Festival Day 1

Today was our first day at the festival and it was an amazing experience to say the least! After arriving in Cannes we made our way to the American Pavilion to collect our badges and get some free coffee. The Pavilion seems like it’ll be a great place to hang out between films to mingle and network. 

Then, Eric Kohn came to speak to us about his career as the chief film critic and deputy editor for IndieWire. I was amazed at how well spoken he was and how much helpful advice he shared about writing film reviews. I thought it was particularly useful when he said that even though the hardest part about writing a review is getting started, you just have to be okay with imperfection and get all of your thoughts down on paper. There’s nothing to edit or develop if you don’t have anything written down, which is a good reminder to have when I’m writing my own reviews.

After the talk with Eric Kohn we sat in the American Pavilion for a little while, ate some lunch, and went to explore the Palais. We walked down to the market area where films from all over the world are bought and sold, and it was such a neat part of the festival to experience. We walked through an entire Virtual Reality section, looked at a lot of interesting film posters, and saw the areas where different countries and companies conduct deals with buyers wanting to purchase their films. 

Later in the day we walked into the Majestic Hotel to put on our dresses and tux’s, then stood outside of the red carpet area to beg for opening ceremony tickets. It was quite the experience, I’ll leave it at that! Unfortunately, only one person got a ticket, so we headed back to Juan-les-Pins to prepare for Day 2 of the festival!