Cannes is over for another year, and nary a sound was heard.

The fleeting flash of the prestigious red carpet is, by now, long rolled up and stored away, and its films are left to deal with the harsh terrain of attempting to find distribution. A film can win big in Europe, performing well all over the festival circuit, yet any sort of afterlife depends entirely on which handful of North American or British distributors decide to buy it up.

With this, there is something of a monopoly on Cannes and its highest accolade, the Palme d’Or. For seven consecutive years now, the North American distribution rights to the Palme d’Or winner have been snapped up by one single indie heavyweight studio: Neon. Parasite, Titane, Triangle of Sadness, Anatomy of a Fall, Anora… all these notable arthouse films won the Palme d’Or and were then taken further by a single, already invested, studio.

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And again, this year, the Palme d’Or winner, Romanian film Fjord, had already been bought by Neon prior to its entry in the competition, based on the predicted success of the film on the festival circuit. The dominance of Neon has encouraged arch-rival A24 to pick up its acquisition pace, but the addition of a second major indie studio does little to expand the scope, and A24 seems to be struggling with acquiring major festival entries against Neon’s great foresight.

Fjord, a film about a traditional Romanian family navigating life in a........

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