Who Needs Netflix in Cannes, France?

           My first official day of project was the single most star-studded day of my life.  I woke up at 4:30 am (London Time) to catch a flight to Nice, France, so my day did not start off very interesting or glamorous.  However, the day made a turn for the better on my flight to Nice when the man sitting next to my aunt and I began talking to us about the Cannes Film Festival.  This was the first time I’ve had to explain my project to someone in the film industry, which was very nerve racking because I had to explain my mentor’s product, a film financing software, to someone that could potentially attend a pavilion to see my mentor’s product and be a potential client.  This is when it sank in that the film industry is not a 9-5 job and Cannes is a full immersion experience.  Also when speaking to this man he explained that this festival contains two very separate elements: marketing and film.  However, these two things rarely cross at the festival.  The people there for marketing are there almost exclusively to get their name and product out, whereas the people there for film tend to be cinema enthusiast and movie stars.

            When my aunt and I arrived in Cannes and settled into the apartment we began to scope out the festival.  We had to go to the Palais (the festival’s central building) so we could pick up our festival ID badges, which basically are the key to get into seminars and allow us access to things not available to the public.  My first errand in Cannes was to pick up tickets for the Gulf Film Annual Celebration at the Majestic Hotel, which was crawling with producers, directors, and celebrities (I saw Kendall Jenner and it took every ounce of self control to not freak out). 

            Later, to get a feel for the film part of the festival I was able to get close enough to the red carpet for the premier of Grance of Monaco, the first film of this year’s festival.  It was unbelievable and surreal. 

            This morning I was given the task of making a Cannes address list for companies that are important to my sponsor.  I did something similar to this over spring break for my sponsor, because he needed an email list of +1100 companies, so this list of 15 companies was very easy. 

            This afternoon is my sponsor’s UK pavilion presentation, where he will be presenting his product to potential clients based out of the UK, EU, Asia, Africa and Australia.  For someone attempting to get a product out to people Cannes contains a very important network of potential clients so this pavilion presentation is very important for my sponsor’s company.  This is a very interesting festival and I am very excited to see what else I will be doing and learning here.  Netflix doesn’t work here and this might be the one place I’m okay with that.