May 13

Today was another long day of walking tours and unfortunately Im coming down with a cold, probably from being around 200 kids at one time, so i expect to go through a lot of tissues in the upcoming weeks. Starting the day off with 8 am breakfast, we got into our mentor groups and they gave us our badges (which essentially let us get into everything except the main premieres) and told us what our work assignments are going to be. I got the publicity/PR team, which isn't going to meet until tomorrow (Wednesday), and I'm not sure what it entails. But considering what the other interns have gotten (sitting at the WiFi cafe, selling candy at the gift shop, setting up microphones) I'm pretty sure mine is going to be one of the better job assignments. Afterwards we took a group picture with all 200 interns outside the hotel and then took the bus to Cannes. Technically we are staying in Cannes Boca, a suburb about 2 miles outside of Cannes.

We toured the outside of the Palais and around the area. They showed us all the hotels where all the big parties take place and famous people sleep. That strip may have been one of the most bourgeois places I have ever seen, every store was high end Prada, Gucci, Dolce and Gabanna, and other places that dripped with decadence. The cheapest thing I saw in the windows was a pair of shoes for 160 euro. The entire area was busy with tourists, locals, and workers getting ready for the festival. It is hard to imagine that everything is going to be ready by tomorrow. The amount of people moving through the streets, talking on phone and dressed in suits or business casual was slightly overwhelming, though it probably didn't help having a group of thirty interns taking up the majority of the space.

As it turns out, being in the short film corner gives us more access to things than just next working opportunities. In addition to the happy hour mixer, we got a pretty sweet swag bag with a bunch of info about the festival and the films playing (which has generated jealousy among the non-short film corner interns) and we are given a number of points (2 points accumulate every hour until the max of 130) and we can redeem them to get invitations to Lumière Theater films, depending on how many points certain screenings cost in terms of point value. So say I have 130 points, and the premiere of Captives costs 50 and the second showing of The Homesman costs 30, but the premiere of Adieu au Langage costs 130. I could get invites to the two films with points to spare, or I could go to the Godard film at the cost of all my points and have to wait until they reload. Basically I have more chances to go to red carpet films, which is badass.

During the tour I got to meet and hang out with 4 of the other short film corner interns and got to know them all better, McKenzie, Garret, Zooey, and Sydney. Zooey and I argued about why I think Godard is so great and why she thinks he's a baby; she said she likes his politics, but that his early films were too full of themselves. Regardless of my disagreements, it was nice to be able to have that kind of discussion. Sometimes I forget that there are people here who are also into the theoretical and critical aspects of film rather than the purely technical side of filmmaking. Some of them only seem to know the business or practical aspect of acting and narrative, and they don't understand the philosophical implications that film bears with content and form. Others are only interested in the culinary or management aspects of the festival and are just looking forward to the parties that come with the films, which isn't to say they're interested in the wrong things or are dumb, but its good to be around people that understand the importance of cinematic theory and history and can hold a discussion about it.

Then we were given a tour of the inside of the Palais, which was immense and busy. It still wasn't ready; carpet had yet to be laid, people were painting walls and hanging lights and posters, the Marche Du Film still looked like it had a lot of work that needed to be done, and all of the pavilions were still being constructed. To think, all of it is going to be finished by tomorrow. It means that people are probably going to be working straight through the night to make Cannes look its absolute best. There are 5 floors to the Palais, each one has a different set of theaters designated for all of the categories with the Lumière theater getting its own entrance. Overall the tour wasn't anything super special, it was just a chance to get to know the place so we aren't completely lost when we're navigating the place on our own.

While I really want to see the main competition films, there are a lot more interesting/edgy films that are showing out of competition, and they don't need an invitation. I think I'm more excited for the Cannes Classic films than anything, which includes the films shown on the beach. They give people the chance to see great films in a way that they normally couldn't, on the big screen. Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is going to be so sick!

Afterwards, a group of us went down the street to a restaurant to get pizza and wine. We talked about what got us interested in filmmaking and what we want to achieve with it. We left on the bus and headed back to the hotel, where I decided to turn in early because my runny nose started to get too annoying for me to go out. Its probably for the best, all the walking has worn me out and I'm looking forward to getting a full nights sleep. Tomorrow is the first big day of many, this city is about to transform.