Troma Head Lloyd Kaufman Calls Cannes ‘Fascist,’ Vows to Never Return to Festival
Troma Entertainment’s long history of attending the Cannes Film Festival appears to be coming to an end. Troma president Lloyd Kaufman issued a statement Monday criticizing the festival for the way the Troma team was treated at Cannes last month, where members of the company were “slapped around and arrested by thugs in suits joined by police,” according to Kaufman.
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Troma was also on hand at Cannes to screen Kaufman’s latest film, “Return to Return to Nuke ‘Em High aka Vol.2,” the continuation of the story that began with Kaufman’s 1986 sci-fi comedy “Class of Nuke ‘Em High.” The Troma team also marched on the Croisette to protest media consolidation and promote net neutrality to independent art and commerce, but were temporarily detained.
“Despite the harassment, arrests and suppression we received from the Fascist Cannes Film Festival, the Cannes trade screenings of ‘Return to Return to Nuke ‘Em High aka Vol.2’ [were] a huge success!” Kaufman said in a statement. “The film received great reviews even though the elites at Cannes marked my 50th year of movie making by shoving my face in shit.” Kaufman added that he would never return to Cannes.
Founded in 1974, Troma bills itself as the longest-running independent movie studio in North America. Kaufman has been attending the Cannes Film Festival since 1976.
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Troma has produced and distributed more than 1,000 films, and in the process has helped launch the careers of some of Hollywood’s most successful talents, including “Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn. The original “Class of Nuke ‘Em High” spawned multiple sequels and addresses the dangers of generating nuclear power in suburbia.
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