Cannes Day 2

My desk does badly need tidying, look:

I was going to make some kind of point about the state of one's desk mirroring the state of one's life but that's a level of self-analysis I don't really want to get into right now.

Random stuff 1) Ten Dead Men has gone down to No.13 in the Asda chart (boo!) but has entered the HMV chart at No.20 (yay!). Although now I'm suggesting that somehow being No.20 in HMV is better than being No.13 in Asda, but that makes me sound like a right snob.

Random stuff 2) Started work on a new film project this weekend. I'm not going to go into detail or summarise the various things I'm working on as it even confuses me these days, but this one has been going pretty well so far. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's writing itself, but it's certainly been fun.

Random stuff 3) The first part of my short story isn't going anywhere - it's still here. I am determined to mention that in every post from now on. I'll be posting the next part soon.

Random stuff 4) There's a review of the Birdeatsbaby album launch I went to on Saturday with pics here which sums up the evening in much more detail than I did. And you can find out more about their album here.

Right, I keep telling people I'm posting my Cannes diary so I guess I should actually get on with it:

16/05/09 - 01:40AM

Came home early (compared to the others) to get some more sleep than last night as I stayed up really late in the end despite plans to the contrary. First full day was a bit overwhelming. Met lots of people I already knew though which made me feel a little less out of my depth. Some from Brighton too which was cool. Also got introduced to loads of new people and started a collection of business cards. Got turned away from the first film we tried to get into despite the distributor of the film trying to get us in - most of the staff in the Palais seem really polite and friendly, the odd one is pretty harsh. Did get to see one screening in the end - a 25 minute promo for an amazing-looking Indonesian film called Merantau. Looks a bit like Ong Bak but might even be better.



Will write more about today when I'm less exhausted...

16/05/09 - 08:00AM

Got some time before we leave the apartment to catch up properly on yesterday. So it started off with rain. Lots of rain. And I didn't pack a coat. Suddenly the 30 minute walk into town seemed like a real problem. So we took the bus. Later on I gave in and bought an umbrella at which point it stopped raining - I think I'd broken the curse.

We started with a meeting with David Hannay - he has an executive producer credit on Ten Dead Men and is a bit of a legend in Australian cinema. We then went to the Stealth apartment where they would be holding their meetings. It was super-posh and had this view:

Then we headed to the Palais (which is the huge main building where everything happens) to register which was far easier than I imagined it would be. After that it went a bit mad - here's when I got introduced to loads of people. Ran off into the Short Film Corner when I thought I spotted a couple of people I knew. Luckily they were people I knew so I didn't look like a complete lunatic. Then followed people around the Palais being introduced to more people. At one point I gave my card to a design company and started to feel a bit self-conscious about giving my card out to people who were not likely to ever require the services of a writer. That didn't last.

Had lunch, realised my French isn't as great as I thought it was - I was feeling quite good about it until I noticed that everything I said in French was replied to in English. In the afternoon I was introduced to more people (there's a pattern here) including a couple more British filmmakers who I will definitely e-mail when I get home.

Went for a walk along the beach, stopped off at the UK tent and met more friends from England. I know a lot of people would say meeting people you already know isn't the point of going to Cannes, but for me being shown around by people who seemed to know everybody it was nice to have a few of my own contacts there. Went back to Short Film Corner for free drinks (awesome) and then headed home to change for the evening, mainly as my clothes were soaked.

Caught a screening of a promo for Merantau (see above) which was pretty amazing and beautifully shot. I wanted to applaud at the end but no one else did so I decided maybe it's not the done thing - it certainly was applause-worthy. Then it was dinner with friends - we hooked up with a couple of American film-makers, Dianna and Michael, who were very cool, and while I mention it here's the trailer for their film No Time to Fear:



That pretty much covers the first proper day in full. Now heading out for the next one...