That energy reverberated through the evening as VIPs gathered for Champagne, cocktails, and an oceanside dinner party at the Hôtel du Palais. “Nouvelles Vagues is all about candor, youth, freedom, and the new generation,” noted the festival’s president and co-founder, Jérôme Pulis-Etchevers. “Here in Biarritz, we’re a little bit like the California of France. We do whatever we want and there are no rules.”
“[In Biarritz] there’s this vibrant, fierce energy, and at the same time, there is still so much to discover,” Cotillard offered. “I find that mix very powerful.” The Oscar-winning actress, who has a trio of films releasing in the months ahead including Karma by Guillaume Canet, Roma Elastica by Bertrand Mandico, and Milo by Nicole Garcia, likened the festival’s personality to the spirit embodied by a young Alice Guy-Blaché. As the world’s first female director, Guy-Blaché went on to make more than 1,000 films. “A born artist will always find a way to express themselves,” Cotillard said. “Even when you think you don’t have the means—and I’m not just saying financially—if that visceral, vital need is there, it will happen.”
For Chanel, helping creatives make their mark is a continuation of a storyline that permeates the house, said Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel’s fashion activities. The arc began in 1915, when Gabrielle Chanel established her first haute couture boutique, atelier, and residence in the Villa de Larralde in the coastal city. In recent years, the connection has strengthened via the festival and Matthieu Blazy’s debut Cruise collection in April.
“I believe in the magic of places,” Blazy said. “We came back to Biarritz to support cinema because it’s something that’s close to our hearts, and it’s very important. But it’s not cinema for cinema’s sake; above all it’s about creativity. And creativity is embodied through many things, including film, dance, literature and, obviously, fashion.”
In addition to supporting the festival’s bookend films —Adieu Monde Cruel by Félix de Givry on opening night, and a documentary about Jean Cocteau by Lisa Immordino Vreeland to close out the week—Chanel, through its in-house artisans at Desrues, also produced the winners’ trophies
As to whether the house might venture further into film on its own terms, Pavlovsky was measured. “Our job isn’t to do things in others’ place,” he replied. “Our job is to help those who are doing something well, to do it even better.”
