Variety Honors Thierry Frémaux at Dramatic Welcome to Cannes Bash

Variety’s annual Welcome to Cannes Party started with a bang — literally.

A wooden structure that had been erected on the roof of the JW Marriott Cannes began to buckle under the weight of the partygoers, forcing guests to move to another part of the terrace where the champagne flowed and the good times kept rolling, albeit on firmer ground.

“Welcome to the most talked-about party at Cannes,” Variety Co-President and Publisher Dea Lawrence said in her introductory remarks. “We appreciate all the strong and the brave in show business who stuck it out and stayed.”

And stay they did. The A-list crowd, which included actresses Diane Kruger and Jordana Brewster, as well as Sony Pictures Classics chiefs Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Lynette Howell Taylor, The Gotham Film & Media Institute Executive Director Jeffrey Sharp, “Cliffhanger” director Renny Harlin and Netflix awards guru Lisa Taback, were on hand to honor Thierry Frémaux, who is celebrating his 25th year leading the Cannes Film Festival. The event was hosted in partnership with the Gotham Film & Media Institute.

Ramin Setoodeh, Variety‘s co-president and co-editor-in-chief, honored Frémaux with Variety‘s International Achievement in Film Award, calling him “the heart and soul of Cannes and someone who has shaped this festival for the last 25 years.”

Setoodeh pulled out a page from Variety‘s Cannes issue from the pocket of his jacket and read from a profile of the festival director. “Print is very close to my heart,” Setoodeh joked.

While accepting his prize, Frémaux remembered his first year at the festival, which saw Hollywood return in a big way to the South of France for the premiere of “Moulin Rouge!” It was an extravaganza that brought Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor and Baz Luhrmann to the Croisette and served as an announcement for the kind of star-studded glamour that would make Frémaux’s tenure so memorable. But Frémaux reminded the crowd at the JW Marriott that the art and artists that Cannes celebrates want to do more than dazzle audiences.

“We are in a world at war,” Frémaux noted. “Cinema is an instrument of peace since the Lumière brothers…and if Donald Trump needs some help, he has to ask us, because we know exactly how to make peace in this world, because all the filmmakers are people of peace.”

Barker, whose company will premiere Pedro Almodóvar’s “Bitter Christmas” in competition this year, praised Frémaux for his work. “In addition to protecting filmmakers, you protect the film industry, and you’re a treasure.”