“The transition from influence to cinema is not impossible”: Young network stars are invited to the Croisette by luxury brands or platforms and dream of appearing on the big screen.
A few days ago, an evening gathered at the “Terrasse by Albane”, one of the most popular meeting places in Cannes, that brought together a bevy of tiktokers, instagrammers, youtubers and influencers.
In this galaxy, there are those who have already taken the plunge, like influencer Paola Locatelli (1.5 million followers on TikTok, 1.9 million on Instagram), who is due out in 2022 with a starring role in Netflix’s “Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” an adaptation of the film, debuted novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.
Or like Just Riadh (6.7 million subscribers on TikTok, 4.5 million on Instagram), who headlined “A la belle étoile” in February, where he plays a pastry genius.
In Cannes, the “Influencer of the Year” 2022, according to Strategies magazine, was invited by the group Paco Rabanne, for which he promoted a perfume.
“I’ve been coming to Cannes since 2018,” Riadh Belaïche, real name, told AFP.
The 24-year-old young man, who wears sunglasses in the middle of the evening and creates humorous content to “bring fun into people’s lives,” says he wants to “continue the path of cinema.”
“Networks are good. I don’t put up barriers. “I don’t say to myself: ‘If I make films, I won’t make my videos anymore’, that’s compatible,” he assures.
“There is everything on the networks, like in the cinema. There are films where you learn a lot and others where you just have fun.”
Others are dying to appear on the big screen for the first time, like Soraya (solalala12, 1.5M followers on TikTok, 152K on Instagram). The sketch author broke through in 2021 thanks to a parody of Marine Le Pen.
“I’ve always had a passion for cinema,” tells AFP the 22-year-old brunette from Strasbourg, who came to Cannes with her agent.
“It’s an opportunity to see what’s going on, to meet people in the community… I aspire to climb the stairs one day,” smiles the Tiktokeuse, who “dreams of being among the greatest actresses” of her generation.
His model? Leila Bekhti. “For me, these people have been successful in their lives because they have made their passion their profession,” she says.
The networks are a “stepping stone” and “going from influence to cinema is not impossible,” the Tiktokeuse unrolls.
His subscriber count is still “modest” compared to internet stars, but Isaak Dessaux (nearly 190,000 subscribers on TikTok) still managed to catch the attention of MUBI, an international movie streaming platform.
At 21, he’s only been making hilarious sketches with parodies of everyday characters for a year.
“I walked up the stairs for Catherine Corsini’s film with my heart pounding,” he told AFP. “More than ever I want to be part of this cinema community,” continues the graduate of the cinema optional course.
MUBI sent him to the Croisette as a special envoy “to show the festival from all angles”.
An “honor” for this tiktokeur from the town of Nogent-le-Roi (Eure-et-Loir), who dreams of one day presenting a film in Cannes and showing “that we are four-wheel drive vehicles and that we can go anywhere “.