Because I Can Can Cannes
Sometimes, all of a sudden, several disparate forces come together and push you in a particular direction. You push against it for a while, saying that it wasn’t what you had planned, but it doesn’t take long to see that you’d be a fool not to give it a shot, to see where these strong winds will lead.
So it goes like this:
1. I made a movie real quickly, pretty much to get my juices flowing for another short that I will be shooting in April. That first movie turned out very well.
2. My friend/co-producer, Charlie, got an internship to go to the Cannes Film Festival, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity submit this film into the Short Film Corner and have someone there to represent the film. So we do that. And we get in.
That was fine enough for me to have Charlie go and try to get people to watch this short film, along with the new short film that I will have completed by then (so two short films to show and talk to people about in what is considered to be the most important film festival in the world).
3. Then, I go to a Q&A with David Gordon Green, a filmmaker who I have looked up to for the past 10 years. I was in my mid-teens, watching these amazing movies from this guy who was in his mid-20s, and he was doing it like nobody else. Let’s not mince words: he has been an idol of mine. After the Q&A, he kindly talks to me for a while and asks what I’m up to, and we get to talking about these two short films of mine that we’re trying to get people to look at in Cannes. He says I’ve gotta go.
My filmmaking idol looks me in the eyes and tells me that I have to go to the Cannes Film Festival, at the very least just to experience it, even if nothing else comes out of it.
A couple of hours later: I am officially accredited for the Cannes Film Festival, giving me access to everything but the big premieres (which are invitation only).
Now, as I sit here, I’m starting to think: maybe it’s time to fully accept that I belong at places like the Cannes Film Festival. I belong in the film world. Everything about my life clearly points to that. I belong in the film world; no where else. I belong with film people. I may be way in over my head, but that’s the best place to be sometimes.
So I’m going to the Cannes Film Festival.
