Just one week before the event was scheduled to begin, workers at the Cannes Film Festival called for a walkout on Monday due to concerns over wages and working conditions.
Sous les Ecrans la Deche (“Poverty Behind the Screens”) is a collective whose members stated that their goal was to bring attention to long-standing issues, not to cause major disturbance.
“The strike will not put the opening of the festival at risk but there could be disruptions as it goes on,” the spokeswoman told AFP.
The group said it represented around 100 workers, including projectionists, programmers, press agents and ticket sellers.
They work on short-term contracts but do not fall under France’s unemployment insurance scheme for freelance artists and technicians in the cultural sector, which tops up salaries to a minimum wage.
“Most of us will have to give up working, which will jeopardise the events,” the group said in a statement.”The forthcoming opening of the Cannes Film Festival has a bitter taste for us this year,” it added. The festival organisers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
About 40,000 people attend the French Riviera festival every year, which is regarded as the most prominent for the global film industry.
The festival is scheduled to take place this year from May 14 to May 25, and celebrities including Meryl Streep, Francis Ford Coppola, and Georges Lucas are expected to attend.
