Blog Day 1

Wednesday the 17th

Yesterday I said my plan was to sleep in then go check out the festival. My body decided differently when I woke up wide awake at 6:10am. I decided it was a sign and got up and got ready. Last night I wrote down movie names and times that interested me and one of the ones I was most curious about was at 9:30 so this worked out well.

A few others planned to get up early so we met in the lobby at 7:45 and off we went. Our first stop was the AmPAV to pick up our passes. Upon arrival we realized none of our group’s passes had been printed so it was a bit awkward. They decided to allow us in without passes while they printed them. I struck up a conversation with someone working at a counter and then was interrupted by a middle aged man asking me if I was a student. I said yes then he informed me that I belonged in the “student lounge.” I went to inspect this student lounge which was home to four beanbag chairs and the student worker’s backpacks. Before I had time to get annoyed we left for the 9:30 showing of “The Clapper.”

The Clapper caught my eye because it’s a comedy that had a few of my favorite actors in it (Amanda Seyfried, Leah Remini, Tracy Morgan). In fact the cast was very star-studded. I found the film a bit disappointing given the cast, but you’ll hear more about that in my review later.

We headed back to the Pavilion and our passes had been printed. We decided to sit down at a table and rest for a bit. We were not sent to the student lounge this time, luckily. I had another movie I was interested in at 2, so I decided in the meantime I should try my hand at begging for tickets.

The friends I was with kept telling me it was too early (noon), but I wanted to try anyway. I was one of the first beggars out there and I received a few confused looks and had some interesting conversations. People kept telling me it would be even harder to get an opening ceremony ticket compared to the other premieres during the festival. Around 1:30, a man who I believe was Russian walked towards a group of us beggars with an extra ticket, he inspected everyone’s badges and then said some words I didn’t understand to the others. He then handed the ticket to me and ran off before I could thank them. I looked at the others with a confused look and one woman said in broken English “our passes not good enough.”

I was confused but ecstatic.

Standing out begging had caused me to work up a sweat so I looked up the movies I was interesting in seeing for the day to make sure they were playing at different times during the festival, then I hopped on the train to JLP to get dressed up for the opening ceremony.

I had heard the balcony could fill up so I wanted to be in line by 6, which I was but I cut it close because the trains started running behind. According to the people I was waiting with, it happens every year.

Walking the red carpet was exciting, but I couldn’t help but chuckle at the amount of women attempting to take selfies while the body guards urged them to move along. The opening ceremony had excellent stage effects that went along with the glamorous air of the Cannes Film Festival.

I caught a glimpse of Will Smith, who truly does not age.

The opening premiere movie was Ismael’s Ghost, a story that centered around a film maker and his love triangle (and inner struggles). I enjoyed it a lot, especially compared to my disappointment with the film I saw that morning. It also contributed to my theory that Marion Cotillard always plays the crazy girl.

Lastly, the usher for my section was an attractive local that spoke great English. I left him my business card, he has not called.

I’m afraid I might have peaked on my first day here at the Cannes Film Festival, but we will see how the rest of the adventure goes.