FIRST BLOG FROM THE RED CARPET

            So yesterday I was too tired to write a cohesive blog, and yesterday was fun, but let me just preface this by telling you all TODAY was probably the best day of my life.

            Yesterday: we had our first full day in Cannes and it was wonderful!!! It was so amazing to see this beautiful city in the daylight and learn to navigate our way around. In the morning, Nicola Gentili (our program advisor) gave us our coveted passes for the film festival. This year we got the best passes Penn students have ever received. We can get access to any film outside of the main Grand Lumiere Theater with just our badges, and then need to finagle an invitation to get into the movies in there…. But before the movies even started, we used our passes to get access to the Grand Palais, which is the hub of the entire film festival. They greeted us with a welcome and a smile when we walked in, so we actually felt semi-important upon entering such an amazing building. The security was tight, but our passes make us insiders! We roamed around there for an hour or so and then got lunch and headed to the beach! This beach was actually sandy and the sun was so strong it was beautiful. Could not have asked for a better day!!! After a few hours, we walked back to the dorm and changed for dinner. On our way back, we walked past the Carlton Hotel, which, if you’ve seen the news, is COMPLETELY decked out to promote Sasha Baron Cohen’s new film, The Dictator. It’s absolutely hilarious to see. A group of 8 of us wandered back towards town and stopped at a restaurant on a cobblestone side street called Poivre del Sol. For only 19.90 euro we all had a delicious three-course meal consisting of goat cheese salads, French onion soups, grilled steak, grilled lamb chops, and chocolate lava cakes and crème brulee for dessert. Yum.

            Now onto the best part of the night- we’re walking more towards the center of town after dinner to get drinks at a restaurant somewhere, and a group of boys pass us in the opposite direction. I KNEW I recognized the leader of the pack from somewhere (aka knew he was a celebrity- which initiated a freak out) but could not quite put my finger on it (aka increased the freak out even more). Finally, Hayley and I realized it was the one and only AARON SAMUELS FROM MEAN GIRLS. Everyone mocked me for freaking out over the sighting of a D-list celebrity, but hey, it’s me we’re talking about and I don’t know what else anyone would expect from me……Even better, as we were walking past a restaurant a few minutes down the strip, JESSICA CHASTAIN walks out. (Insert me dying of happiness here). All the people were yelling “Bye Jess!” on a clearly nickname basis and I was so jealous. The end. Night= major win for Sharon.

            If that night was a win, today was like winning the lottery. We had our first program group meeting where all of the logistics and expectations were explained to us. Then, Nicola took a big group of us on a tour around Cannes, showing us where all the major movie theaters were located (extremely valuable information). Tonight was the opening ceremony kicking off the festival, and the premiere of Moonrise Kingdom, a Wes Anderson film in the Palm d’Or Competition that was selected to be the festival opener. Since it was obviously going to be screening in the Grand Lumiere Theater, invitations for the ceremony/first screening were like GOLD. Thus, the begging for tickets began in the early afternoon. We split up into teams and each attacked hotels and other areas across the strip. We had absolutely zero luck all day and eventually we got too tired to keep begging. Hayley, Adam, our friend Rawson (also from Penn! Shout out to him too for reading the blog!) headed for lunch at an amazing pizza restaurant called Pastis. We split two margarita pizzas and I finally got a Nicoise salad! It was so delish.

         We came back to the dorms and changed into black tie attire (a must for the red carpet past 6:30 pm) and headed back to the Palais to beg for tickets again. So, if you ever for any reason need to know how to say “Any extra invitations for tonight please?” in French, I’m your girl. We unfortunately did not get tickets to the major premiere red carpet (although some people from Penn did!) but got to see the celebs walk the red carpet anyway from a distance. I saw: Alec Baldwin, Eva Longoria, Lana del Rey, Frida Pinto, Jane Fonda, Claire Danes, Ewan McGregor, Chris Pine, Bruce Willis, and the entire rest of the movie’s cast. It was so incredible, and I have faith that eventually I will make it to the red carpet with the stars and will be walking among them. BUT, that doesn’t mean I didn’t make it to the red carpet last night J We took a brief cookie/cappuccino break once the first showing of Moonrise Kingdom started and then went straight back to the streets. After about an hour, a group of 6 of us got tickets to see the 11 pm screening of the movie. IT WAS THRILLING!

         So, as promised, here it goes, my FIRST BLOG FROM THE RED CARPET OF CANNES!   Finally, my life-long dream came true as I walkedt up the steps into the Grand Lumiere Theater (conveniently the only way to access the theater YAY). Official Cannes photographers were everywhere snapping away and handing us their business cards, so it is obviously a necessity I go get those pictures printed and pick them up to remember the best night of my life (and pretend like they actually were there to photograph all of the Penn kids- because who else would they have been there for? Jokes.) We lingered on the carpet for far too long because I could not relinquish my 15 minutes of fame, but eventually headed inside to see the film.

*NOTE, it took approximately 30 mins to upload this one picture on the wifi in this dorm, but it was SO WORTH IT.

            I thought Moonrise Kingdom was a fabulous movie. As soon as it comes out in the States this weekend, I definitely recommend it as a must see. His directorial style is so unique and absolutely beautiful. The story is about two 12-year old misfits who fall in love and both try to escape their unfortunate lives to be together. Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) is a quirky yet intellectual orphan who runs away from his Boy Scout camp, while Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward), tries to escape her overbearing family. They find comfort in each other and foster a type of innocent intimacy that you can’t help but be moved by. Their escapes prompt a full out search and rescue mission, which is where most of the comedy comes into play. I laughed, cried- SEE IT!!!

            Oh, and then as we left, we walked back down the red carpet again (swoon). I could get too used to this…..