Cannes Short Film Corner 2010

Back in March I decided that I’d check out the Cannes Film Festival this year, so I pretty rapidly, wrote, cast, shot, edited and submitted a short film. It got into the Short Film Corner, so Kaitlyn and I headed out there in May to see what all the fuss was about.

It’s a pretty surreal experience as the world’s film industry descends on a small coastal town in the south of France. We arrived on Saturday night, having flown into Nice airport. The local hotels are pretty wise to the festival game so even booking two months in advance, were quoting £250 a night. Maybe not a lot of money to Hollywood execs on an expense account, but sort of a lot of money to yours truly.

So I got a hotel a couple of miles down the road in neighbouring Mandelieu and hired a car to drive around for a week. Worked out miles cheaper this way, even with a €70 parking pass. Was good having the freedom to roam around and get out of the madness – our hotel was on a nice open complex with swimming pool.

The festival itself is a mix of a few components. Most of the action happens at the Palais, a giant concrete building on the water front. That’s where we picked up our accreditation passes, which allowed access to screenings, the marche du film, pavillions and short film corner. Basically – anything to do with the official festival. Without one, you’re screwed. We met up with Will who was there on a press pass – spending most of the roasting hot days indoors editing.

The film markets are fascinating to walk around – booth after booth of film distributor, selling a range of features, from A-list Hollywood vehicles, to low budget b-movies. It’s all here. Would really recommend any out there starting out in film to come and see the markets. It’s not glamorous, but it’s where business gets done. The poster is incredibly important – it’s a single image which represents your entire production.

Thankfully I had some postcards done and dished them out to interested parties, and plastered them all over the short film corner.

It’s a little area of the festival, where about 1000 shorts are distributed. Short film buyers can view them on interactive screens and there’s mini theatres too. We got one together for ‘We Need To Talk’. There’s also various seminars taking place here, and at 5pm – 6pm every day, free drinks. This was, unsurprisingly, the busiest time at short film corner, and a great opportunity to meet people.

Kaitlyn and I stalked out tickets for a couple of red-carpet premieres (you have to get up at 8am to reserve the tickets). The paps are everywhere, but decidedly uninterested in anyone that’s not either famous, dressed ridiculously or part of the production itself. We saw ‘SCHASTYE MOE (MY JOY)‘, an ironically titled film about an endlessly-repeating situation: Officials ask for documents. Person hands over documents. Officials then abuse/murder person or persons.

This happened about 10 times in the movie. Pretty grim. Extremely slow pacing, repetitive direction and shifting protagonists made it a long watch. Not too keen.

The second premiere we went to was for ‘Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives‘. It looked pretty fun on the advert, a beast hiding in the jungle with bright red luminous eyes. The film was, to our disappointment, even slower than the first we’d seen. And also made no sense whatsoever. During an evening meal, Boonmee’s dead wife appears as a Ghost. Everyone’s a bit shocked for a moment, but then the meal continues. Next up, is the red-eyed monster. Which turns out is Boonmee’s son, Boonsung, who turned into a monkey soul many years ago, and just wandered off. The family treat this as pretty much normal and go about their business, which includes collecting honey, cleaning Boonmee’s kidneys and discussing illegal immigration. Then, in what we can only assume must be a flashback, a princess has sex with a catfish.

Next up, Boonmee dies, and his family hold a funeral. There, Boonmee’s sister Jan encounters another relative (who we’ve never seen before), and whilst watching TV in a hotel room they talk about going out to a bar. They do go out, but as they do, we see that in the room, they are still sat there, watching TV. They are able to leave their bodies? Two sets of possibilities are playing out at once? I’m not sure, but we follow them to a karaoke bar and the film ends.

At all of these ridiculous moments, members of the audience walked out. There must have been 1000 empty seats by the end of the film.

And it won the Palm D’Or.

Maybe I just didn’t get it. But I wasn’t the only one. The audience bursting out in laughter during serious moments is never a good sign. Neither is being able to spot bad acting when the actors are speaking in another language.

You must see this film.

Those were the only two films out of the official selection that we got to see. There were a number of non-competition market screenings that we attended, and those films were actually pretty decent.

British film ‘My Last Five Girlfriends‘ – a low budget rom-com shot on video. Very fast paced, lots of flashbacks and fantasy sequences – though probably a little too labored – lots of After Effects scene transitions. The lead actor could have been more likeable, and it also stole the ending right out of 500 days of Summer. Good though, and I’d be really pleased if that was my first feature. It will no doubt do well on DVD.

Another low budget flick we saw was ‘At Home By Myself… With You‘. I hope they re-title this one, because when trying to recommend it to people, it takes several moments to remember what it’s called. It’s a Canadian production, shot entirely in one location. A flat. A novel way of getting the costs down, as the protagonist has a crippling fear of leaving her home. Really nicely shot, not once feeling boring stuck in the same space. Solid performances and some laugh-out-loud moments, this was a pretty decent movie – funded entirely by pocket change and facebook donations. Check it out.

So all in all, a very worthwhile trip. I can’t wait to return next year with another film.

Some photos:

[Show as slideshow]