8 World V I D E O A G E January 2022 (Continued from Page 6) April 1-6. No new dates have yet been set for MIDEM 2022 (originally set for June 7-10, 2022). In pre-COVID times Cannes hosted so many trade shows, conferences, festivals, and other events throughout the year that roughly 85 percent of the city’s annual revenues came from those events. Cannes Mayor David Lisnard suggested that in 2020 alone the city lost the euro equivalent of about $941 million. Therefore, if the City of Cannes ends up saving and then hosting the international music market, that will only serve to add to the city coffers, and be another aspect of its already impressive entertainment banner. Lest we forget, in October of 2019, Mayor Lisnard announced that the Palais des Festivals (last given an overhaul in 1979) would get an upgrade, along with a brand new theater, via his “Cannes on Air” plan, which would also see a multiplex (Cineum Cannes), a museum dedicated to the history of the Cannes Film Festival, as well as studios, production and postproduction facilities within a technology park that would also contain a university dedicated to film, TV, video games, and web content creation. At the time the whole venture was going to cost more than $550 million. Thus far, construction of the overall project has yet to be completed, including work in the Palais. In early January 2022, during a visit to Los Angeles, Lisnard, who is a big entertainment industry fan, confirmed that he will be serving his mandate until 2026, and added that he has recently been voted by a group of French mayors as the president of all of France’s mayors. (By Mike Reynolds in Los Angeles) Reed MIDEM organization recently joined forces with Reed Expositions France and changed its name to RX France; in the process, the company dropped the 55-year-old music industry event known as MIDEM, which was a surprise to people in all areas of the entertainment industry. ReedMIDEMhad put onmarkets for television andmusic for decades in Cannes (as well as markets and exhibitions in other countries and for other industries). However, the suggestion being put forth by pundits is that MIDEM, despite facing falling attendance over the last few years, will continue, likely under the stewardship of the City of Cannes, which would be running two shows: CannesSeries and MIDEM. RX France reassured executives that their pulling out of MIDEM would have no effect on their other Cannes events such as MIPTV and MIPCOM. The TV festival CannesSeries was started by the Cannes Municipality in 2018 to run in conjunction with MIPTV. Last year, however, it took place during MIPCOM in October. In 2022, CannesSeries will return in the spring, City of Cannes Could Take On MIDEMMart
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