Tag Archives: AmPav

May 30 2012
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Cannes Film Festival, Celebrities, Red Carpet, UGA Students

‘Best Of’ Students’ Photos

I (creepily?) pulled all of these off Facebook. As you can see our students were in the right place at the right time throughout this year’s Festival.  Enjoy…

Alec Baldwin after he popped in the American Pavilion

Ben Stiller after the “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” press conference
Bill Murray heading into the “Moonrise Kingdom” after-party
Brad Pitt at the “Killing Them Softly” red carpet premiere seemingly posing for our students’ lenses
Bruce Willis heading into the “Moonrise Kingdom” after-party
Chris Rock leaving the “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” press conference
Clive Owen arriving to this year’s MasterClass featuring Phil Kaufman
The cast of “Cosmopolis” on the red carpet before their premiere
(Including: David Cronenberg, Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Paul Giamatti)
David Schwimmer after the “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” premiere
Jury Judge, Diane Kruger, and beau, Joshua Jackson, heading into a premiere
Eva Longoria posing right in front of our students on the red carpet
Jury Judge, Ewan McGregor, leaving a premiere
Frieda Pinto after the “Moonrise Kingdom” premiere opening night
Frieda Pinto going in to the “Rust and Bone” premiere
Gael Garcia Bernal heading into a morning screening in the Debussy Theatre
Gerard Butler after the “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” premiere
Heidi Klum heading into “The Paperboy” premiere
Jackie Chan speaking on a panel at the American Pavilion
Jessica Chastain heading into the “Moonrise Kingdom” after-party
Jessica Chastain after the “Lawless” press conference
John Cusack after “The Paperboy” press conference
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian deboarding a yacht in the Cannes harbor
Kirsten Dunst after the “On the Road” press conference
Macy Gray after “The Paperboy” press conference
Martin Short after the “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” press conference
Matthew McConaughey catching our students snapping his photo in the posh Majestic Hotel Bar
Matthew McConaughey after the “Mud” press conference
The cast of “Moonrise Kingdom” entering the theatre before their Festival Opening premiere
(L-R: Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, two kids in movie, Bruce Willis, Ed Norton, Wes Anderson-front)
The cast of “Mud” exiting their premiere
(L-R: Reese Witherspoon, Matthew McConaughey, the two kids in the movie, Jeff Nichols, Festival director Thierry Fremaux)
Nicole Kidman after “The Paperboy” press conference
Nicole Kidman arriving to this year’s MasterClass featuring Phil Kaufman
P.Diddy (or whatever he’s called now) heading into the “Killing Them Softly” premiere
Cast of “The Paperboy” entering their premiere
(namely from bottom to top: Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey)
Paul Giamatti after the “Cosmopolis” press conference.
Reese Witherspoon after the “Mud” press conference
Robert Pattinson signing autographs in the Palais after his morning press conference for “Cosmopolis”
Sean Penn leaving a premiere
Tilda Swinton after “Moonrise Kingdom” premiere opening night
Tye Sheridan after the “Mud” press conference
Viggo Mortensen leaving the “On the Road” press conference
Wes Anderson heading to the “Moonrise Kingdom” after-party
Zac Efron in the Palais after the morning press conference for “The Paperboy”

[Photo credits / future TMZ photogs:
Hilary Beth Allen, Laurie Costarides Liz Egan, Erin Jackson, Kara Maltby, Raines Plambeck, Sara Porch]

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May 12 2011
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Cannes Film Festival, Red Carpet, UGA Students

Festival Day #1 – A Recap…

Begging, begging everywhere — and not a ticket to snatch.
I arrived in Cannes in the late afternoon/early evening hours just about the time all of our students donned their fancy wear and sharpied some signs requesting “1 Invitation S.V.P.” for the premiere of Woody Allen’s “Midnight In Paris” set to begin in a couple hours. Scoring a ticket to this opening film is extra special because not only does one attend the screening of the movie, but you also get the added benefit of experiencing the Opening Ceremonies to officially kick off the Festival. The 2011 Jury, headed by De Niro, sits on stage in front of the crowd, says a few words, and gets things underway. This year I even saw that Jamie Cullum did a surprise performance onstage during the ceremony.

As usual, about half of our students got in to the opening ceremony and subsequent screening of the opening premiere that directly follows. 50% sounds like great odds, especially when we have 26 students dressed to the nines begging for tix – however, try explaining that to the half of the group who DON’T receive tickets. Their outlook on the process and its (temporarily) unfavorable results is pretty grim at this point, so it takes a lot to try and put a positive spin on it for them. I try my darndest, though.
Take, for example, Bobby – shown below. The sting of rejection was extra harsh when he didn’t get a ticket into the premiere screening because it was also his birthday. He even mentioned this fact – in French, I might add – on his sign. Unfortunately, none of the wealthy cougars bought it thus Bobby was left to sulk at the American Pavilion. Pauvre, Bobby.
But wait! There is a second screening at 10:30pm that re-shows the opening film. Sure, this screening is absent of all the pomp and circumstance of the earlier screening as it lacks the presence of Woody Allen, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Adrien Brody, Robert DeNiro, Uma Thurman, Jude Law (okay, you get the picture) – but the red carpet is still there, right?! So I convince the students to pick their heads up, turn their smiles upside down, grab a bite, hell – imbibe a little – then come back at 10pm and beg for the later screening like you mean it.
During this layover period when we all put out of our minds what is happening inside the Grand Lumiere Theatre while we are left outside, I head down the Croisette towards the harbor to the famous, Caffe Roma. This haunch frequently hosts my hungry taste buds during the Festival. Usually, I am accompanied by Sophie (the program director’s daughter) and this time is no different. Sophie landed in France mere hours ago. She just stood in the registration line to get her badge while the red carpet chaos occurred, so she was accredited and hungry for some familiar Cannes foods. We sit at a table along the exterior of the giant covered patio dining on pizza and french fries (Sophie’s choice).

A quartet delights us with jazzy old tunes throughout our meal – check out the guy on the oboe (?) – he was killing it!
After dinner, everyone returns to their respective posts trickled along the pavements around the Palais. And, darn it, if every single one of those kids who didn’t get into the early premiere (+ me) didn’t nab a ticket for the late showing. We were golden!
Happily we marched up to the red carpet, shiny tickets in hand, and worked that thing like it was our job. I HAD to get a photo of me and my brother, Alex, a transient student in this year’s program. After all, this is his first Cannes red carpet (and certainly not the last) – the memory had to be captured photographically. I mean, come on…two Beavers, one red carpet?! Definitely worth taking the time to pose.
Two hours after walking the red carpet and six hours after delving into their first go of ‘begging’, the second half of our students had experienced night one of Cannes in all its glory. It may not have been what they expected and they may even have hated the Woody Allen movie, but there’s no denying these kids were hopped up on adrenaline, finally having reveled in the sweet feeling of success. I snapped the photo below at the taxi stand just after the screening — those smiles don’t lie.
Day/Night One at the 64th Annual Cannes Film Festival = Complete. And Bobby’s birthday was finally a happy one.
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May 13 2010
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Cannes, Cannes Film Festival, Celebrities, Red Carpet, UGA Students

Day 1 – Complete

I made it into Cannes hours after many of our unstoppable students had already gotten 3-4 film screenings under their belts. This is a whole new breed of participants, these students. Their excitement is palpable, but their humility remains intact throughout. They are wonderful.

Once I got off the train in sunny Cannes I stopped into 8 or 9 hotels, unfortunately, not making it past many of their lobbies. They were either too small to accommodate a group of our size OR they were already booked the entire 12 days of the Festival. I have a couple of strong leads with which I’ll need to follow up in the coming days. Both places have rooftop solariums that could seat 30 of us plus a speaker comfortably. Send good vibes my way in hopes that I can nail one of these places down – hopefully for the price of “gratuit” (though unlikely).

After my hotel search I popped in to my fave shoe store, André, to see what they had in stock for oh ten. I gave them lots and lots of Euros last year – which included the purchase of my FAVORITE tan, leather, peep-toe, wedges with the wooden heel — one of which is currently lost in G’boro, North Cakalaki from the weekend before I left. Long, sad story, but I guess that’s what a high school reunion of sorts can do to a person (or rather, a shoe). Blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-al-co-hol. Oh well. And no such luck finding a replacement pair at Andre this year. I guess they are “so last season” already. Bummer.
*One fun note about my visit to André (Dan, pay attention here) – when I walked in the store I was met with the familiar sounds of Vampire Weekend’s latest song playing through the speakers. Ah, what a refreshing reminder of home.

I left the shoe mecca empty-handed (thank goodness for my bank account’s sake) and made my way through the criss-crossed streets up to the Croisette, the main drag of Cannes. I rendez-vous’d with Sophie and Lily at the American Pavilion to pick up my Festival-long pass to the Am Pav (another unprecedented coup for this year’s program participants). I was handed my Am Pav badge and two free drink tickets, so we wandered through the crowd of familiar accents and grabbed a table on the sunny patio.
Many of our students were there readying themselves to head out to the streets and beg for tickets.
Notice the difference between the girls’ signs (above) and the boys’ signs (below). Just an interesting gender study. Ha.
The boys went to change into their tuxes, and Lily and Sophie into their dresses, so I was left to sit on the patio by my lonesome sipping a (FREE) Stella and planning out which screenings/speakers I want to see.
After a bit more time lounging and scheduling out my next few days – I gathered my things and trekked back out into the winding streets in search of a daggum hotel/meeting space for our group. On my way to some familiar establishments I passed faces I knew on just about every corner. Students were holding up signs EVERYWHERE – and looking good doing it!
After I searched for more hotel meeting locations I attempted to make my way over to the doors in front of the Palais to meet up with Sophie and Lily, who had failed to land a ticket to the “Robin Des Bois” (aka- ‘Robin Hood’) premiere. However, I only made it so far before I was corralled in with the masses on the grasses due to the barricades EVERYWHERE. I felt like a bull being wrangled through the grid of rodeo barricades – I was trapped – and a cowboy was about to mount me. Wait, what? No. But I WAS trapped in the crowds…with a FANTASTIC view of the red carpet.
[insert Kate Bekinsale glamour shot here]
Can you say, ‘movie star’? People around me literally gasped when she started walking up the stairs with her dress draping dramatically behind her.
*Insider note: One of our more fashion-conscious students, Katie Kellogg, informed me later that she and Kate Bekinsale were wearing the SAME designer, Marchesa, during that first premiere night. That, to me, is impressive – considering most of my clothing can be found at your local Urban Outfitters or Target.
[insert picture of entire jury]
I call this “Blurry Jury.”
Next I saw the curvaceous Salma Hayek. Even from 200 yards away I felt like Roger Rabbit staring at Jessica Rabbit – I mean, bodies like hers do not exist elsewhere in the world. She looked amazing. Unfortunately, you’ll never know b/c I didn’t get a good enough picture to share it on here. Guess you’ll have to just catch it on “The Today Show.”
[insert picture of Russell Crowe giving a peace sign and Kate Blanchett looking so effortlessly beautiful it would make you sick]
…whenever the internet will upload one photo quicker than 3omin then I will post the aforementioned picutres – but for now you can just fantasize.
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May 15 2009
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Cannes Film Festival, Celebrities, Guest Speakers, UGA Students

P.S.

The guest presenter at the Roger Ebert Dedication we attended at the American Pavilion this afternoon was Martin Scorsese.  Sooo, you know, it was basically just a typical Friday afternoon for me with Rog & Marty.  No big deal.
P.S. – Scorsese is shoorrrrrrt.  Seriously short.  But just as perfect and cute as you would expect him to be…thick-rimmed glasses and all.  And yes, I did just do a ‘P.S.’ within my “P.S.” post.  I’m allowed to because it’s my blog.
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May 15 2009
3 Comments
Cannes Film Festival

Yes, I know…I need to post more often

I’ve been busy like you wouldn’t believe.  Take this morning for instance…

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.
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