This is definitely a special and huge event (at the same time – it’s small – weird?). If you are there as a film-maker, you better believe there is so much to do, see and be involved in, that you will be dizzy by day’s end and too tired to party and mingle at night (especially with the jet lag factor the first couple of days). You definitely need to schedule and map out your plans ahead of time if you’re there to extract the best experience (as with anything but even more so with Cannes…)
If you’re there to see the films, get out early for that as well especially if you don’t have “tier one” passes and have to get on a waiting list. If you are walking down the Red carpet – of course be dressed to the nines. There are tons of people outside the Palais de Festival (The main building) waiting for the celebrities to walk the carpet at the end of the day and also to ask for tickets the exiting attendees may be willing to give up.
In addition to this splendor-filled event, the weather is beautiful as one can see. The wide crescent bay and the mountains on the sea are greatly scenic. It’s funny as an American, observing the French – many of the women of all shapes and sizes there sun bathe topless on the beaches and it’s not at all considered a big deal.
This year was the 60th Anniversary and all my favorite people were there! among the many were: Gael Garcia Bernal, Alejandro Innaritu, Zhang Ziyi, Wong Kar-Wai, Nora Jones, Brad and Angelina etc…
Believe it or not I only saw directors Alejandro Innaritu and Jim Jarmusch walking down the street through the crowds and Sharon Stone on the back of her yacht a few feet away.
The Yacht scene is nice and worth celebrity watching for a minute at least. The Croisette and Hotel scene is crazy and if you don’t have a festival badge you can’t make it into any Hotel of significance.
Overall it’s fun and also pleasingly dizzying with activity and possibilities. I’m saying this as a native New Yorker – You’ve got to get your schedule and daily plan together to keep good bearings before going in to the festival with the seminars and the Marché du Film and the screenings and meetings etc. – And Ladies: don’t think of looking too cute in the shoe department (ie: heels) during the day because there’s a lot of walking involved in attending this festival. I can’t tell how many band-aids I saw on women’s feet after day 2 Cannes. I personally ached for the women I saw in heels. Also, as with any event of the like, you need to safeguard your purse and wallet from the annual pickpocketing that can go on.
Overall get there at least once! What a blast! The people there were quite friendly and many, many people spoke English (which is fortunate and unfortunate at the same time.) Nevertheless Cannes was wonderful; though it seems to get a little sleepy after the Festival has blown out of town and many, many of the summer apartments and homes are still shut-up since the summer vacationers haven’t arrived yet. Cannes has a very nice history as well and the Older district is worth taking a nice walk up to as well for even more wonderful scenery of the open bay and the charming rooftops.
(I want to shout out to the British Pavillion at the Festival – they did a wonderful job in films, seminars, etc. Cheers!)
