I'm writing this at 2:30 in the morning on the balcony of my residence room, because Chris is asleep and I'm making the terrible decision to forgo sleep for another twenty minutes. On the avenue Maréchal Joffre below, a girl is sobbing in French as the occasional car passes by. Something about a dog. (Or maybe a man.) Already, we have a plan for tomorrow. We will see the premiere of Wonderstruck at 8:30, which means we need to be in line by 8:00, which means we need to catch the train at 7:36, which means I need to wake up at 6:45 so I can maybe make eggs and have some semblance of a healthy life. Like I said, terrible decisions. And yet, here we are, and I don't regret a single thing.
See, Cannes is everything I'd dreamed it would be and more. And yes, sadly, most of my expectations were dreams, because the amount of information we'd really gotten to prepare beforehand was close to none. So we played it by ear, and in the end, we began to figure out how to experience Cannes.
It starts off with an early day. We were up by 7:30, on the train by 8:00, and immediately we made for the American Pavilion to get our seconds badges. Why is the Am Pav the only pavilion with an extra badge of security? Then again, why is the Am Pav three times as large as the rest of the tents? These are the real questions. Followed by: why are the last years' students' names on our badges? (Looking at you, Shelby Eggers.) Not to mention, I had had no breakfast, and instead of a badge received a single, but free, Pepsi.
Basically, this is the mood that we quickly got used to: everything goes wrong, and so you pick up your backup plan and keep going. Because movies! Cannes! Staying up until 2:45 to write a blog post that I'm sure doesn't need to be written yet! French animation!
French animation! That was my first film. 10:00 AM in the Olympia Theatre, Screen 8: The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales. I was adamant about this film. It was by Studio Canal. The producers of Ernest et Celestine, or that French animated film that was nominated for an Oscar in 2013 but lost to Frozen. (That same year being the year when I realized that the majority of Academy judges tdon't actually care about animated movies.)
Following this, the day became a whirlwind of film and presentations. We signed up for our VR events we wanted in the day, and we got lunch (finally) in the Am Pav with our new badges (finally). Alongside The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales, I also saw Rememory at the Hotel Gray d'Albion, and Intermission in Prague in Palais E (reviews to follow). As well, I caught a presentation of four Dutch VR short films in the market, to another level of being impressed.
But the real prize of the day came later. Throughout the day, people had already begun to scalp for Premiere tickets. Mostly to the opening ceremony, some to the party, others to the opening film. Some, even, for the showings of Wonderstuck in five hours. But Kelsey and I didn't begin until 9:30. It was at this point that we made it back to Cannes after changing, and with our freshly made signs, we really weren't hoping for much.
Five minutes. That's how long it took for us to get our tickets. Smiling loudly, walking down the sidewalk with our signs up, a woman stopped us and donated two orchastra seatings to the opening film, Ismael's Ghosts.
We screamed. We cried. We thanked profusely. We got in line.
We walked the red carpet.
We saw the film.
I'm still not over it. It's why I'm still awake. I'm too excited to go back to sleep.
Cannes is a dream. Cannes is all I wanted and more. Yes, maybe the 1 euro gelato place was closed by the time we got back, but it doesn't matter because I got to be in Cannes and I'm loving it. And now I need to go to bed.
But for the record, if you count the VR short film compilation, my film count is up to five for today. (I'm definitely keeping score, Eric Kohn.)
- Kai <3
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