Renault, Official Sponsor of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival

PARIS, FRANCE – May 12, 2009: Renault has fostered the growth of the Cannes Film Festival for 26 years. From May 13 to 24, 2009, a fleet of about hundred vehicles, including 70 Vel Satis and 30 Espace, will drive the actors and Festival guests to and from the red-carpeted steps. In addition, this year about a dozen Kangoo be bop will supplement the official fleet to help with mounting the Festival. Renault and the movie industry go back more than a century. Louis Renault’s Voiturette appeared in the Lumière brothers’ early films in 1899, when the first film studios were built in Boulogne-Billancourt at the same time as the first Renault factory on the Ile Seguin.

Renault is continuing its commitment to film and television production today through an active policy of sponsorship and product placements. Several models from the Renault range are in the films in the Festival’s official selection, such as Les Herbes Folles by Alain Resnais. Renault is also encouraging Les Toiles Enchantées, a not-for-profit organization chaired by Alain Chabat that screens movies in children’s hospitals, by lending two vehicles to transport projection equipment and crews so children in hospitals around Cannes can experience the Cannes Festival by attending world premier previews.

This year, Renault, and especially the latest model in the range, New Grand Scénic, is also teaming up with Disney Pixar and the 3D animated feature Up, screened at the Opening Ceremony. The arrival of members of the Disney teams in front of the red carpet on board the three New Grand Scénic models decked out in the colors of the film will mark the beginning of an international collaboration that spans more than 20 countries, through communications interfaces and operations to boost traffic in Renault showrooms.

The Atelier Renault on the Champs Elysées will also set up in Cannes for the 62nd festival. Located on the beachfront of the Majestic, in the middle of the Cannes atmosphere, the Atelier will be open to all visitors, with a Festival-themed photography exhibition featuring celebrities from around the world mounting the famous Steps.