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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

Posted Tuesday, May 14th, 2013 - 4 Comments »
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Getting To Cannes

Heading to Cannes felt very different this year. Firstly, I had a firsthand sense of what I was getting into. Secondly, no video crew this year, so less sense of parenting. Thirdly, no pressure to shoot interviews… though I will surely shoot some interviews.

I made the decision that this year the festival would be about writing and discussing the movies first. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be video or parties or other froufrou, but I haven’t gone to one of the 3 major international film festivals without a crew in about 5 years. I miss it. I still see lots of movies I love when I am shooting, but the focus is just plain different.

The trip from LA to Cannes has been up and down. Down, my big self assigned a middle seat for an 11-hour, overbooked flight. Up, the ticket guy managed, somehow, to get me an aisle. Down, coffee spilled down my entire right side. Up, endless begging for forgiveness and a sleeping outfit from 1st class. Down, no time to explore Zurich airport. Up, a great taxi driver in Cannes. Down, a hotel that feels like it’s at the bus station. Up, a decent room 4 blocks from the Palais.

The biggest drama was at badge pick-up. I decided to add a Market/Marche badge this year to take full advantage of its benefits. And with ID, I had it in a flash. But I was told that my press pass had been canceled. WHAT?!?!?! Basically, the primary focus, for me, is on press screenings for competition films. A market badge won’t get me that access. A press badge has limited access in the market, but will mostly get me where I want.

I was told to e-mail the press office and hope for an answer the next day (now, today). That seemed a crazy answer. But there is an air of fear about the Cannes Fest infrastructure… lots of talk about badge color and attitude. I didn’t find that last year, but a stranger in a strange land without language skills makes one vulnerable. Nonetheless, I insisted my way up 3 flights to the press office, amidst “Don’t go there”s and “no one is there,” and “everyone is gone”s and found Geraldine, who took 30 seconds or so to discover that my press pass was in fact, intact. Then I had to get back to the basement, get told by more security to leave because things were closed, find one of the people who had previously helped me–still manning her “closed” booth–and explain… and voilà, my press badge was there.

I guess the moral of the story is to be very polite but aggressive when you have real cause to do so. I never had to raise my voice or screech about the length of my journey or melt down. I just had to run up and down stairs/escalators and not take shrugged shoulders as an answer. Many staff/volunteers were as lost as I was on this day before opening. We’re all just trying to do our jobs.

Of course, then it was on to La Pizza Cresci, where I found myself at the festival within the festival, as always. No Tom Bernard yet, but there were literally dozens gathered for pre-game. I even got to reminisce about Bingham Ray selling Bowling For Columbine to Chris McGurk in that very room du cheese.

So I am here. In one piece. Luggage intact. And away we go…

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4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Getting To Cannes”

  1. MAGGA says:
    May 15, 2013 at 5:46 am

    I wanna steal that up/down thing for a movie voice over. Good storytelling!

  2. MAGGA says:
    May 15, 2013 at 5:48 am

    And the only notable thing about the Zurich airport is that they have special glass closets with bad air condition where people can crowd inside smoke between flights. Worth lighting one up even for none smokers just for the experience

  3. Ju-osh says:
    May 15, 2013 at 7:19 am

    There seems to have been less video interviews here in the past few months. Is this a conscious choice in your direction for MCN?

    (NOTE: I do not say this as a criticim or an attack. I just LOVE your interviews. Your Sam Jackson ‘chat’ was FANTASTIC. Hell, he even said as much at the end of it!)

  4. Etguild2 says:
    May 15, 2013 at 7:50 am

    “And the only notable thing about the Zurich airport is that they have special glass closets with bad air condition where people can crowd inside smoke between flights. Worth lighting one up even for none smokers just for the experience”

    Haha, yes, hilarious to watch. Also, that airport takes duty-free to a whole nother level. It’s like you’re in a Duty Free Mall that happens to have an airport attached.

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