As you read this column I would have flown down to the south of France for the Cannes Film Festival, which unrolls tomorrow.

Being a distributor myself, I am more oriented (and justifiably) towards the market than the festival per se. This year, doing business in Cannes will thin wallets more rapidly than before as the euro gains vigour and the dollar weakens. As of mid-April, about 8,000 market participants were registered from about 500 companies and 93 countries. Is this a sign of optimism? Or is there just more product waiting to be flogged? The latter, I think.

With the plethora of funding streaming into the movie business, the output has increased. This has been evidenced in the huge demand for market screenings this year. India will have a huge representation this year, and for a change, not just as a seller but also as a buyer. (The proliferation of new world cinema channels from UTV, Big & Firangi will result in the active acquisition of foreign content.)

The new countries which are hitting the Croisette this year include Macedonia, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Anguilla. The Palestinian territory will also be represented.

After less-than-swift sales at Sundance in January and a rather uneventful Berlin the following month, it remains to be seen whether Cannes can reverse this gloomy trend and bring a smile on the face of sellers.

Spielberg?s woes

The biggest fear that a producer or distributor of a big film has is the leakage of adverse pre-release reports. This explains why more and more film-makers are restricting private previews to prevent word from getting around and impeding the opening grosses.

The latest victim of adverse pre-release reviewing is the year?s most keenly anticipated title, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Last week, a harshly critical review appeared on a website from an anonymous gentleman who claimed to be a theatre executive who saw the film at an exhibitors? screening organised by Paramount in LA and elsewhere. ?This is the Indiana Movie that you were dreading,? said the review. Later that evening, two other mildly negative reviews showed up on the same site. No doubt this has thrown a bit of cold water on the otherwise exemplary marketing campaign that is being rolled out at the moment.

Sunday, May 18, will be the most crucial day for the film, as it gets premiered at the Cannes Film Festival outside the main competition. The reviews are bound to come online almost immediately and in print the following day. And because the initial run of the film will, unarguably, be rock-solid, the effect of the reviews (if negative) will come into effect only in the subsequent weeks.

The author has a breadth of experience in film production, marketing and distribution. At present, he heads marketing & distribution for the UK & Europe at Studio 18. He can be reached at garg.tan@gmail.com