Cannes Diary – The Journey
Picturehouse Gang (from left:Gabriel, Clare, Madeleine, Jo)
The Picturehouse advance party met at St. Pancras this morning at 8.30am, all smug smiles of satisfaction at our (almost) company-wide decision to train it down to Cannes, rather than use the sleazy-and-environmentally-unfriendly-jet. A couple of the team have rebelled against the cross country jaunt to the south of France insisting on flying. Yes, they’ll spend eternity in the fires of damnation where JCVD action flicks play on a loop.
Our train journey to Cannes requires a change in Paris for which we have an hour to get from Gare du Nord to Gare d’Lyon, a shortish cab ride or a couple of stops on the Metro. The journey began uneventfully enough with a smooth ride through the tunnel, but as soon as we hit France we stopped – technical fault on the train in front, delayed for fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes becomes forty minutes by the time we arrive in Paris. Once we work out where we’re going, we scramble onto the metro and make our connecting train just as the doors close behind us. We would never have lived it down with flying contingent if we’d missed this one, (better not mention that our six hour TGV comes with no on-board refreshments – catering strike we’re informed).
On to the business of the Film Fest and what to see tomorrow. There are six of us in the advance party and we’re here for a week before another six come out on Monday, sort of a relief squadron. We average about five films a day squeezing in a couple of parties if we’re lucky (and have the energy). We’ll work out precisely what we see in our 7.30am breakfast meeting tomorrow but mentioned already are FREAKONOMICS (various directors including Morgan ‘Super Size Me’ Spurlock), Steven Soderbergh’s THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE (more SEX, LIES & VIDEOTAPES than CHÉ), Oren Moverman’s THE MESSENGER (Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Steve Buscemi), UP (Pixar’s Official Canner opener) and WINGED CREATURES by Rowan Wood (Forest Whitaker, Kate Beckinsale, Guy Pearce, Dakota Fanning). Looking at the first day you’d be forgiven for thinking we were at Sundance with all this American fare, we need some subtitles and fast!
Nothing better than getting paid for having fun! (I know you like to pretend that it’s a gruelling slog seeing back-to-back films all day every day, but nobody’s fooled…)
Make sure you have a good breakfast – this is your mother speaking!
x
how embarrassing…
Please check-out Pietrobruno’s GFE: GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE. You might find the film (and the interview link below) interesting.
INTERVIEW:
http://www.toromagazine.com/?q=node/1606
SYNOPSIS:
A man obsessed with prostitutes discovers that love is a lot more expensive than sex. A peek into the world of prostitution from the client’s point of view. Movies often portray sex-workers, but their customers remain well hidden – faceless and nameless. Pietrobruno’s GFE: Girlfriend Experience calls attention to this bias, at the same time as it shifts the cinematic gaze onto the client.