Our hard-working movie-marketing Insider Jill Macnab recently went on a business trip to a little thing called The Cannes Film Festival in the hopes of catching a lot of very awesome movies. Armed with a camera, she went snaphappy, relaying experiences and realities of being a Kiwi film distributor amongst the biggest film festival in the world.
This year’s beautiful poster (above) is one of Jill’s favourites to date.
The Cannes Experience
This was the reality of the weather for most of the fortnight this year. Lots of umbrellas.
This is the old town of Cannes, very quaint and pretty (and smelling of dog poo and cheese…the stereotypes are true here!)
All around the old town are banners celebrating the festival. Apparently locals have an allocation of tickets for all the big premieres, and they make a lot of money from the visitors, so they’re quite happy with the inconvenience of the festival every year.
Rather like the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Cannes has its own version. Snaking around the Palais’ red carpet area are handprints of loads of famous people. Here’s Liberace.
This is what the weather should look like the whole time…unfortunately not. This is the only slice of beach not used for building structures or restaurants during the festival, so the locals and visitors take advantage when the sun is shining. To the right at the back you’ll see the (currently empty) Cinema de la Plage screen where they show film classics free to the public every night.
Another free to the public initiative. Every evening Cannes In A Van sets up along the Croisette and screens movies for free. Not much uptake on this one it seems.
Red Carpet
THE Cannes red carpet, perhaps the most iconic in the world. This is what it looks like during the day, with no actors, and no photographers on those steps to either side.
All day every day people stand outside the Palais (where the Marche du Film and all the screenings are) with little signs asking people to give them tickets to the film screening that evening. The bigger the film, the more people there are. I always wondered why since I have never seen a single person be given a ticket, but according to this article from the BBC, it works.
The crowds, and the press, checking out the red carpet as the stars flow in.
There’s a hardcore group of film fans who set up their stepladders and seats and settle in for the whole festival. They occupy their place by the side of the red carpet where the limos pull up, from about 2pm each day. Dedication. This is them from the back.
At the same time as the red carpet is happening up the road, more crowds descend on each of the major hotels to try to get a glimpse of the stars getting into their limos. This is outside the Hotel Majestic. It makes it difficult when you’re just trying to get from one side of the street to the other!
Marche du Film
The Marché du Film is the business side of the Festival. We spend lots of our time wandering these halls, meeting with sales agents to find out what projects they are selling and what’s coming up. There are not many windows, or opportunities to go outside which, for once this year, was quite welcome with all the rain.
Many stands feature props and images from upcoming features. This is Frank, who is most exciting because Michael Fassbender has spent a considerable amount of time inside him!
The studios also use the opportunity to promote upcoming blockbuster features with displays and massive posters dotted around town.
The French distributors promote local releases throughout the festival as well, betting that all the French film fans who flock to Cannes for the fortnight will take notice.
Here’s my favourite feature presented this year. Mr Go, the Korean baseball playing gorilla. Amazing.
Marche Screening
This is the red carpet during the day. You’ll notice absolutely no photographers or ballgowns. Press and industry tend to see all the competition films in daytime screenings like this instead of in the evening where tickets are hard to find.
Despite having to have a ticket before lining up, we get penned up behind barriers for what seems like hours before being allowed to move forward into the next area…then the next…then the next.
This is the Lumiere theatre, where all the Official Competition screenings take place. You can’t really see the scale of it here, but it’s 2000 seats, and you can’t even see the ‘stalls’ area at all, this is just the balcony.
Parties
Of course there are parties every night where people generally stand around trying to look important, and / or try to drink their weight in free alcohol.
This was a party for one of our upcoming films, Our Heroes Died Tonight, a French wresting movie, so we got a first hand look at the action!
