For the first time, Cannes is officially linking the film industry with the creator economy, raising the question of who really controls content today. Influencers bring audiences and capital, while traditional players hold curation and legitimacy. Their clash could fundamentally rewrite the rules of the whole industry.
The Cannes Film Festival has long symbolised the “old world” of cinema, where producers, curators and film critics make the decisions. That is why this year’s move by the Marché du Film is so significant: for the first time, it has included a Creator Economy Summit in its programme. The aim is to connect the film industry with digital creators from Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, and to show that their role now reaches far beyond marketing, into development, financing and content distribution.
Cannes is not the first. But it is the most symbolic
Similar efforts to connect the creator economy with traditional media have been under way for some time. The American SXSW, for example, has long combined film, technology and digital culture. Content creators there are not an “add-on” but a natural part of the programme. Similarly, VidCon, originally a purely YouTuber event, now works as a place where platforms, brands and media houses meet. The difference is that Cannes represents a different kind of legitimacy.
While SXSW or VidCon have worked with digital culture from the start, Cannes is only now letting it in. In doing so, it effectively confirms digital culture as part of the “high culture” of the film ecosystem. This is not a cosmetic change to the programme. It is a shift in who the film industry considers a relevant player.
Creators are no longer just marketing
Only a few years ago, the role of creators in the film industry was relatively clear: to help with promotion. Today that model is breaking down.
According to Goldman Sachs data, the creator economy is worth more than $250 billion and should almost double by 2027. More important than the number itself, however, is the change in structure. Creators are building their own audiences independently of studios, starting to produce long-form content and increasingly taking on the role of producers or co-financiers.
This means one thing: they are no longer just a distribution channel, they are becoming owners of content. Cannes is responding to exactly this. The summit is meant to address specific topics, from financing and distribution to new models of collaboration between creators and studios.
Tension is inevitable
This shift, however, is not without friction. A growing conflict between two worlds is already visible. On one side stands traditional film criticism, built on curation, expertise and an emphasis on quality. On the other are creators, who bring above all reach, high engagement and a direct relationship with their audience.
At premieres, there is increasing debate about why creators are given priority over journalists. If similar dynamics were carried over to Cannes, the reaction would probably be sharp. And quite possibly justified.
It is not a trend. It is a redistribution of influence
The Creator Economy Summit in Cannes is not an isolated event, but another step in a broader process that is transforming the basic logic of the media business. Attention is no longer in the hands of studios alone, distribution is no longer limited to cinemas or television, and production itself is gradually decentralising.
With this step, Cannes is not following trends but responding to a reality in which the roles of individual players are being rewritten. The question is no longer whether the creator economy will become part of the film industry, because that change is already under way. The real question is who will take control.
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