Live from Cannes: IONCINEMA’s 2008 Coverage: Day 1

My arrival in Cannes was colored in shades of gray, but the 61st edition of the Cannes film festival audaciously begins in milky white. Greetings folks! IONCINEMA.com’s editor-in-chief is coming to you LIVE from the world’s premiere film festival offering you some of the sights and sounds of the fest beginning with today’s featured film: the festival’s opener and third film from Brazil’s Fernando Meirelles.

The to be distributed by Miramax films and the internationally released by Focus Features Int., this was the first of a quartet of screenings offered today – the last two reserved as a black tie event. Based on the 1995 novel by Portuguese Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago, the book to screen adaptation comes via Canadian actor and screenwriter Don McKellar who basically sets up a template that at times feels like Children of Men (due to the fact that Julianne Moore toplines a second apocalyptic picture) but critics are most likely going to peg this as a Lord of the Flies meets 28 Days Later.

12:28: Supporting cast of Danny Glover, Don McKellar and Alice Braga headed to press conference.

This year the jury is comprised of Alfonso Cuaron (who might favor Latin American product), Sean Penn (who would back political films like Che), Majane Satrapi who might favor animated product Waltz with Bashir, Natalie Portman might favor middle eastern flavored pictures, Sergio Castellitto who might support local talent from Italy, Jeanne Balibar and Alexandra Maria Lara might  back strong female characterizations (like Jolie in the Eastwod film) and Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Rachid Bouchareb will favor the abstract.

 14:28: Sean Penn headed to Jury press conference.

Also on the program are a pair of screenings for the highly anticipated docu animated film: Waltz with Bashir. The Ari Folman film looks at the first Lebanon War of the 80’s in a tale about finding out the truth. 

The full Cannes coverage will include a daily blog highlighting my activity, and I plan to follow that with festival reviews from the full gamut of films and this will be padded with trade news item from the IONCINEMA team of writers back home: Catie, Sarah and Imran.    
 
Pre-Cannes Commentary: Sophomore experience   

Dashing my hopes of getting an early tan before settling into a darkened room for the better part of ten days ahead, the forecast this past Monday and a portion of Tuesday may have been groggy and grey, but that air of familiarity in a Croisette and knowing what to expect this time around makes me not care if I flung open my beach towel or not. I’ve been in preparation mode for the past 48 hours, dealing with denied internet access and going over my tentative schedule which includes an equal sampling of films from all sections, of course favoring the heavyweight/8:30 a.m. press screening calls.  

What has changed for me this year – is knowing “how to festival” – putting into practice a viewing strategy that allows for multiple postings and timely coverage. Last year’s severe case of jet-lag was a non-issue and coming a couple of days ahead of the fest adds to the ease. Knowing that I don’t leave town until the day after the last day means I can play catch up on some titles I might have missed – like some of the harder to get into titles such as Soderbergh’s double dose of Che.

Last year, I had the fortune of getting out of bed and literally walking right into the Palais (where all the official screenings take place) and I have that good friend to thank for 07’ and the end portion of 08’. My festival almost ends with my slippers on. For the majority of the festival, I’ve got a 15 minute walk to look forward to everyday (I’ve timed myself twice and clocked myself with no improvements) and coverage will go LIVE somewhere during the downtime I have when I’m not in the actual four main theaters. The convenient free internet zone for the press on the third floor of the Palais is where most of the coverage will go online and hopefully I can address the internet access situation at this rented apartment (directly on the Croisette and steps away from the beach and shared with our Los Angeles correspondent Yama Rahimi working on the biz portion).