When the Olympiads of sport meet the Olympiads of cinema, fraternity, the celebration of peoples and a humanist ideal converge on the red carpet and climb the steps like a podium before coming together on the screen.
Because cinema and sport are languages that transcend words and overcome borders, they coalesce into pacifist values. This will be the motto of this festive evening around the screening of Mickaël Gamrasni’s documentary, Olympiques! La France des Jeux, featuring David Douillet, Guy Drut, Jean Galfione, Céline Gerny, Laura Flessel, Laure Manaudou, Cédric Nankin and some twenty Olympic and Paralympic champions. 

Aged 20 to 100, they tell their stories and trace France’s incredible Olympic genealogy, from the creation of the Games in 1896 to recent exploits, from Charles Coste, gold medallist in 1948, to Romain Cannone, gold medallist in 2021, including Kiki Caron, who lit up Tokyo 1964, and Béatrice Hess and Nikola Karabatic, four and three-time gold medallists.

In this film, produced by France Télévisions, three generations of French athletes are brought together for the first time, revealing why France has such a special relationship with the Games.
“What a joy it is to welcome such a host of Olympic stars,” Iris Knobloch, President of the Festival de Cannes, and Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate, said. “We look forward to continuing to write the great history between sport and the Seventh Art, and to delving with as much fervor as happiness into a century of participation in the Olympic Games, which have left an indelible mark on our collective memory.”

Tony Estanguet, Marie-José Pérec, Thierry Rey, Iliana Rupert, Marie Patouillet, Nélia Barbosa, Alexis Hanquiquant, Christine Caron and Brahim Asloum will flank Arnaud Assoumani (Paralympic Champion in Para Athletics), who will carry the Olympic flame onto the red carpet. Paris 2024, in agreement with the Mairie de Cannes, is offering the flame to the Festival, as a preview on the red carpet, before it is welcomed in the City of Cannes by all Cannois on June 18.