Final Farewell to Cannes (aka the Day of Arthur Cohen)

           I woke up Saturday morning feeling bittersweet: I knew an exciting day was ahead of us, but it was also my last. Turns out, my last day was better than I ever could have expected. Rawson was leaving Saturday morning, so Adam, Hayley, and I met him for breakfast before he departed at an amazing little restaurant by the beach we just discovered. The pastries there looked amazing and we had homemade muffins and coffees for breakfast. Such a wonderful start to the morning. They also had what appeared to be homemade ice cream bars in the freezer there- Hayls, I hope you get those today while you're still there, because not having one of those babies seems to be my only regret about the entire week…. 

            Rawson sadly departed after that and the three of us ventured into town to buy souvenir posters from the Boutique Officiale to bring home and frame. However, they were all sold out so we were majorly stressing. The lady in the store said they would have a shipment that afternoon so it was a top priority that we went back to get them later on. While we were down there, we got a phone call from Arthur that one of his family friends was taking his boat out for a little spin in the Mediterranean (casual) and asked us to join along. We dropped everything and practically ran home (and by that I mean walked at a snail’s pace because we were so exhausted) so that I could pack and we could make it on the boat. We could not have been more excited- boating was the one thing on our Cannes bucket list we had yet to do. We stopped at what we presumed to be another small sandwich stand on the side of the road near the beach to pick up lunch for the boat, but it turned out to be a gourmet one, where instead of just premade sandwiches they had made-to-order sandwiches and salads. Hayley and I got the best salads of our entire trip there, so I would like to retract my previous statement that all of France has bad salads. See this Cannes equivalent of a food truck for proof.

            Then, the boat. It was supposed to rain according to the trusty iPhone weather app, but in typical fashion for us, it held off- our luck once again. We sailed for over 2 hours, had wine, and went swimming in the freezing and salty, but absolutely breathtaking, Mediterranean Sea. Arthur became our hero in that moment- and the four of us had the best day ever. We passed an island that is largely undeveloped and has belonged to monks since the 5^th century, and another island where Louis XIV’s twin brother was supposedly held captive behind an Iron Mask during his reign. It is a pretty interesting tale (that can be read here). En route back to the Cannes harbor, we passed tons of huge yachts and a famous sailboat that was made in the early 1900s and still is on the water today. We napped in the sun (finally got some more color I think!) and were so relaxed.

            Then the marathon that was my last night began. The final competition premiere was at 7, and our boat docked at 4:30. In between that time, we had to get posters from the store, make it back to the dorms, shower/change, make it back to the Palais area, beg for tickets, and enter the Grand Lumiere with tickets in hand before the access closed at 6:30. Could we do it? Read on my friends…

            We literally jumped off the boat, thanked Arthur and his family friend profusely for the amazing afternoon we just had, and ran to the store. I can't stress enough how luck ALWAYS managed to be on our side this trip. It was absolutely incredible. The store had just gotten in their poster shipment an hour before, and there was an abundance to go around. We each picked up our coveted prize and then power-walked home as fast as our feet would take us. Hayley and I beat Adam and Arthur back, arriving at 5:03 and were showered, changed, and ready to go by 5:28. It was a miracle. We sprinted to the bus stop decked out for the red carpet and magically (but somehow not surprising) the bus arrived 10 seconds after we did. We got on and made our way into town, sprinting to our successful ticket-begging spot. It was brutally hot and Cannes was emptying out already, but Adam and Hayley managed to score 3 tickets for us. We scarfed down soft-serve ice cream cones (“Italian style” as they call it in France) and were entering by 6:30. I was SO impressed with us!!! We made everything happen and had so much fun doing it.

            Finally catching my breath, I made my way down the red carpet slowly, as number 12 would be my final and last journey down it. I looked around, soaking up everything, and made my way inside of the Grand Lumiere for the last time. It was such a bittersweet experience. The movie, Mud, was another American film, written and directed by Jeff Nichols, and starred Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey. The film was FABULOUS. Definitely made my top 5 list out of the 25 films I’ve seen. It was such a nice closure to my time at the festival, my time in the Grand Lumiere, and my time in Cannes. The film is a beautiful coming of age story of two young boys who encounter a fugitive and form a pact with him to help him evade the bounty hunters who are after him in order to reunite him with his one true love. I sat in my seat for as long as I could, saying my internal goodbyes and reflecting on how amazing my time here was.

            I wasn’t sitting with Adam and Hayley so I left to go meet up with them and Arthur, who, as you can tell by the name of this blog post, made our day yet again by getting us invited to a private party on the beach sponsored by Schweppes. YAY ARTHUR- YOU ARE THE BOMB!!! We had a quick final dinner for me at an amazing restaurant called Petit Paris and made our way to the villa. The four of us were some of the first people there and it was AWESOME. It is so weird to think how all of these hundreds of tents are set up for a mere two weeks and afterwards they’ll be taken down, the beach reduced to its natural and mundane sandiness once again. Everything about the festival is so real, but at the same time so, so fake. Such an interesting thing to contemplate…

            The party had live entertainment and an open bar and they must have had some type of pact with Grey Goose because that was the vodka of the night- served with delicious new Schweppes juices/fizzy mixers. Loved it! And the champagne of course. The four of us toasted our trip and our new friendship. I could not have asked for a better last night!!!!!!! We brought our drinks out to the beach and sat together by the water, talking and laughing and having the best time of our lives. Biggest joke of it all was that we were getting an academic credit for it- that one sure had a lotta laughs. The views were incredible and will forever be etched into my memory. Hayley and I were the first ones to retire back to the dorms (surprise, surprise) and left the boys there until closing (mandatory 2 am beach evacuation in Cannes). Hayley and I passed out and then I woke up this morning to finish packing so upset, realizing my trip of a lifetime (if that’s even an appropriate term for what my time here was) was coming to a close. Yesterday was perfect (thanks 99.9% to Arthur) in every sense of the word, As I sit in the Nice airport typing this second to last post (I think I still have one more in me…), I am happy to be going home, but at the same time so upset to be leaving Cannes behind.

The Penultimate

   I cannot believe that yesterday was my second to last full day in Cannes. It seems unbelievable that it's been 15 days since I got to the lovely French Riviera and started what has turned out to be one of the best/most unforgettable trips of my entire life. Though we are all (well, me and Hayley at least) completely exhausted and wiped out, we obviously managed to have another amazing day yesterday. Every minute counts now. We had a meeting with our Penn professors (oh right- this is actually an academic credit?) at noon so we slept in and skipped out on morning movies. We discussed our essays that we have to write (LOL) for about two hours and then went on our merry way. Hayley and I tanned on the picnic benches and ate chicken nuggets outside the college waiting for the boys to get ready. We walked into town to hit up a shoe store we noticed the other day and Hayley bought a super cool pair of Oxfords. Tres bien.

   Then, we went to Amorino, an au natural gelato place that has caught our eye since Day 1 which we had yet to try. Well, not only did we try it, we literally conquered that place. Rather than make ice creams in scoops, they make cones into flowers, with one flavor at the center and as many others as you want in petals around it. With fresh whipped cream on top as an option - which I obviously took advantage of. It was AMAZING. Hayley and I walked back in and were on the verge of ordering a second one when Adam stopped us. Thanks Adam. Instead, we ended up at McDonald's...Supposedly they're better in Europe and so it was on our bucket list. Turns out, the chicken nuggets and fries taste exactly the same. SHOCKER. Adam did get a fried goat cheese wrap though, and they do have McBaguettes- kinda cool I guess.

   It started to rain, but we toughed it out sans umbrellas and walked back to the dorms. I stopped to get a coffee because I was literally about to fall asleep on the sidewalk, but the coffee did nothing and I took a nice nap in my bed anyways. We woke up at 5:30 to make it down to the Palais by 6:15 to beg for tickets to the premiere of Robert Pattinson's new movie Cosmopolis. For the first time, I had an orchestra ticket and was sitting with Rawson. Despite the pouring rain, Adam and Hayley both got tickets and red carpet number 10 proved to be the best one yet- this time inside, not outside of the Grand Lumiere Theater. The row Rawson and I were assigned to had a bunch of signs on seats that said "RESERVE JURY" on them, which was so exciting because Diane Kruger, Ewan McGregor, and Alexander Payne, among tons of other extremelyyyyy talented folks are among the judges. Instead of sitting next to those seats though, we moved all the way to the aisle next to the row all the cast members walk down as they enter/exit the theater. Turned out to be the BEST DECISION WE EVER MADE. Casually, Alexander Payne, judge and director/writer of Academy Award winning screenplay, The Descendants, sat down RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. Kristen Stewart (looking fabulous) was at the premiere to support Robert Pattinson and paused in the aisle RIGHT NEXT TO ME. Rawson can attest to how much I died. Then, as if it was fate, Ewan McGregor sits down right in front of Rawson, next to Alexander Payne, and they start chit chatting. Rawson and I are in awe of our luck. Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson also file into the row in front of us, and I could not believe it. Seriously such unbelievable luck. The cast filed in, and R. Pattz was inches from my face. Honestly- no words. Just so so so amazing.

   Sadly, Cosmopolis was ehh. It is about one of the wealthiest men on Earth trying to make his way across town in his limo, determined to get a haircut, despite multiple threats to his life. It was way too wordy and hard to understand, but the cinematography was some of the best I've seen yet. And I thought Pattinson did a great job in the role, and Paul Giamatti in his role as the person threatening his life. But overall, meh. Experience was WAY BETTER than the movie itself.

                                    Special shoutout to Ab & Arthur for this fab ensemble!

   The cast filed out, Robert Pattinson mere inches from me again. Swoon. Afterwards, I left on cloud nine and Adam, Hayley, and I grabbed quick sandwiches before hitting up red carpet 11- the second Nicole Kidman premiere (she looked outstanding both nights) we had in two days. This time, it was for an out of competition movie made for HBO (YAY!!!) starring her and Clive Owen called Hemingway and Gellhorn about the life of the esteemed author Ernest Hemingway and his lover/future wife/fellow writer, Martha Gelhorn. I loved it, thought it was so fabulously well done--- to anyone with HBO (which you should all have ;)), watch it if it's on!!!! That movie was done after 1 am, and so we came back (Hayley and I did the walk in heels- so impressed with us still Hayls) and all passed out. Such an incredible night. We were chatting on the walk home about how normalized being on the red carpet has become and what a weird feeling it is to be leaving this life we have made for ourselves here. The transition back to my purple, cream, and ligth blue checkered carpet tomorrow will definitely be weird....

No. 9

Yesterday lived up to every single expectation we had. Let me start off by describing Wednesday night…. Last time I checked in, we were getting ready to go for dinner and a movie. Well, movie never happened- dinner was too good/fun/amazing to even consider sitting in a dark theater for two hours after that. We walked down the cobblestone street with the bazillions of restaurants and by chance, settled on one in particular called Di Fredo. We chose it because on the appetizer menu for the price fixe, it had a pan-fried foie gras on top of a homemade apple tart (Adam Pearlson’s heaven on a plate slash one of the best things all of us have eaten this entire trip). I don’t think I’ve ever seen Adam eat anything that slowly, well, ever…. The waitress too, enticed us with a giant “magnum” bottle of rose wine and stopped us on the street to tell us she thought we looked like a fun bunch. How could Hayley, Rawson, Adam, Arthur, and I ever turn that type of invitation down? The food (especially the chocolate mousse which we all had for dessert), company, and conversation made it the best meal we’ve had all trip! Afterwards we wandered over to the beach and played fooseball at the outdoor arcade. Adam and I dominated. Naturally. We came back to the dorms after that to play ping-pong and also naturally, Hayley and I passed out within half an hour.

We woke up earlyish the next morning and reconvened to see a re-screening of On the Road, the premiere we ditched out on the night before. We were all so glad we waited, since the movie was 2 hours and 40 minutes- WAY TOO LONG! We had heard mixed reviews going into it, but the movie actually turned out to be very enjoyable and interesting. Literally starving after, Hayley, Rawson, Adam, and I returned in the daylight to the restaurant where we got pizza and fries at 1 am many days ago. We got pasta and salads for lunch, and sadly came to the conclusion that salads just are not good in France. Like at all… Oh well, more pastries/bread/meat for us then I guess.

Wednesday was the first day that we were able to reserve invitations to the movies inside the Grand Lumiere rather than have to beg for them, so although all the premieres were of course sold out, there was an afternoon film, Post Tenebras Lux, that had tickets available. We were excited we got to actually be legit enough to do this ourselves and eagerly reserved them. We hurried home after lunch to quickly change into our premiere attire so that we could see this film and then immediately go start begging outside for tickets to The Paperboy. Well, I won't even go into the details of this film because, to be honest, Hayley and I only stayed for 40 minutes, 35 of which I slept through. It was literally the weirdest/worst movie ever. Not that it will ever make it to American shores, but if you see this on the theater roster, RUN THE OTHER WAY. The exhaustion of the trip hit me and Hayley allll at once and we bailed on the movie to instead go to one of our personal fav restaurants in Cannes, Cookies and Coffee. It literally has exactly what it promises/exactly what we needed: cookies and coffee. We had our first actual-American sized lattes and chocolate chip and kinder bar cookies. Heavenly. (However, after we were halfway through our coffees, we discovered that they actually had iced coffee there- almost on the brink of tears.) We came to the mutual decision that the caffeine/sugar rush put us at 65% working capacity, so we got up to start begging. Luckily (but at this point really not surprising to us), we all got tickets to the movie. I was SO EXCITED. As I mentioned yesterday, the film stars Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, and Matthew McCoughnahey.

Our crew was particularly excited to see them on the red carpet, because they're all so fabulous and amazing. Since this was our ninth (yes, 9 ;) ) red carpet experience, we knew how to time it so that we could see the cast on the red carpet just as they were closing it off to the public. Last night, though, we were about 3 minutes too late and they closed the balcony access to the red carpet so we were al huddled behind a gate watching the carpet from afar as the cast descended down it. At first, I was furious, because I wanted to go inside, but it actually ended up being a blessing in disguise. Rather than see the cast on the screen inside the theater, we saw them with our own eyes taking pictures on the stairs/on the carpet. We also saw Heidi Klum and Antonio Banderas. It was pretty cool. Then, though, we were scared it meant we weren’t going to get seats since they let the people huddled outside in at 7:27. K….

We RAN, literally, RAN, the red carpet. Forget about walking it, we’re so past that- all about the casual jog in heels up those famous stairs. Turns out, they had closed the Grand Lumiere (LITERALLY THE PITS, as Hayley Brooks would say) and so we had to see the movie in a smaller theater called the Buzin inside the Palais. At first it was sad, but then the movie was so fabulous it didn’t even matter. AS SOON AS IT COMES TO AMERICA, SEE IT PEOPLE. SO WORTH IT!!!!! Set in the 1960s, it tells the story of a journalist trying to get a man off death row, and the friendship and affair that forms between the convict’s lover and the journalist’s younger brother. Fabulous, absolutely fabulous. Definitely one of my top 3 favorite movies.

Since I wasn’t in the main theater, Adam took a video of the cast leaving the theater for me, and I should point out on this blog that Nicole Kidman PERSONALLY thanked him after he told her she did an outstanding job in the film as she left the theater. Way to go Adam! Cloud 9 after red carpet number 9 must be a great place to be!

Afterwards, we broke our number one rule never to return to the same restaurant twice—“why should we because there are thousands to choose from and we need to experience as much as we can?” has been our mentality—which turned out for the best. Our second meal there was equally as incredible and we had another bottle of “magnum”-sized rose wine. A special thanks to Sophia, the hostess/waitress who’s name we finally learned last night. And to the chefs, who continue to make the best chocolate mousse on earth. We were all so tired though, so we came back and PASSED OUT. More to come tomorrow… Hayley and I discovered that there has been over 2,000 hits on the blog since I started it up. Thanks so much to everyone who has read and keep on reading!!!

Soaking Up the Sun

   Now that we're all caught up to date, lemme tell you about our adventures today. We decided that today for the most part would be movie-free. The sun was SHINING, weather was warm, and we needed a break from the inside of the theaters. At 11:45, our group was lucky enough to meet with Jeff Berg, the Chairman and CEO of International Creative Management, one of the biggest and most prestigious talent agencies in the world. I was so interested by his talk, because as you all obviously know, I am obsessed with the entertainment industry and have a not-so-secret dream of becoming the next Ari Gold. He spoke about issues that personally were really relevant to me and it was a great start to the day! Afterwards, Adam, Hayley, and I went straight to the beach. And by that, I mean took literally 30 steps across the road from the J.W. Marriott where our meeting was (Family: use our Marriott points there, it is fabulous) to the beautiful and SANDY (see posts about the rocky beaches of Nice) beaches of Cannes. We picked up sandwiches, had a little picnic, and chilled hard for four hours. We were joined by Jaycee, Rawson, and Arthur a little bit later in the day. I think that I actually got some color (finally) so it looks like I may have some chance at getting a tan from this trip.
   After the beach, we finally fulfilled our trip-long dream of going to Haagen-Dazs. We intended to get mint chip dazzlers- an American shoppe staple and Adam Pearlson's personal childhood favorite (and by favorite, I mean he had it every single day after school for years). We were extremely disappointed to find out that not only do they NOT SERVE THEM IN EUROPE, but they did not have any mint chip ice cream in sight. Well, we settled on other deliciously amazing flavors instead *cough cough vanilla caramel brownie and chocolate chip cookie dough* and brought them on our walk back to the dorms. We took the beach route today, which even though is an extra like 7 minute walk, was perfect and just what we needed on this beautiful day. Then, I blogged, showered, and just accidentally stepped on a plug lying on the ground from a cell phone charger three seconds before I wrote this. I shrieked. Hayley freaked. Then we laughed. No blood in sight- so we're all good. We are about to get changed for dinner and wander over to our favorite cobblestone windy side street to try and find a place to eat for dinner. Kristen Stewart's new film, On the Road, is premiering tonight, but the movie is 2 hours and 40 minutes long and as much as I loveeeeeeee her, no one really wants to sit through that long of a film tonight (myself included) so I think we'll catch that one tomorrow instead. Not like K.Stew is much of a red carpet whore anyways, so I wouldn't want to add to her uncomfortableness in public and all that stuff by being there. Right? We are planning on seeing a one-time screening of a film called Seven Nights in Havana though after dinner, which hopefully will be good! Tomorrow we are going to movie ourselves out, hopefully including the premiere of The Paperboy, the next American film to premiere which we are all really looking forward to seeing staring (breathe, Sharon): Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, Matthew McConaughey. [Insert me dying here.] Check back tomorrow!

Are You Keeping Up?

To my loyal readers: my apologies for the 2-day delay in writing on here. When the rain came to Cannes, apparently it also washed out all of my incentive to blog since we were a little down in the dumps. Fam, I know how this literally makes your life complete so here it goes. Monday and Tuesday. Are you keeping up with us so far?

Monday morning we woke up to another dreary day, but decided to get ourselves up early anyway (ahem, 6:30) to catch an 8:30 showing of a French in-competition film called You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet. Now, normally on mornings like these when we take initiative to get up, we stand with our signs asking for tickets for approximately 10-15 minutes, get a bunch, and walk right in… because, let’s be real, how many people at Cannes are ACTUALLY gonna get their asses out of bed to see an 8:30 am movie. Alas, Monday morning we were too tired to beg and instead waited on the last minute access line, which 9 times out of 10 will get into the theater because again, we thought there would be no way ever that in the rain, at 8:30 am, 2,500 people would fill up the Grand Lumiere to see a French film. Well- joke was on us. Because they did…. So, we got herded to a secondary theater, in the rain, waited on line for an additional half an hour, in the rain, and then finally got in- tired and soaking wet, and have never been more relieved to take our seats. Lights dim, movie starts, cool opening scene, and then bam- next thing I know Hayley, Jaycee, and I wake up an hour and a half later and slept through the entire thing. Great film to see if you're in search of a nice nap!

Then, we left. Had no idea what just happened, and went back on line at that same theater with our other friends to catch another French in-competition film entitled, Amour. Now, I cannot even put into words what a DRASTIC difference there was between these two. Not only did I stay awake the entire film (which seems to be a feat here…) but I was so emotionally engaged for the full 2+ hour film. If it doesn’t win the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, I will be absolutely SHOCKED. The film tells the story of an elderly couple, Georges and Anne, after Anne has a stroke and the right side of her body becomes paralyzed. There is no background music, no scenes shot outside of their apartment, no distractions—just pure, raw emotion. Though the film was in French, no language is even needed to gauge the amour between these two, and I cried for about half an hour.

We left the film, all of us shaken with emotion, and decided to head for lunch. Afterwards, we saw another film called In Another Country, which was good (not great) but definitely uplifting which was much needed after an emotionally draining and rainy day. We came back to the dorms after that film and stopped to do a little bit of shopping on the way back of course. Hayley bought herself her first romper (or as she often refers to it, a onesie). Go Hayls! We showered and changed for dinner- the first real dinner we’ve had in a while, as the timing of the premieres never coincides appropriately with dinner. We made a reservation at a great restaurant on this cobblestone street we need to take to get into the main town, and it was so delicious. We had bottles of rose wine, great steak/fish/pasta, etc. and then AMAZING desserts. Definitely a great night, and the rain was in our favor and died down while we were out and about.

                                                            ***

Tuesday morning we woke up to more rain (womp). I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this in the blog before and currently too lazy to go back and look, but there is a coffee shop right across the street from the dorms we’re staying at that we stop at every single morning on our walk into town. They have SUCH amazing croissants (and recently discovered, fruit salad) even better coffee (obviously uber-important, even though they're like baby sized…). Anyway, this same nice man every single day (who we assume is the owner) helps us and speaks perfect English and is always so, so nice and helpful. Tuesday was the day we finally introduced ourselves to him. His name is Olivier and word on the street is from past participants that if you befriend him, he’ll give you free coffee by the end of your trip. Done and done. Still waiting on that café ole, Olivier!!!

We walked into the main town area at around 11 to catch an 11:30 showing of a British in-competition film called The Angels’ Share, by veteran Cannes director Ken Loach.  The movie is about a criminal who turns his life around once his girlfriend gives birth to their first son and after visiting a whiskey distillery, is inspired to seek a new way out of his hopeless life. It was really funny and overall fantastic. In the film, they took a trip to a whiskey conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was really cool to see since I am traveling abroad there for a semester in the fall!  We all were so happy to have an emotional break from all the heavy movies we’d been seeing and came out smiley. The sun started to peek out (FINALLY!), which we could see through the windows of the Palais, but before going outside, we stopped to see one more film in a smaller theater in the main building, Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview (per my request). It wasn’t exactly a movie, per se, but it was only screening once at Cannes and I knew I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to see it. I learned about the interview when I was doing tons of reading about him after he died. In 1995, Jobs was interviewed for a huge multi-episode TV special, but in those days before computers (hehe), one of the interview videocassette tapes managed to get lost in the shuffle of it all, never to be found again until about a year ago when it was uncovered in one of the producer’s garages. The interview was only 70 minutes long, but I soaked up every minute of it. I won’t bore you with the details (although naturally, I remember most of them), but it was SO GREAT. He is beyond a genius, and the movie made me realize that whenever I am asked who the one person I would have dinner with, dead or alive, it would be him. For sure. In case you ever are wondering how I would answer that question…

We got out of the movie all starving because it was late in the afternoon and none of us had really eaten all day, so we decided to mix it up a little and went over to Planet Sushi for a little taste of home. The sushi here is so interesting and really different than in the US so it was a nice French spin on a group favorite food. We devoured it after waiting an absurd amount of time for a table, but at that point the sun was out (finally- and just in time for the slew of American premieres hitting Cannes this week) so we were chillin on a bench outside waiting. After sushi, we had some of the best gelato we’ve had all week (I had Oreo and Pistachio. YUM.).

Now, for the best part of the day- red carpet numero 7. The premiere for Brad Pitt’s newest film, Killing Them Softly, was last night, and we all believed it would be impossible to get tickets for since, well, who in their right mind would give up a ticket to see a movie in the same theater as Brad? Certainly not me. BUT, as fate would have it, some dude walked over to Jaycee and I with three tickets in hand that he gave us, and we were done. What a feeling of relief, actually having tickets an hour before the movie- such a novel thought, huh? Rawson, Adam, Hayley, and I all met up and took some cute pics in front of the beach and some artsy pics on the carousel (one of which is now Adam’s background) and then walked the red carpet. 

                                              Hey P. Diddy! Nice white tux.

We casually brushed arms with P. Diddy and walked down it the same time as him- NBD. Then, we took our seats, and saw Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson arrive – love. Then, Brad arrived on the big screen. He looked, well, not so good actually… His hair and beard are both WAY too long. Come on, Brad. He took time to sign autographs for fans (the first star I’ve seen to do that), which I thought, was really nice, but Adam thought it was a little self-indulgent. He kept taking pics on his iPhone of all the paparazzi and the people on the red carpet, which I thought was so sweet, but then again I also know they're probably being sent to the kiddies. He was also wearing these super cool sunglasses that you could see all the camera flashes reflected in- true celeb life. I kept waiting for Angie, but to no avail- she didn’t show. To Angelina Jolie (who I’m sure is an active follower of this blog): WHERE WERE YOU?! I almost cried. Adam saw it. I was sad. It was sad. The end.

            The movie, on the other hand, was great. I loved it. Most of my friends didn’t, but still doesn’t change my opinion. It was about a man who is brought in to assassinate three people for breaking up the underground Poker scene in what is assumed to be some small northeastern town. Pitt was fabulous in his role as the nihilistic assassin, and the film (set in the backdrop of the 2008 presidential election) speaks to how this one man operated in the “business” rather than the country of America. The ending dialogue (although Adam will disagree- see his review!), I thought, was one of the best scenes of any movie we’ve seen here so far.

            After the movie, we all went for dinner to this really swanky restaurant with a live musician playing called Grille. It had the best bread I think we’ve had all trip. Definitely a small deet to remember… Afterwards, we stopped by the beach on the walk home to see an unexpected fireworks show from boats on the water. It was so beautiful. But, eventually, the entire city became enveloped (en-vel-upped, thanks for the pronunciation, Adam) in a smokey haze and it became not so pretty anymore. We got back to the dorm and Rawson, Arthur, Hayley, Adam, and I changed into sweatshirts and sat on the beach near the dorms in the darkness- talking and laughing for an hour. It is something that we so rarely get to do, and such a memorable end to our evening.

The Night Your Favorite Guest Blogger Became a Cannes Whore

Saturday, May 19th 2012. This is the night that I became a Cannes whore.

Let me recount the way in which we acquire these coveted invitations to red carpet premiere screenings:

We beg for them. Literally. We write "Si'l vous plais invitation to XXX" for example, and hope that someone will bless us with a coveted ticket to paparazzi-ville. Usually, those with spares place one in our hands and keep walking. The balcony is open seating so it's unlikely you'll be sitting near the person that dolled it out to you, and even in the orchestra it's done by rows (your ticket could say rows A-F, for example) and no specific seat is ever assigned. So we rack 'em up from anyone and everyone we can find until the last second, and walk down the carpet together oozing Penn fabulosity.

We were a bit nervous though to get tickets for LAWLESS Saturday night, as it's the biggest Hollywood blockbuster with the most A list names at this point in the festival: Shia LeBeouf, Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, and Mia Wasikowska to name a few. We knew these golden tickets would be hard to come across, so we all tried our best to bring our A game. My strategy was holding the sign, but workin' my charm and making intense eye contact with people. I thought I'd have more person-by-person, varied individual interactions to to seal the deal. 

I wore my black slinky dress and red lipstick, silver pumps, and trekked the block with my sign. And this is where everything took a turn. This is where I became a Cannes whore. 

Let me back track once again. Every experience I've ever had with mentorship has been nothing but positive, inspiring, and of the best intentions. I have had amazing experiences with Penn alums and industry big-wigs that have really helped mold me and get me to where I am today. But outside of the Penn bubble, it is a seriously sketchier world.

I wasn't doing much up front filtering with who I asked because you never know just who will give you the goods. I asked both sexes, all ages, literally anyone that crossed my path. So one man I asked, an older gent of about 65, for a ticket, gave me a lead that he just might have one. So we started talking and within minutes, this baby was mine. Now instead of the usual procedure I just described, Michael not-so-implicitly made it known that he wanted me to be "his date" for the evening, and asked me to stay with him so we could strut down the red carpet as a pair and sit together, despite the open seating. Come again?

Now, homegirl wanted to get some facetime with Jessica Chastain. What was I to do? So I summoned my courage and my wits and walked down the carpet with Michael, as he creepily placed his hand on my lower back and waved to the cameras. Now the funny part about this is that we made such an outrageous, unlikely pair that all the paps took our picture! 19 year old pasty girl and sugar daddy Indian Brit take Lawlesss. (Shameless plug, look for me in the mags).

Michael wasn't done there. He asked me to have dinner and drinks with him after in his hotel...a TEN MINUTE DRIVE away. He started referring to me as "his darling," despite the glaring wedding ring on his finger. I was obviously texting Kath (mom) once I got into the theater and my friend Rawson in the orchestra whenever I could get away.

Funny texts from mom include: "As soon as it's over, run like the wind!" "If he puts a hand on you get out. I don't think he will. K ENJOY!" 

Lucky for me, Michael had to make some business calls to India and decked out of the film after about only 20 minutes. When he whispered in my ear that he had to go I could feel every hair on my body stand up (much more so than I did a few hour's later at the premiere of Argento's Dracula 3D- see Adam's blog for a review). 

When possible, I'm asking women for tickets from now on. The Lawless premiere kind of put me in check and made me realize that when you hit the streets begging for something, most usually want something else in return. And no more red lipstick — from hereon in, I'm sticking to Burt's Beeswax.

P.S.

Check out Adam's blog for tons of film reviews (he's a god) and a recap of our adventures from a different perspective! 


Adam Writes a Picture: http://adamwritesapicture.blogspot.com/ 


P.S. Maybe Adam will write a guest blog too soon! Please Adam?

Rain, Rain, Go Away Come to Cannes Another Day

   Rain= no fun. Rain in Cannes= way worse than no fun, it flat out sucks. It's been so cold and windy out today and a huge rainstorm started this afternoon. Since we have to wait outside on lines for the majority of the movies, it definitely puts a damper on things. However, we did not let it stop us from having a great day anyway! We got up early around 9:30 to make it to the Lumiere for a competition film from Denmark, called The Hunt. Jaycee, Adam, Hayley, and I picked up chocolate croissants and coffees and made the trek into the center of town. We got tickets no problem and I ran into my friends from Penn not on the program, Charlotte and Rachel. Sadly, they're heading home tomorrow, but I was glad to get the chance to see them for a few minutes since I haven't all week! The Hunt was definitely a well made film, but the theme of it didn't sit well with me (it was a film about a man who is accused of sexually abusing young children in the kindergarten class he teaches after one of the little girls lied about it) so I came out frustrated with it.... According to my smart cinema studies friends, that was the whole point, but still, not my favorite so far.
   We waited on line after that for another film in the Un Certain Regard competition called Confessions of a Child of the Century, but unfortunately, the theater was packed before we could get in. As luck would have it though, a market screening (screenings intended for buyers of films, but also open to festival badge holders if there are extra seats) of a film called Struck by Lightning was being shown an hour later. I had been wanting to see this film for a while, since one of the girls in my Art and Business of Film class at Penn this semester worked as a producer for it after taking a year off school, so she told us a lot about it and even streamed the trailer for us one day in class! Jaycee and I got another round of coffees to tide us over (they are SO SMALL IN FRANCE) and waited outside the theater. We were the first ones in the festival line and made it into the movie! It was written by and stars Chris Colfer from Glee and also had a lot of other fun stars in the cast including Dulmont Mulroney, Christina Hendricks, Allison Janey, Sarah Hyland (from Modern Family!), and Rebel Wilson (from Bridesmaids). It was such a cute movie and definitely cheered us up on this rainy day! We walked outside and it was pouring and all we had eaten were our croissants, so we went to get lunch/dinner/whatever this meal could be called. The restaurant wasn't stellar, but it did the trick.... Hayley, Rawson, and I did not want to withstand the rain and cold temperatures for any longer so we decided to head back and skip out on a movie for tonight. Jaycee and Adam stayed to see another one but quickly followed us back after the tent the movie was supposed to screen in blew over due to strong winds (LOL). Tonight I'll be staying in and probably watching another movie on my laptop (because what else can you do as a break when you are taking a break from watching movies all day? Like actually?) and hanging out with everyone else here- most people are back so there is tons of company! Finally I'm all caught up on daily blogging, so check back tomorrow for what adventures Cannes has in store for me then!

Keeps Gettin' Better

   Somehow, the days keep getting better. Yesterday was the biggest killer of them all- we saw 4 movies, 3 of which were BACK TO BACK PREMIERES in the Grand Lumiere. Yep, that meant 3 red carpets in a row. How did we manage to pull that off? Read on.
   The day began when Hayley, Rawson, Arthur, and I got up to see a movie a bunch of others saw the day before called Beasts of the Southern Wild, a film in the Un Certain Regard competition by director Benh Zeitlin. The buzz was that it was amazing, but I had no idea just how amazing it was until I saw it. It was by far the most incredible film I have seen all trip, and it put me on a high for the rest of the day despite the dreary weather. The film chronicled the life of a young girl and her father who live in the "Bathtub" of Louisiana and refuse to leave when weather threatens to destroy their entire home. The film seemed to last for an extremely long time (in the best way possible) and was poignant and inspiring. I laughed, gasped, and cried-- it was truly an unforgettable emotional rollercoaster. The loyalty that one can have for their people and their home really left an impact on me, and it made me reflect on my life and be thankful for the things that I have. It was so real, raw, and brilliantly done, and as soon as it is released in America (Fox Searchlight just acquired the film for distribution at Cannes), I HIGHLY RECCOMEND you all go see it.
   After the movie was over, the four of us went to a cute little corner restaurant for lunch and unable to forget about the film, proceeded to talk about it for the next hour or so. We had to return back to the dorms after lunch to hear our first guest lecture by a Penn alum at Cannes, Gregory Quinn, who now runs a company called Caribbean Cinemas. He spoke for an hour and a half about the exhibition arm of the film industry, and it was cool to hear about the Caribbean cinema culture and larger exhibition trends in general.
   In comes the best part of our day. There were three back to back premieres on the schedule for the night: the highly anticipated American film by John Hillcoat, Lawless; Australian film The Sapphires, and the world premiere of Dario Argento's revamped version of Dracula in 3-D. Our goal was to get into all of them, a challenging feat that was by no means a guarantted success, and one that would never be able to be topped again (rarely are there ever 3 big premieres in one night- let alone 3 screenings in the Lumiere back to back at all). Well, as the spoiler above indicated earlier, WE DID IT.
   Lawless was the first major American in competition film to premiere (aside from Moonrise Kingdom, which was a unique case because it was opening night), so we knew going in it was going to be extremely difficult to score a ticket. We got outside to beg and quickly realized we were 3 out of like 30 people looking for tickets. First Hayley got one (read about her adventures on her next guest blog...) and then Adam. I started to loose hope very quickly because it was 6:20 and the movie started at 7, with the red carpet ending at like 6:45. However, as luck would have it, a man holding two tickets was swarmed by a bunch of people looking for tickets and he was asking to see their badges (tickets are color coated blue and orange- and you can only get in with the orange one if you have a certain level of badge- which, thankfully, we do- YAY PENN!). I swooped in with my badge and in my sweetest voice, pleaded with the man that all my friends had tickets besides me, and it did the trick because 5 seconds later, a coveted Lawless ticket was in my hand. Adam and I rushed on line to get in, absolutely THRILLED. We walked the red carpet together and got two seats side by side smack in the center of the balcony. It could not have worked out more perfectly. When we walked the red carpet, we saw the cast at the base of it, but were rushed inside so that they could take all of their photos, etc. But we got to see them enter on the big screen- and what an all-star line up it was. Shia LaBeouf (second time seeing him - NBD), Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain, Guy Pearce, Dane DeHaan, and Mia Wasikowska all were there for the premiere, with director Hillcoat and writer-musician Nick Cave also in tow. The movie is based off a book by Matt Bondurant entitled The Wettest County in the World, about the true-life story of his ancestors, the bootlegging Bondurant brothers (played by LaBeouf, Hardy, and DeHaan) during the prohibition era in 1930s Virginia. I liked the film a lot, didn't love it- but definitely worth a trip to the theater after its August 29th release in the US.

Thanks chica in the red jacket for ruining our pic

   After the film, Hayley, Adam, and I met up with the rest of our crew and got back to begging. We managed to score tickets for all of us to both The Sapphires premiere AND the Dracula premiere within a matter of minutes outside of the Grand Palais (even with a few extra to spare- oh how good it feels to see the tables turned). WHAT A FEAT!!!! We felt like Harvey Weinstein. (Weinstein company is distributing both these films- and it was a major accomplishment for them to score back to back premireres on the first Saturday of the festival! Harvey was at both and SO WERE WE!) We celebrated with nutella-banana paninis from a sandwich stand right next to the theater and raced back to the red carpet. This time, it was less crowded since it was later and not an American movie premiering, so we took our time, snapped some photos, and soaked it all in. We got a little nook for ourselves in the corner of the balcony and settled in for the film. It was fabulous! Such a nice lighthearted movie to raise our spirits after a lot of the heavier films we have seen lately. It stars Chris O'Dowd (from Bridesmaids!) and a bunch of breakout Australian actresses with great voices! The film is similar to Dreamgirls, and is about the life of 4 sisters who form a singing group called, obviously, the Sapphires, who travel to Vietnam to perform for the soldiers there in the 1960s. Thanks to the Weinstein Company, this film will definitley be making its way to the States!!
   Like we were in our own movie, we walked out of the Grand Lumiere for the second time only to turn right back around and reenter the red carpet for the third one. (Note: Red Carpet count to date= 6) It was honestly surreal and we all could not believe we accomplished what we set out to. I never really had the burning desire to see Dracula, and after the first 10 minutes it looked like a complete waste of my time, so Hayley, Rawson, and I left and went home. Definitely did not look like my kind of movie.

   On the walk back, we passed the now-empty red carpet and I was smiling so big thinking about the night. The red carpet started to feel like home- literally- and with all the huge American premieres coming up this week (Hello Brad Pitt, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey, and SO MANY MORE) we're gonna have to get un-used to it fast, because those tickets will be nearly impossible to score- but the lesson learned is to never stop trying and never give up hope, because as with the rest of this trip, luck has been on our side- if we could attend three premieres, and walk three red carpets in CANNES in one night, there is NOTHING we can't do!

Back by Popular Demand: Hayley Brooks

So Wednesday evening got off to the right foot when Sharon and I boarded a Mercedes taxi-cab, for six, to enter the lavish Rust & Bone (French Main Competition Film featuring the glamourous and Academy Award Winner Marion Cotillard) after party at the Club de Cinema, the beachside tent occupied by the elite Carlton Hotel. We walked down the promenade amidst gazers and fans of all nationalities dying to catch a glimpse of French high society- both involved and uninvolved in the film. ...So of course they were confused when the two American girls giggled all the way down the walk pointing at people and reminding themselves, "Ok, be cool. We're cool. It's cool. This is cool."

We walked in and mozied down to one of the many open bars and scored two glasses of the finest champagne. Just looking around at the clothes, shoes, hair, was the absolute highlight of the night for me. I have never seen such lavishness and luxury. We then found our way to the private room where the cast had their own mini party, blocked off by two HUGE bodyguards. Marion was an absolute vision, exquisite in a sequined box shoulder jacket and funky updo. Her leading man, Mathias Schoenaerts, was even more attractive in person than he was on screen. We stared at them, quite literally, in awe and snagged some pics on our iPhones. We took laps around the party, sort of just gaping at it all (and of course taking advantage of the champagne). We sat down to take it in some more and these two men (boys? guys?) sat down with us. I decided that we should make friends, but also decided Sharon should initiate- a task she willingly took on. We soon got acquainted with Sebastian and Lorenzo, from French New Guinea and Italy/Paris respectively, who gave us French High Society 101- pointing out important people left and right. 

It went something like this, 

Lorenzo: "So how did you like the movie? **Hushed** Wait don't answer yet if you didn't like it...I say this because the producer and director are right behind you..." 

It was great that we met them because that would all have been totally lost on us, and we didn't have to get up again for more champagne...

Lorenzo explained that the beach parties close at 2 on the dot, government enforced, but the hottest clubs in Paris then take the stage and host parties at Cannes to all hours of the night. So after making a few more rounds and even hitting up the dance floor (or should I say dance tent?) at the party, our collective arm candy escorted us to the after party at the Palais. It was monitored by, acc. to Lorenzo "the bouncer" of Paris, who of course he's friends with. So we get there and Lorenzo casually shakes the hand of this massive man in a tweed jacket, dark sunglasses and a slanty eye. Not exaggerating when I say he was the scariest man I have ever seen. We were whisked away to this side door entrance that opened us up to a world unlike anything I have ever seen before. It was fabulousness to the extreme, with elaborate head-pieces and androganists. We danced and frankly, killed it despite the fact that we so did not belong! Around 3:30 Sharon and I made eye-contact and had an ESP moment that read: "This is so fun, getting a little tired...we've been up for 21 hours straight...these guys are starting to get a little pushy...let's end on a high note...ok GREAT" and decided to make the dash.

I told Lorenzo that we had to go because we get locked out of our dorm at 4, to which he responded:

"I have a room for you back in my flat..."

LOL No frenchman!!! Homegirl does not do things like that.

I laughed and said no no, and Sharon and I ran into a cab, giggling all the way home. We got back and Adam was still awake so we plopped down on his queen-sized bed (he pushed his two twins together...long story) and recounted our crazy night.  

Exclusive VIP After Party at Cannes? Check, check and check. As Sebastian said, "The entire world wishes they were at this party tonight. You have no idea quite how lucky you are."

One Day, Two Premieres

   Yesterday was perhaps one of the coolest days of my entire time in France. I accomplished so much in what seemed like so little time. Hayley and I slept in until noon after being exhausted from the night before (see Hayley's highly anticipated guest blog soon for the reasons for exhaustion- to all her loyal fans on this blog, it will come soon, I promise!)
   We picked up coffees at the cafe near the dorms and walked over to meet Adam and Jaycee on line (in the rain- womp) at (what turned out to be the main premiere) for a British filmed called Broken. The film chronicles the lives of three families living on the same coul-de-sac, and depicts how one lie can lead to a multitude of hardships and destruction. It stars the leader of the Cannes Un Regard Jury, Tim Roth. As we stood online, all of a sudden the entrance was swarmed with paparazzi and we heard that Shia LaBeouf was entering the theater for the screening. Naturally, being me, I got way too excited than was necessary, and we found out that he was premiering the screening of his directoral debut short film, Howardcantour.com. We made our way into the theater and Shia introduced his film and spoke to the audience. He grew out his hair so he looked a little dissheveled and well, uglier than usual, but it was still so exciting to be like 10 feet away from him. His film was cute, with a few laughs here and there and a tad pretentious, but I didn't come away hating it. Broken, on the other hand, was a fabulously made film, and at that point in time, the best one we've seen so far. The entire main cast (including the director and Tim Roth) were also there to introduce their film and spoke after Shia. So so cool. We actually waited on line for Broken the day before and didn't get in because the theater was already full, which proves  my theory that everything happens for a reason... The story was gripping and the actors were great, but I came away from it feeling angry and because of that, couldn't get myself emotionally invested with the characters. Thereofe, I didn't love it the way my friends did, but that's why there are thousands of films screening in this city for the next week!!
   Now on to the best part of the day and the reason behind the blog's title: I hit up not one, but TWO movie premieres yesterday. After recharging with a quick coffee break (espresso with nutella in it= heavenly), Jaycee and I went out to beg for tickets to the highly coveted premiere of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. There are so many reasons I NEEDED to get into this premiere: 1. SO MANY CELEBS WERE IN IT, 2. So many celebs would be at the premiee, 3. It's a DreamWorks 3-D animated film. Yeah, that pretty much covers it all....I dressed in a day/night dress and packed my heels with me so I didn't even need to go back to the dorms and change once we scored two tickets to the premiere. It literally felt like we had just won the lottery. We stood for over an hour begging for tickets at the main pedestrian entrance to the red carpet line, and got EXTREMELY lucky!!! I swiped on my red lipstick as I found my place in line waiting to enter the red carpet (obviously- had to look super fab for this one). Jaycee and I had tickets in different sections so I was going solo on this one, which oddly was very cool. The streets were SWARMED with fans and so I cannot even put into words how exhilerating it felt to feel like a VIP and bypass all of them to make my way onto the red carpet. I literally felt like the luckiest person on earth. All of the press photographers and paparazzi were wearing neon colored afro-wigs in honor of the movie, which had to do with the characters of Madagascar joining a traveling circus, so it was bright and colorful and so much fun. Since it was such a packed premiere, everyone with balcony tickets only got to walk the carpet from the base of the stairs rather than the whole thing. STILL THE BEST THING EVER. I lingered on the carpet until the guards literally told me it was time to go in (of course...) and so I saw Jane Fonda and Naomi Watts make their big red carpet debuts. Celebs also in attendance: Eva Longoria, Jennifer Connolly, Salma Hayak, and of course the entire cast including David Schwimmer (FRIENDS!!!!), Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jessica Chastain, and Chris Rock.
   I took my seat in the Grand Lumiere and saw more of the red carpet on the big screen (they air the footage for people already inside, which is something that was very very cool that I didn't know about). First thing I did was Viber call my BFF Nicole whose 20TH BIRTHDAY was yesterday, and there was no better place to call from to wish her the best day ever. Shoutout: HAPPY BDAY NIKKI!
   A few minutes later, the entire cast entered the theater to a standing ovation. It was such an insane feeling to watch a film in the presence of its creators, and I was so glad my first big premiere I got to attend was this one. It was not in the Palm d'Or competition, but highly anticipated, so the energy level in the room was very high. In short, the movie was SO GREAT. I laughed and loved every second of it. The animation and 3-D was perfect and the characters are so cute and hilarious. The film takes place in Europe as the characters join a traveling circus to try to make their way back home to New York, so it was so fitting to see it in Cannes. The first city they were in was Monte Carlo, and the animators made an exact replica of it to the point where I could recognize the casino table I was gambling at there and the restaurant where we ate dinner. It was so so so cool!!!!!
   I was so sad to see it end, but even more exciting things were still in store for me that night. As we exited the theater, Jaycee and I met up and on our walk, ran into the young star of Moonrise Kingdom, Kara Hayward. We chatted with her and her mom and got to take a picture with her- she was so sweet! The begging began again... This time for the premiere of the Italian in competition film called Reality. We managed to score a second set of tickets (seriously, did I mention we're some of the luckiest people alive?) and walked the red carpet again. This time, since it was a less popular premiere, we walked every inch of it. It was also nice being with all of my friends, and we snapped pictures and had such a great time, so close to brushing arms with the entire main cast of the film. I won't even waste time talking about the film though because I actually hated it. It wasn't even the langauge barrier that did it, I just thought it was so bad that in the moment, I thought I would never have the desire to see another movie again. It was about a man who trys out to be on the TV show Big Brother and becomes obsessed that the show is watching over his entire life even when he doesn't make the show. Technology destroying man= overused theme and NOT employed well here. Enough said. Also, due to the timing of the back-to-back premieres (will never get old ;)) I missed dinner. And the movie had a ton of Italian food scenes in it. So naturally, zero dinner plus food shown in movies equals pizza and fries at 1 AM at a pizza restaurant on the walk back to the dorms in our fancy attire. Truly a home run of a night!!!!!