Lhe online media Brut, new partner of the Cannes Film Festival, announced on Wednesday May 4 that users of the Fornite video game, extremely popular with teenagers, could walk the red carpet or climb the famous steps. And this, in a virtual replica of the premises.
“It was important for us to bring the Cannes Film Festival into the uses of new generations”, justified in a press release Guillaume Lacroix, director of Brut. The latter replaced Canal+ alongside France Télévisions this year as media partner of this major event for the 7ᵉ art. In detail, the places of the Festival – but also of the Croisette – will be transposed into the “metaverse” [monde virtuel, NDLR] from Fortnite. To date, the game claims nearly 200 million users worldwide.
Whether in the costume of a journalist, an actor or a director, players will have access to various quests. They will be able to “carry out interviews”, “pass a casting” or “participate in the climb of the steps”. At the same time, so-called “additional” missions will be devoted to “more committed” themes: climate change or even diversity in the world of cinema, we promise.
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A partnership also established with TikTok
The Cannes Film Festival is not the first cultural event to invest the universe of this video game. In 2020, rapper Travis Scott, one of the most listened to artists of his generation, gave five virtual concerts in the game. In total, more than 27 million virtual spectators, in total, had connected to this event .
While the cinema is still disrupted by the pandemic and new media consumption habits, this initiative is in addition to others announced earlier in the year. The Cannes Film Festival, whose 75th edition is held from May 17 to 28, has entered into a partnership with the social network TikTok. The objective for the organizers: to get closer to the younger generations.