In the world of film festivals, the Cannes Film Festival reigns supreme. Nestled in the French Riviera resort town of Cannes, overlooking the Mediterranean, its location is sublime. Just mentioning Cannes makes people gush and raise an eyebrow, as it’s a place where film culture exists in all its glory, beauty, and business. Cannes denotes class, and its posh and pomp are revered. To be included in its line-up is an honor of grand proportions, and grand it is to walk the Allée des Étoiles or the Cannes’ Walk of Fame as it is a walk of arrival in more ways than one can imagine. Though the paparazzi is five rows deep, tradition and protocol are met with high standards as there are uniforms and staff who do not waiver in their presence or job.
Embraced and cherished by French culture, the earliest filmmakers were French, the Lumiere Brothers, who the French say invented the cinema. Even though Thomas Edison invented the film camera, no one can deny that the French take the cinema very seriously, and the Cannes Film Festival upholds tradition and respect for cinema and its artists. Since its beginnings, through world wars and other global crises, the Festival has always attracted Hollywood giants, starlets, and studs, as well as the most accomplished European and world cinema directors and actors. It is the world’s most prestigious film festival and the most significant film market, revered by the French. As a rule for attending a red carpet film after 6 pm, you must adorn black tie appropriately. So it’s not surprising to see many men and women in their black tie apparel running around Cannes in the afternoon, wearing flip flops with high heels sprouting from a shoulder bag for the big premiere evening—a priceless slice of Cannes.
Housed in the Palais des Festivals on the famous Croisette, the Palais is a sleek, giant, modern building set on the beach with several floors, theaters, and a market space that expands the length of the building for those buying and selling films in the world market. There is nothing in the U.S. that compares, and that’s only the Festival infrastructure because surrounding the Palais is a festival scene that incorporates an international village of tents representing countries, film organizations, and the like, including the American Pavilion that extends the entire Cannes beach, massive yachts are docked on the walkway from the Palais, and large sponsors such as Microsoft have created Bali terraces for parties and meetings to name one of several sponsor venues.
There is an outdoor cinema on the beach across from the Mondrian Hotel that offers free films in the evening. Inside, film industry folks schmooze and drink champagne, and many beautiful people gather. This is the Festival Zone, as there are more theaters and other locations around Cannes that are also part of the experience embraced by the town at The Carlton and other famous hotels and beach spots that have denoted Cannes for decades.
For the 77th edition of the Festival de Cannes, May 13-24, 2024, the jury was chaired by American director, screenwriter, and actress Greta Gerwig. Also, it included American actress Lily Gladstone, among others, who decided on awards for 22 films in competition, including the coveted top prize and prestigious Palme d’Or. Film screenings such as Oliver Stones’ documentary Lula, on Brazil’s president, David Cronenberg’s most recent thriller The Shrouds, and the dramatic comedy from India, Sister Midnight, provided a spectrum of stories and filmmaking expected from a festival that prides itself in world cinema, and of course, there were villa parties, industry events, and panel discussions. Rosé wine, along with Aperol spritzers, steak tartare, pomme frites, and baguettes was the choice of many at every al fresco café. It is not as snobby as one might think, but it is still France and a country to love, especially on the Mediterranean with its sea breeze and historic region so close to Provence and Monaco, where a Grand Prix race would take place in a week or so.
As part of an American Pavilion panel event, among many other happenings at Cannes this year, film producer Heather Rae, a Boise resident and Idaho native, was in attendance. For more than a quarter-century, Rae has forged a career as a critically acclaimed filmmaker. Her journey is distinguished by her allyship for underrepresented people and stories and her advocacy for emerging filmmakers and artists. Rae produced the Oscar-nominated drama Frozen River and Sian Heder’s Tallulah and has directed three documentaries, including the award-winning Trudell, focused on the legendary Native American poet and activist.
“What is so important about big, international festivals is that they are a world market,” says Rae. “As a consumer and creator of that content and a vendor in that space, in whatever way we participate in the industry, these are critical forums to be engaged. Cannes hits the highest notes as a global forum. I personally love Cannes because it is incredibly glamorous. It is so beautiful, and it is so much fun. It’s a magical event, and you see the industry at work. The red carpet going up to the Grand Palais is like nothing else in the world. It’s iconic. We have seen images of stars since the 40s, and it’s an archetypical contribution to world cinema.”
A half-dozen years into a first-look deal with Amazon Studios, Rae currently serves as executive producer of the Amazon Original Series Outer Range, a sci-fi western starring Josh Brolin as a Wyoming rancher. With their shared roots in the American West, Rae spent her days on-set during Season One, working to bring authenticity to storylines in tandem with series creator Brian Watkins and a team of advisors and with veteran showrunner Charles Murray for Season Two. Brolin was a Vision Award winner at the 2023 Sun Valley Film Festival.
“I always see cinema as a mirror,” she says. “The cinema gives us this opportunity. It has the means to see ourselves and understand what it is to understand community. We are in an age of obsessive reflection. We are starting to experience consumer content in many different ways. Europeans and the French uphold cinema in terms of cultural value. It is a way of reflecting on the values within our culture. It’s changing.”
Spotlighting a Native American hustler and her quest to unite her family, the Rae-produced Fancy Dance opened theatrically on June 21st and Apple+ on June 28th. Starring Lily Gladstone in the wake of her Academy Award-nominated success in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, the drama has already earned dozens of film festival honors, including a Grand Jury Prize nomination at Sundance, where Rae previously became aware of writer/director Erica Tremblay and praises “the depth of her talent” and the strongly female team engaged in shooting the film in Oklahoma.
On the horizon is a full slate of projects, including those with Sterlin Harjo (Reservation Dogs), Blackhorse Lowe (5th World), and her husband Russell Friedenberg (Wind Walkers). One deeply personal project allowing Rae to step into the narrative director’s chair is Pony, a feature inspired by her true-life experience as a teen horseback riding in the wilderness with her cousin and getting lost for two weeks due to a forest fire. A powerful story of resilience and courage, Pony is being developed with Rae’s daughter, Johnny Sequoyah, who will act and produce under the auspices of the newly formed shingle Mountain Daughter Media.
Rae’s work as a producer and advocate has taken her all over the world. She is a force behind more than three dozen films, many of which focus on underrepresented communities and the drive toward systemic change. As director, editor, and producer, her 2005 documentary Trudell screened at over 100 film festivals, earning such accolades as a Grand Jury Prize nomination at Sundance and a Special Jury Award at the Seattle International Film Festival.
“International and regional film festivals are the way to travel and experience cinema and a place,” says Rae. “It’s how I have learned about the world, attending hundreds of film festivals. Often, how to get to know a place, is a film festival. It’s available to all, and Cannes is too.”
In 2008 came the drama Frozen River and two Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Leading Actress (Melissa Leo), along with an AFI Award for Movie of the Year, a Producer Award for Rae from the Film Independent Spirit Awards, and inclusion in Variety’s coveted “Producers to Watch” list at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2016, Rae produced Tallulah, the poignant tale of a homeless woman who reunited the Juno team of Allison Janney and Elliot Page under first-time feature director Sian Heder (CODA).
Rae spent her childhood in central mountain Idaho, where her family has lived for generations. Raised by her mother’s side from northern Oklahoma and southern Missouri, Rae grew up with strong family values and a connection to the land, which significantly shaped her identity. During her upbringing in the 70s, she spent many years with no electricity, running water, or TV, instead experiencing a childhood informed by her natural surroundings. While still in high school, Rae was scouted by Elite Models and began an unexpected modeling stint in New York City prior to an even more excellent adventure in Japan, which “opened up the world” for her. She returned to the U.S. and studied cultural anthropology and creative writing at Boise State. She discovered the storytelling power of the school’s video classes and expanded on her teenage interest in photography. She transferred to Evergreen State College in Washington, graduating in cinema and multicultural studies.
“I had to train myself to be confident and self-worth,” she says. “I had to understand that I belonged. The film industry has a way of making people feel like an outsider.”
Amid her ascent as a filmmaker, Rae spent six years with the Sundance Institute, subsequently serving as a Sundance trustee, juror, and advisor. “I learned so much about storytelling and supporting the voices of emerging talent,” says Rae, who also served as a founding board member of the Sun Valley Film Festival in her home state of Idaho. More recently, she was invited to join Producers United, a new organization working to pave the way for the next generation of producers, one of the few non-unionized occupations in the entertainment industry.
“One wonderful thing about attending film festivals is that there are always engaging conversations,” says Rae. “It is powerful, and filmmakers are our nation’s storytellers. They are putting something into form, an expression as ancient as we are.”
Throughout her adult years, Rae has championed the work of Indigenous artists, serving as a founding partner for the social justice organization IllumiNative, where she helped create its Indigenous Producers Fellowship with Netflix, as well as an Indigenous Director Shadowing Program with Amazon Studios. She is also passionate about improving the U.S. foster care system and the world of family services. She is pursuing a Master in Social Work program through Boise State University. A devoted photography enthusiast whose landscapes and portraits of the American West have populated nearly a dozen gallery shows, Rae lives in the urban west of Los Angeles with her husband, Russell Friedenberg, and is the proud mother of three.
“My formation had such power,” she says. “At the time, I didn’t recognize it until I went far away and could reflect and came back. I understood where I came from, which had much to do with my relationship with the land. To see oneself as something larger than oneself, particularly as part of a land base. We are part of it. Wherever we are, we are on the land and have a relationship with it, which is important. In September, I will be part of Art of the Park in Boise and present my photography about this relationship.”
Of her body of work, NPR’s Morning Edition said that Rae’s films are “all about discovery.” The filmmaker herself appreciates that Hollywood recognizes audience interest in diverse stories and seeks to leverage this momentum to reach more people through the larger stage afforded by the distribution power of major studios. Bringing a spiritual philosophy to this goal, she knows that it is a journey that requires dexterity for her and others. Rae adds, “We all must be like water and keep moving around the rocks.”
“What is so important about big, international festivals is that they are a world market.”