Off The Duff

I had my alarm set for 8:15AM with the intention of waking up early enough to finish my first article for the online Athens Exchange before heading in to Cannes to catch the 11:30 reprise of last night’s in-competition film, “Fish Tank,” directed by Andrea Arnold.

Well those plans remained in tact long enough for me to fall asleep last night and get woken up by a different phone sound at 8:09AM.  The head professor/director of our program, Dr. Nate Kohn, was calling to inform me that he had arranged for our 25 students to be admitted into the American Pavilion later this afternoon for a dedication they’re doing for Roger Ebert.  I was to immediately get to a working email network (easier said than done in France), email a lady at the Pavilion the names of all our students so she could clear them with Festival security, and print 25 copies of the make-shift invitation from a forwarded gmail chain.  This is how quickly my morning took a complete turn in a new direction.  And such is the life in Cannes.

It has now been four hours since that phone call from Nate and I have checked all of those things off my list and then some…  At noon I had to call the Swedish producer, Carl Molinder, of the movie, “Let The Right One In,” because that’s when his plane was landing in Nice.  We spoke about scheduling a time for him and (I believe) his producing partner, John, to come and talk to our students. He’s calling me back in an hour to confirm the day/time.

Which reminds me…I’m also supposed to reserve a meeting time for our group at 2PM on Sunday to listen to Nate’s life-long friend, director Paul Cox.

P.S. Quite possibly my biggest accomplishment since I’ve been in Cannes so far is walking the strip of hotels along the Croisette, going door-to-door, trying to find a meeting space (room, terrace, large closet, etc.).  The hard part was trying to find a space within our tiny budget of 100euro/hour.  Well, I ended up talking to this old man working the desk at the Hotel Victoria (situated right behind the Hotel Stephanie – formerly the Noga Hilton) at a rate of FREE!  Yes, 0euro/hour is what I got us.  (I’m patting myself on the back AGAIN for this accomplishment…arranged completely in French, I might add).  Anyway, gotta call my old man friend Andre again this morning over at the Hotel Victoria to set up times to meet with the Swedes and Paul Cox.

Okay – it’s now 1PM and I have to book it back up to my apartment to change shirts and splash on some make-up.  Gotta meet the students at 1:45 outside of the Grand Lumiere Theatre to stealthily coordinate our entrance into the American Pavilion for the Ebert dedication.  Oh, and I just found out the trains are on strike (as of an hour and a half ago).  Brilliant.

Soooo…I need to run out of here, ready myself in two seconds’ time, catch a cab to Cannes, celebrate Ebert’s dedication, possibly catch a 5:30PM showing of the Un Certain Regard reprise of “Air Doll” (aka- “Kuki Ningyo,” a Japanese film directed by Kore-Eda Hirokazu).  Then tonight – if the weather holds out (it’s been sprinkling some this morning) – a bunch of us are going to try and attend the ‘Movie on the Beach’ (Cinema de la Plage) where they set up a HUGE movie screen about 10 yards out over the water of the Mediterranean.  They have a couple hundred cloth folding chairs set up in front of it in the sand for one of the most unique viewing experiences you can imagine.  Tonight they’re showing “Pink Floyd: The Wall,” so it will be absolutely awesome if the weather stays on our side.

Okay – gotta run.  I’m late.  Can’t keep Roger waiting.