Short Film Corner had a lot of panels, some of them very good ones from what we’ve been told. These panels could be attended by anyone but since there was limited number of seats, many of them were very difficult to get to. There were also breakfasts organized for the SFC members. Any SFC member could apply to participate but getting to the actual breakfast was not easy at all. Apparently only 60 people were invited to each breakfast. And there were four breakfasts, altogether. How the selection was done, we don’t know. However, we found out that it looked a lot like a speed dating. Attendees had few minutes to pitch their projects to programmers, sales agents, buyers or whoever was invited for breakfast. Generally, Short Film Corner is like a market for shorts and it is wild.
Since we got there very early on the first day, we did manage to secure a very good spot for our poster, which afterwards we had to guard ‘cos people were putting their posters over ours. It was really uncivilized and actually the last thing we’d expected at the film festival. And they should know better. A lot of money and time is spent on making art so respect on one another’s work.
At first, when we came there was plenty of space to leave leaflets on the stands. However the longer festival lasted the more ridiculous it was getting. The flyers were everywhere, taped and pinned ones on anothers and pouring out of the plastic wallets. It got so bizarre that after the first weekend we decided not to leave any more of them. Another thing which shocked us among those leaflets and posters was that there was a lot of stuff not related to SFC nor short films being presented there. Generally staff responsible did not have this situation well in hands.
Another ridiculous thing in our opinion was putting by some participants on their posters “Cannes Official Selection Short Film”. We saw a few posters like that and we found it a bit cheap. Especially having that kind of poster at the SFC. Desperate.
The SFC films could be basically watched in a library with around 35 – 40 computer stations. There were some minor technical problems at the very beginning but they brought everything under control pretty quickly. And the staff there was very polite and helpful. At first there was no problem booking the computers for watching films but while the festival lasted, it was getting a bit more problematic. However the general rule was the later in the day and into the festival the longer the waiting time was to get a computer.
At the library you could watch both, shorts in competition and shorts from the SFC. The director(s) of each film had additional facilities and using their login and password could check out how many people watched their short.
Down there at the SFC there was also a place for buyers, where they could come in and watch the films. The best to engage with buyers is either to email them ahead of Cannes or leave postcards, leaflets and information about your short at the buyers corner. Some people left copies of their shorts for the buyers as well. This way even if you don’t get a meeting, you at least let them know about your work.
This year there were 33 buyers so we left 33 cards. However, the opinions about leaving DVDs for the buyers are divided. Some people say not to bother ‘cos they aren’t going to take the discs with them (actually one very friendly distributor said that if their bag is too heavy the first thing people dump are the DVDs). On the other hand some people said that buyers actually watch DVDs. Well, we left leaflets and we’ll let you know how that went J
There are also few screening rooms available for booking to screen your film in. We didn’t book a theatre for our “The Man With The Spying Glass” since we didn’t have the relevant audience. By that we mean business people: buyers, programmers, distributors, producers. A lot of people actually did book theatres and were hanging around the poster board trying to get random people to come and watch their film. How productive it was, we don’t know but the way we see it a bunch of random people isn’t going to advance your career. Of course, we can be wrong.
They served free coffee and water at the SFC so if one is on a budget, one can have at least those things free of charge. Every afternoon between 5 p.m and 6 p.m. there was Happy Hour with free drinks (bier, wine, sodas) and things to nibble. It was designed for people to mingle, meet each other and talk. It was very, very crowdy during happy hour. It looked like some people come downstairs to SFC only for the drinks.
We went couple of times but it was just wild and the whole place smelled of determination and despair. We’ve been approached by people who wanted pretty same thing as we did. To promote their work and to find some business partners. It, once again, felt like a speed dating.
SFC is surely fun and a place where you can meet a lot of nice people but mostly the people of one sort – short filmmakers. Should you want to meet people from other professions, you need to go out and to spend time outside of the SFC.
Also from what we observed leaving DVDs in random places or giving them to random people doesn’t really work. Respect your work and give it only to people who really show interest in your work and the chance they would really watch it is significant. Probably even better idea is to email these interested people a link to your short, which you probably have online set on a secure server, anyway. This way when they get your film, they’ll already be at the medium which allow them to watch it immediately.
What you also have to remember is that, after all, you’re at the Cannes Film Festival and that there is a whole world out there worth exploring.
A big part of this world are famous Cannes parties. They are organized in very different places such as: hotels, rooftops, boats, pavillions and restaurants on the beach. Unfortunately, most of them are only for the invited guests so one need to have an invitation or at least to be someone’s “plus one”.
Some people try to sneak to the different parties through the beach but what we’ve heard from the regulars it used to be much easier since nowadays a lot of those places has security in place. Some people, like us, prefer to have a dinner or coffee with other people met at the festival and rather tighten the relationships than desperately try to make tens and hundreds of small talks.
Anyway, parties may turn into very useful events for you since filmmakers looove to party and you never know who you are going to meet there.
Some people tend to arrange meetings at the La Croisette big hotels ‘cos these are the places where you can meet a lot of important people and big figures plus you can get free Internet. On the other hand, any drink in a hotel bar can be at least twice as expensive as at any other given restaurant or cafe.
When we’re already in the hotels, let’s talk a bit about accommodation. As you can imagine (or you know) it is rather expensive and obviously there is not enough beds for everyone attending the festival. That is why many people stay outside Cannes, even as far as Nice.
We were pretty lucky to be staying in Mandelieu la Napoule, which is the next town at the seaside, only 8 km. away from Cannes. And from the festival point of view it is on the very good side of Cannes, too for it’s on the same side as the Palace is.
Of course, if you aren’t on a budget and can afford to stay in Cannes, do it by all means. Your festival life, especially on nights, will be easier. The choice and the prices are far more reasonable when you book a place way ahead of the festival.
But when you’re not staying in Cannes, you need some transportation. You can either come by car or come by plane to Nice and rent a car or use the public transportation. Whichever you choose it’s not goona be a piece of cake.
Driving and parking around Cannes is horrible, especially on weekends. Yet in the morning traffic is not that bad but as the day grows it’s getting worse and worse. There are few parkings spread around the city but they’re quite expensive and/or very, very narrow. We drove prety compact Renault Scenic so we managed somehow not to get scratched but in a bigger vehicle it could be very, very difficult. And, when you use a car, drinking is problematic ;))
So the public transportation then. Not so fantastic either. In most places in Europe public transport is very well or at least well developed. However Cannes is not such case. First of all it is located in France and they like to strike. It was the case on the very first day of the festival when the bus drivers decided it is the best moment to go on strike. So they did.
No worries you may think for there is a good railway line along the coast. That’s through but if you want to stay late it’s no good either. They just don’t care that so many people come for the festival and even during the festival the last train towards Mandelieu and Frejus leaves around 10 p.m. If you stay in Nice or between Cannes and Nice you’re a bit more lucky for the last train to Nice is around midnight. It’s still nothing if you want to party.
There’s also reliability issue. We used the train two or three times and one of these times it just didn’t come. For a reason not even known to the cashier.
However, if you decide to use railway, check out the weekly tickets prices. For instance the weekly card from Nice to Cannes is sth below 20 EUR and the single return ticket on this route is 12 EUR. You do the math.
So, you came to Cannes, you have a place to stay and it’s all good. But do you know why you came here? It is very important that you know what is your purpose of being in Cannes and it’s always good to have a project you are seriously working on, not just thinking about writing.
Once you have one, two, five projects you will find that it’s easier to talk to people about those projects ‘cos you have something solid. And, as we pointed out before, have your promotional materials with you. The size and amount of them we leave for you to decide. However, we advised not to take too huge things or too many of them. Unless you have unlimited budget for promotion.
While in Cannes it is very easy to forget that it’s also a fun place, not only event at which you have to establish relationships. For us the fun part was cultivating, in a pleasant way, the ones we already had. So called wining and dining.
Even if you encounter 50-100 people, you most probably will stay in touch only with few of them. But amongst these few there may be people with whom you will be able to work with in the future and this is what really counts. At least for us.
We hope our account of Cannes will be useful for your future embarkment on the Cannes Film Festival adventure. And probably not only for that since all the big events are more or less similar.
