My first day at Cannes and not one I'm going to forget in a hurry. I've spent the past two days travelling all the way down to the south of France, so I'm tired but excited about being in Cannes. The weather is boiling hot and I'm somewhat overwhelmed by the hundreds of people that pack the streets.
Film, handing out dvds and inviting people to my screening. It dawns on me that alot, if not all of the distribution companies are very genre specific and are only interested in picking up certain types of films such as horror films or action films. Where my quirky little comedy film about an 18 year old loser would fit in is anyone's guess.
16/05/05 - Reality Check
Monday was a big reality check for me, as I spend the morning handing out my 100 leaflets inviting people to the screening of: 'The Boy with a Thorn in His Side'. Compared to the other films being publicised, my little leaflets I'm handing out are unprofessional to say the least.
Walking around the Marche Du Film in the afternoon it suddenly dawns on me that there are thousands of films looking for distribution deals, all of which are better marketed and publicised than mine. My film has no publicity whatsoever, and any hopes of selling the film whilst are Cannes are soon dashed. The whole experience is somewhat daunting and a big wake up call.
17/05/05 - Comedy, anyone?
Tuesday is much of the same. In the morning I have a meeting with a distribution company who seem interested in what I have to say, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I spend the afternoon talking to various distribution companies in the Marche Du
I've kind of accepted that I can't do anything else to help promote my film before the screening tomorrow. One thing I've quickly realised is that I'm not a sales person, I'm a filmmaker.
Wednesday I have a meeting with Media Pro Pictures, a Romanian company who provide a service for companies shooting over there. The whole meeting is something of a mismatch, as I'm never going to shoot in Romania unless someone gives me a lot of money.
For millions of people today, this date means the opening day of Star Wars Episode III. For me, this date is the screening of my film at Cannes. It's quite to cool to put things into perspective that way - I clearly remember seeing Star Wars Episode II a few years back and wondering where I would be, what I would be doing when the final episode of the series opened. Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine I'd be
in Cannes, screening my feature.
The screening went okay, it wasn't a disaster, but neither was it a great success. The screening room sits thirty, and out of a possible thirty, nineteen people turn up throughout the film. I know that's not great, but it's better than no one turning up other than myself. The screening for me is excruciating. Watching my film with a bunch of strangers made me see my film in a new light; all of a sudden I can see alot of problems with it - the pacing of the film, the acting, the overall quality of the film - I know that sounds harsh but you have to be brutal and honest with yourself.
Some people walk out after ten minutes, some people walk in after half an hour, one or two stay from beginning to end.
It's not all doom and gloom; people react well to the film, there are plenty of people laughing at the right moments; Rob's job interview scene
20/05/05 - Day Off
After a long week of highs and lows, Friday I devote to watching films. In the morning I wander up the red carpet in my tux to see Tommy Lee Jones' 'The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada' which is very well made and highly enjoyable. In the
afternoon we watch: 'Three Times' which was beautifully shot but painfully slow.
I'm already reflecting on the past week and round the day off by watching Martin Scorsese's: 'The Last Waltz' on an outside cinema screen on the beach. Sitting there on the beach at night, in my tux, in a deckchair as Neil Young comes on screen and sings: 'Helpless' I kind or realise that it's not all bad, and things could be a hell of a lot worse.
Evaluating Cannes
So that was my week, which began so well but kind of went downhill. Don't get me wrong, I'm so pleased I went to Cannes because I learnt so much and I guess the experience has toughened me up somewhat as a filmmaker. It's a tough business and you have to be brutal in every aspect of filmmaking. I know now that my next film
has to be a huge, huge improvement on: 'The Boy with a Thorn in His Side' otherwise I might not bother.
I didn't expect to sell my film at Cannes, and the screening could have gone a lot worse so I had nothing to lose to begin with. I return from Cannes alot wiser, knowing that nothing is easy, especially in the world of filmmaking. It was a week with plenty of highs and lows and mixed emotions, after the screening I didn't know why I'd bothered with the trip, or why I
bothered to make the film in the first place.
But as I say, I learnt alot from the experience, I'm in a good position as a filmmaker being relatively young with a feature under my belt already, so the future looks bright.
