For cinephiles, it’s become something of a public sport to scrounge up what scant details can be had from behind the scenes at the Cannes Film Festival, where each year arrives with the promise of fresh drama. Deliberations often contentious in nature bring about the annual slate of programming and eventual lineup of award-winners, and those looking in from the outside love to savor the reports of vendettas and disharmony.

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Cannes spectators will soon have more than ever to study, with a documentary delving into the festival’s inner workings now on the way. Cannes Uncut will detail the cinema institution’s “glorious excesses, triumphs, and failures,” a heartening sign that this won’t just be trumped-up PR for the film’s subject.

A team of longtime insiders including producer Colin Burrows, critic Mark Adams, director Chris Pickard, and journalist Richard Blanshard are assembling the project, which will combine archival materials combined with interviews conducted at this year’s proceedings, the long-awaited return after the forced hiatus of COVID-19. Their press release promises dish on all the “the great films as well as the wild parties; the spectacular promotional stunts as well as the iconic talents; the glorious successes and the infamous failures.”

Some of the more notable chapters of Cannes history we can expect to be touched on include: the May ’68 protests that brought the festival to a halt, Francis Ford Coppola‘s casual disowning of Crash’s special jury prize in 1996 and other spats among the Competition jury, perhaps a mention of 2015’s selfie ban or anti-high-heel demonstrations. If current festival director Thierry Frémaux has any juicy secrets to share, this would be an optimal venue for that.

For years, the Frederick Wiseman-style look at Cannes – a top-to-bottom examination of how this major event comes together – has felt like an impossible dream. This new film would seem to be the next best thing, a way in to the most exclusive inner circle of an already exclusive culture.