It all started with a video posted on twitter by Éric Morillot, former journalist for Cnews and Sud Radio, this Saturday, May 20, from Cannes. It reveals Thierry Frémaux, the general delegate of the Cannes festival, pointing the finger at a municipal policeman who pushes him away strongly, in front of the Carlton hotel on the Croisette.
“Give me your name!”, “I’m going to file a complaint”, “You hit me, it’s filmed, it’s going to go very far!”, Then indignant Thierry Frémaux. “I asked you to stop, you have to stop, sir, that’s all!” retorts the agent.
The subject of the dispute? The festival delegate, riding a bicycle on the sidewalk, would have refused to stop his race despite the police officer’s order, according to the video of Éric Morillot. “You were riding a bicycle on the sidewalk. A policeman asked you twice to stop. When he catches up with you in front of the Carlton you accuse him of assaulting you. I tell you again here, Thierry Frémaux, you were wrong and you are not above the law! We are several witnesses of what happened. This municipal police officer has our full support,” wrote the journalist to accompany his publication.
“It’s a non-subject, a stroke of pressure as happens ten times a day in Cannes during the Festival” confided a spokesperson for the town hall to our colleagues from France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’ Azure. Before specifying that the two protagonists “shook hands afterwards”. The magic of cinema still operates in Cannes…