Well, it's been some time time since I listened to it, but if I remember correctly, the "formula" was basically part pre-sales, part tax credits and part gap financing and/or equity?
If so, then yes, that is still relevant. In fact, a combination of those is how most indies budgeted $1M-$2M and up get financed, only the ratio will change depending on the package you have.
You can get pre-sales on a lower budget production too, but it will be harder to monetize them, since in order to get an entertainment bank to finance your pre-sales, your production needs to be bonded, and bonding companies don't usually deal with movies budgeted under $2M.
Of course it's also important to remember that things change in the business all the time. Some things stay the same, action, thriller and horror are still sellable genres, and they always will be, but the names that were highly bankable even two years ago might not be today.
Also you can make these deals outside of AFM and Cannes. If you have an action movie with Jason Statham attached, I guarantee you will be able to pre-sell it no matter what time of the year it is.