Cannes : My Experience - Concluding Part 5/5

Watching Films – The Climax

 

 

At Cannes the organizers care a lot about the quality of film screening and showing respect for the filmmakers. And this is evident in every little thing. From the computer systems to watch films at short film library or the little screening rooms to arguably the world’s best theatre – Grand Theatre Lumiere, everything is top notch.

I watched about 80 odd short films at the short film library.

 

 

Ofcourse our very own Prateek , Sopaan and Rishi had their Muktibodh and Ghazal being played there. Also we had the Srilankan Film by Bimal and Umesh which was one of the best I had seen. There was a short film by Deepak Sharma called Wapasi, which had a very good feel to it as well, though tad long. I loved a film called “The Train” by a Chinese director “Joy” – we liked each other’s names for its similarity. There were films from all over the world, from a good documentary by a guy called Gavin on Esports to a Mexican animation film; from an adaptation of Henri Ibsen Play to a Swiss Comedy. It is just not possible to even list the films that I loved.Big cheers for all these filmmakers who are making short films, as there is no support infrastructure in place for short films across the world – both funding and selling it is almost impossible.

 

The only downside in the festival for me was that I started feeling homesick after first 10 days. It was these screenings of films that gave me the best company in the later days.

 

Everything about screening the feature films at Cannes is designed to make you feel special.

 

You walk on the famous red carpet wearing your best tuxedo and a bow tie (a red or a golden one if you are a little more experimenting types), the invitation collector in his best tuxedo scans your card and the invitation and you walk slowly towards the Orchestra / Balcony seat that you have the invitation for.

 

Two beautiful girls after asking whether you like to talk in English or French , will direct you to your seats. People will all rise up when the cast and crew arrives. After a small introduction of the cast and crew in French and a little director’s statement, the movie screening begins with you visually climbing the stairs that lead up to the famous leaf of Cannes Film Festival. It is all too ‘Surreal’ (a word that Prateek prefers using).

 

We attended the premiere for – Timbuktu, Mr.Turner, Incompresa, Titli and How to train your dragon along with the Cast and Crew. The sheer feeling of how the crowd cheers the filmmakers and how they give a real standing ovation at the end of the film for 10-20 minutes brings Goosebumps. At the end of the show you want to be the man/ woman they are cheering.

Though, the best movie watching experience undoubtedly was the celebration screening for Pulp Fiction on the beach.

 

 

People waited in queue for 3 hours to get a seat. And then just before it played itself on the huge screen, the star cast and director entered. Quentin Tarantino introduced Uma Thurman and John Travolta as if they were some wrestling stars. And just like the language of his films he called the people who did not watch pulp fiction in last 20 years “Mother F.ing losers”.

 

 

 

Next of course was Titli – the only Indian selection in the un certain regard section. It is a gritty well-paced film with solid performance. Strong footed in the environment that its characters represented, it tells an unflinching tale of a man “Titli” who feels trapped within his life and family.

 

 

Incompresa by Asia Argento – an Italian film telling the story from a little girl’s perspective also suited our film watching sensibilities in a great manner. It was both funny and twisted. Little girl, who was the protagonist, was present at the screening and looked very confident.

We also enjoyed “How to train your dragon 2” in 3D. The best part of this film was that kids were allowed to watch the screening. And there were tens of those little ones, in their small tuxedos and flowing gowns. I hope to bring my son to one such screening.

Watching a classic like Roberto Rosselini’s Fear (1954, starring Ingrid Bergman, was also a special experience). Many scenes literally felt too long a cut.

 

The French film 2 days and One Night, starring Marilon Cotillard was another power packed performance based film. The film is shot like a docudrama and rests heavily on subtleties of acting. Jimmy’s Hall was also an interesting Biopic, about an Irish man who opens up a hall for dancing, where young people met. And he was considered anti-Christian unbeliever for his act. The cinematography and feel of the film was special.

 

 

Talking about cinematography one of the best shot films was the one that won Palme D’or – Winter Sleep by Nuri Bilge Ceylan - A 3hours 16 minute drama which was wonderfully intricate and painfully slow for Indian or Hollywood standard. Our lives are slow, boring and repetitive and movies work as our escape route, so our movies are anything but that. These films feel slightly like a slice of life film for their characters and that makes it slow. The dialogues and conversation in Wintersleep, cinematography and acting were all the best one could wish for.

 

The same was true for Mr. Turner and the Chinese film Fantasia. While Mr.Turner was beautifully shot (probably the most beautifully shot) film, I could hardly make it to the finish line for Fantasia. Sample this, there are 2-3 scenes in this film where you see a landscape of rising and falling hill tops by the river side. A little kid walks from the other side of the hill, goes down on the trough and then climbs up on the hill nearer to the camera and then he stops and looks at the horizon – all in a single cut.

 

 

 

The Salvation was a western which played absolutely like an Indian film. Too Predictable and over processed. Coming Home, another Chinese film was quite better with a beautifully shot love story of a man who returns after 20 years of imprisonment to his lover, who couldn’t recognize him.

 

The lineup also had some twisted stories like Maps to the stars (which many did not like for its theme based on incest) and Lost river (Ryan Gosling’s first directorial Venture which uses colors and Cinematography to depict a dystopian city in bleak times).

Post all this we were tired, and we wanted to skip the last film of the festival – Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas. We decided to go attend the screening and walk out in 10 minutes if we don’t like it. It was a very good decision. I think this was THE best written film of the festival. I was glued to the story and its metaphors completely from start to finish. Juliette Binoche and Kirsten Stewart have acted beautifully in the film. A must watch.

 

 

It was a life, we never dreamt of ; An experience to keep for years to come. I know I will make more films and I hope I will attend more festivals in future but it will never be the.

A special thanks to Infosys for encouraging people following their hobbies in their free time. And a special thanks to you for reading, if you have made it this far J. Hope you enjoyed reading what I wrote to summarize my experience.