a decade – the last arts reporter to make the trip was Liam Lacey, back in 2015, the year he retired – I felt a responsibility to cover the festival as thoroughly as possible. Which meant hitting the streets running before I was entirely sure which street went in which direction.

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But quite quickly, I realized that the Cannes rules of engagement are similar enough to TIFF, only supersized and super-French.

Screening and interview schedules can change on a dime. You can try to chase the buzz of a hotly discussed film, but you simply cannot catch every single title. (Big misses for me were the new films from Jafar Panahi, Bi Gan and Joachim Trier, the latter of whom seems to have the prestigious Palme d’Or award locked up.)

And by the time you get back to your Airbnb to begin the postmidnight writing process, who knows whether that charming epicerie around the corner will be open to snag a bag of chips and a can of Coke Zero? (Spoiler: It won’t.)

I know, I know – it all sounds like terribly hard and back-breaking work, watching movies and scarfing baguettes between beachside coffees and hotel-terrace interviews.

But just when the chi-chi surroundings threatened to swallow me up, the one giant revelation of Cannes slapped me across the face: Being here means being in the heart of global cinema.

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Cannes is where celebrities and luxury jewellers and dubious movie marketers come to hawk their personal brands, sure, but it is also where art is unleashed on to the world and consumed with unparalleled passion.

Any nerves, exhaustion or confusion melt away the second you sit in one of Cannes’ many cinemas – and there are enough gorgeously appointed screens scattered around the city core to make Toronto look like a dusty backwater. (Popcorn also seems to be verboten here, which is fine by me – I overdosed on buttered kernels back in my teenage years, when I spent countless hours behind the concession stand of my local Cineplex.)

Cannes is not only where the best in international cinema is showcased and platformed on a fabulously grand scale, but where everyone who keeps the medium alive – the artists, the financiers, the distributors, even, yes, the critics – gathers to celebrate the transcendent power of big-screen culture. No amount of preparation can quite prepare you for such a high.

My arts section cover story in this weekend’s paper looks at how the global film industry contends with its very own impossible mission. Even tariff anxieties didn’t dampen the mood.

Next year, though, I’ll try to schedule just a little more room for sleep. Unless I hear about that exciting new film that I just have to see.

The Shot

‘There will be confrontation, on the ground.’

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At Queen’s Park, First Nations leaders warn against passing a bill that would allow Ontario to designate “special economic zones” where development could be exempted from normal laws.

The Wrap

What else we’re following

At home: After a two-day meeting, Western premiers agreed to push for a trade corridor that connects Canada’s north to B.C. to help reach Asian markets.

Abroad: The Trump administration revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, including Canadians.

Let’s go: Groups representing investment managers are urging regulators to harmonize provincial securities regulations to reduce trade barriers.

Let go: Brendan Shanahan is out as Maple Leafs president after more post-season misery.