Catch Me If You Cannes

June 3rd, 2010 by Stephen Durrant

Going to the Festival de Cannes is a truly great and inspiring experience, no matter what you do or whereabouts you are in the film industry. I was lucky enough to go this year, from May 12th – 17th, with a screenwriting friend of mine. My main purpose of going was to try to make some connections and to catch some new films. But I did also have two very specific goals while I wasthere: to watch Takeshi Kitano’s new film ‘Outrage’ and to track down Alexandre Desplat (a genius composer who just so happened to be on the jury this year.)



When I arrived, on the first day of the festival, it was already busy beyond belief. The streets were swarming with people and it was a real mission lugging my suitcase back to the apartment, which was about 20 minutes away. Once I had dropped off my luggage and showered, I headed down to the Palais de Festivals (pictured) to pick up my festival pass and free bag.

Even though I’d been to the festival once before, it was no less bewildering. There are so many films showing and so many events taking place that it’s pretty hard to work out an itinerary. So I decided to catch a small indie film inside the Palais before my friend Rachel flew in from LA. I was so tired at this point that I actually cannot remember the name of the film, or what it was about.
Once Rachel arrived, it was a lot more fun. It’s easier to network when there’s more than one of you. I found that most of that happens away from the festival itself – in local bars and restaurants. A personal favourite of mine is the Petit Majestic, which is a fair walk from the Palais de Festivals, but is always crammed full of people.

Over the course of my stay, I caught some pretty cool films. My personal favourite was Hideo Nakata’s ‘Chatroom’, a dark, surreal film that was showing on one of the smaller screens. My favourite film that was in the competition was ‘Un Homme Qui Crie’, aka ‘A Screaming Man’, which won the Grand Prix (which is not as good as the Palme d’Or, but still a great accomplishment.) Unfortunately, Kitano’s ‘Outrage’ was showing on the day I left, so I’ll just have to wait for the DVD release.

One of my favourite parts about Cannes is when you’re sitting in the theater before a film. A voice from nowhere tells you that the film is about to start, the lights fade out and then the festival intro sequence plays on the screen, accompanied by Camille Saint-Saens’ ‘Aquarium’. There is something really magical about this moment, which is hard to express in words.
I’m not much of a celebrity spotter, mainly due to the fact that I have bad eyesight and I’m also pretty impatient, but I bumped into Tim Burton (twice), Benicio del Toro and had quite a long chat with Andy Serkis. And on my second to last day, after coming out of a film, who should I bump into? Only Alexandre Desplat! I shook hands with him, told him how much I like his work and then my nerves kind of got the better of me.

Will I go back next year? Almost certainly. I love getting the chance to watch so many films, I love networking with film-makers and other creative people, and above all I love what the Festival de Cannes represents; cinema at its purest.