So I’ve left Cannes. I stayed until the departure of the Monaco Grand Prix and the Cannes Film Festival, it was well worth it! Most specifically, living in Cannes while the festival was in action was a total experience. Cannes spilled over with a population which doubles at this time.
It all started with Woody Allen’s film Minuit a Paris/Midnight in Paris, which I saw on opening night, but not at the ‘Grand Theatre’ in the ‘Palais du Festival’ but literally two minutes away on a street parallel. My friends and I sat next to some intellectual French (short) film makers from Paris, who were laughing at the shorts of the eventual winner Tree of Life. Nonetheless Lars Von Trier’s probably would have won the coveted prize if it wasn’t for his silly comments (about being a Nazi) which eventuated in him being banned from the festival. While Midnight in Paris may not be considered an artistic edgy masterpiece, it was a great watch no-less, with the main character played by the resurrected Owen Wilson, coincidently and fittingly his character shared the same (unusual) name as me, and perhaps we shared some traits too! After opening night, we went for dinner seating among industry professionals, dining on snails even; the two American friends that I accompanied, had either worked on films or at film festivals, so they were major film enthusiasts as well! Later that night we managed to meet the film producer of the late David Caridine’s last film, we duly directed him to where he would be staying on Boulevard Carnot, just down the road from where I'd been teaching. The film producer mistook me for an actor, an unknown one, but still an actor of course, my ‘pimping’ white summer hat may have given him this impression.
He was relatively small fish though, French film students I had taught English earlier in the school year, were working behind the scenes of the Festival for their internship – so they saw all the stars. One friend was working close to the Grande Majestic that housed some of the major film professionals, and therefore she saw both Woody Allen and Johnny Depp up close. Other students I lived with attended a Q&A with Robert De Niro after watching his classic film a Bronx Tale – he was there chairing the group of judges along with Uma Thurman and Jude Law. At the premier of Tree of Life Jude Law walked right past me, and I got a close-up photograph of the infamous Angelina Joile, who was signing a fan’s autograph in front of me. The girls were totally star-struck by Mr Law, while they commented that Angelina needed a cheeseburger or two to fatten up! I also saw a host of other celebrities at a fundraiser party thrown by fashion guru Roberto Cavalli, while Lady Gaga and The Strokes performed for the public, I saw the latter play live. Kanye West and Jamie Fox also performed for a private party in the grand Carlton Hotel. This luxurious hotel was made famous by Bridget Bardot, who acted in God Created Women, a film made in the Cote d'Azur in 1959; and so around this time she also posed for a famous Vogue photo-shoot on Cannes beach with the Carlton in the background.
Speaking of Bridget Bardot I visited the most famous artist who resides in St Tropez, Stephan Szczesny, he lives in la Mardrague the same area as where Bardot has retired to live currently, while he is next-door to one of the many homes of the great Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani. How was I aquatinted with a man, who names the likes of (x-Bond 007) actor Pierce Brosnan as a collector, and has been commissioned to do work on a private island where Bill Gates vacates regularly. Well, my American friend’s Au Pair over 20 years ago is the current wife of this artist. So we got to lunch with them, see one of his three studios, and take in the beauty of his St Tropez home. It was a lovely day. This was before the festival though.
Though I didn’t have anything to do with the festival in theory, it was still a great experience. However I felt on the fringes for sure, I couldn’t possibly get into the private parties my friends happened to attend, one got his name-on-the-door for an Olsen twin’s party at a large canopy bar on the beach. These parties were so close that I could hear the music, see the people, but they were out-of-bounds for me, as opposed to the boat parties that was well out of my reach - that I could see only in a distance on the water!
I did manage to get into the Palm d’Or (winning) film at the Palais, and a violent Mexican picture, but the most special one was the NZ short Blue that I saw. It was great seeing the street K’ rd, the road I walked everyday to university when I lived in Ponsonby for a semester, seeing it again gave me some nostalgic feelings, and then I saw a friend’s name in the credits, yes New Zealand is that small!
New Zealand wasn’t my only connection at the festival though, I was bathing on the beach like I did nearly every-day of the festival during the near perfect summer days, when I saw a group that looked Aboriginal. Then one of the men had rugby league shorts of the North Queensland Cowboys, so I knew I was right. I was astonished, what were these regular Aboriginal folk doing all the way over in Cannes, so I asked. They were there for the premiere of ‘Toomlah’, they were related to the star, a little 12 year old who was casually playing like he always does, skimming rocks on the water along Cannes bay. The premiere had already been, and the reaction for the film had been both rapturous and even brought some people to tears. This crew certainly looked like a (school of) ‘fish out of water’, they even seemed further from home than me, they were because though New Zealand in theory is further away, I’ve made Europe my temporary adopted home (for now anyway).
So there it is what my experience of the Cannes film festival consisted of, I wasn’t part of the glamour but I saw it from a far like every other Cannes citizen does. I saw the population explode with people from everywhere, with a huge concentration of the most beautiful, wealthy, and dressed up people I’ve ever witnessed in such a small space. This smallish trendy town suitably transforms itself putting on a grand show for a 12 day period to match the rich and famous who come with their giant luxury yachts and fast cars. I’m just a humble minimalist 24 year old, but still it was a sight to see!
