Thursday, May 13, 2010

Can you Cannes-Cannes?

Julien here, your special correspondent at the Cannes Film Festival.

Where shall I start? First of all, you should know is that this is my first trip to the Festival. A few minutes in, I had already bumped into Her Higness Helen Mirren and her hubby Taylor Hackford, watched Agnès Varda give an interview in the middle of the street, and turned down an invitation to yesterday night's screening of Robin Hood. No need to tell you I feel like a little boy left alone in a candy store.

From here, it seems as if the whole world revolves around cinema: the only thing everyone talks about right now is movies. On TV, on the radio, and in every newspaper in France, movies, movies and more movies. And for a split second, Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a household name, Abbas Kiarostami a semi-god, and Javier Bardem the most famous man in the world. No doubt that in a few days, all this will be forgotten, and people will return to obssessing about Lady Gaga's clothes and Jennifer Aniston's hair, but for now, the hottest ticket in town is Xavier Dolan, as it should be.

So whatever the Festival may bring, let's enjoy every minute of it, for it's one of the only places in the world where movie stars are still the center of the universe.

3 comments:

vg21 said...

Oh, you lucky man! Bumping into Dame Helen Mirren!

I love that movies, real culture and actual talent take over celebrities full time these days in France (and I believe everywhere in Europe). I'm thrilled to follow what's happening since I can't be there and would love to. Maybe next year, or the year after that or...some time in the future I just have to go. So thank you for your updates making it possible for us to feel as if we were present.

NATHANIEL R said...

glad to hear you've arrived safe and sound. and with enough will power to turn down a big premiere too?

movie stars... or maybe auteurs as center of universe.

thanks for piping in. can't wait to hear more

badmotherfucker said...

I can't believe an entire country recognizes true talents like Javier Bardem and Juliette Binoche as movie stars. It's like that parallel universe on Lost. ;-D