Thierry Frémaux, the general delegate of the Festival de Cannes—that’s how you say “festival director” in French—began working with Cannes in 2001, and has been one of the most influential figures in international cinema for the past 25 years. Under his direction, the festival has launched the careers of filmmakers such as Justine Triet, Yorgos Lanthimos, Joachim Trier, Xavier Dolan, Ruben Östlund, and Andrea Arnold, to name a few.

This year’s lineup includes several returning auteurs, including films from Pedro Almodóvar, Asghar Farhadi, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi. But larger studio films are notably absent from this year’s lineup. There’s no Mission Impossible, and no films from Focus Features, a festival staple. Even A24 is sitting out this year’s festival. Regardless, Frémaux is excited for audiences to experience this year’s international lineup—and is ready for any and all critical reception to the films.

Just two weeks before the 79th Cannes Film Festival, Frémaux sat down with Vanity Fair to discuss this year’s fête. He was opinionated, as usual, and for good reason. He remains a highly influential figure in cinema, with filmmakers and producers valuing his taste above others. Below, Frémaux opens up about Netflix and its role in cinema, his love for Ryan Coogler, and why he won’t program a movie just because a woman directed it.

Vanity Fair: The French film industry is very adamant about showing films in theaters and maintaining a long theatrical window. Cannes has been at the center of that conversation. Can you expand on that?

Thierry Frémaux: This is our culture. There is a lot of money to make at the box office. Even some strong films that went to streamers would have made great content for audiences in movie theaters. In France, we are more focused on that. Maybe a little bit more than Americans. This is a way to show our conviction in this matter. On my iPhone, I have every streamer. But going to a movie theater, going to a film festival, makes it different from seeing a film on a streamer. When I talk to Tom Rothman [chairperson of Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group], he doesn’t do streaming. He still believes in the big screen. And that’s why his conversations with Quentin Tarantino are so strong.

Netflix doesn’t screen its films at Cannes due to France’s laws about theatrical distribution and Ted Sarandos’s refusal to screen films out of competition. Do you still have conversations with Sarandos at Netflix about Cannes? Is there any movement there?

I don’t know. Next year is our 80th anniversary. Recently, I saw Ted, and he said he wanted to come back to Cannes. We have a rule that a film in competition must be released in movie theaters. I understand the business model of Netflix; their films are for streaming. There are other ways to be at the festival by screening out of competition. Killers of the Flower Moon wasn’t in competition. I hope, everyone hopes, that Netflix is part of the family of Cannes.