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62nd Cannes Film Festival - I'm Dreaming and I Don't Want to Wake "Up"

by Anna Beaver
05.15.2009

It is the second week in May 2009 and I am back at the Cannes Film Festival.  Yes, I said back at the Festival.  Go ahead and add me to your “Hate List” or “Burn Book” or what have you, but I make no apologies for my French festival fortunes.  The current state of my life can be described as a dream come true – in real time – and I love it.

In 2006 I was a Cannes Film Festival newbie.  Having been accepted into the University of Georgia’s tres competitive Cannes Film Festival Study Abroad Program I attended the 12-day spectacle as more of an ‘entertainment industry enthusiast’ than a ‘movie buff.’  Here as a student, nonetheless, I came with eyes and ears open ready to learn from anyone who was willing to teach me, well, anything.

Three years passed and I followed society’s suggestion of a straightforward path: graduating from college, relocating to a new city, and finding a first job in the “real world.”  Nothing unique, just sequential.  I was settling in to my quarter-life life in Atlanta and pretty much thought that was that.  Unbeknownst to me, though, fate had a little something extra in store for me.  It was time to cash in my karma points and reap the rewards of a second stint of celebrity sightings and sun on the French Riviera.

This time I return with an alternate purpose, experiencing a complete role reversal, in fact.  You see, the student has now become the teacher in that I am now the Program Coordinator of this UGA Study Abroad Program in Cannes; the same program that I attended a mere three years ago as a student.   I can attribute this dreamlike status to two big things: (1) forming a lasting bond with the Coordinator whose enormous shoes she entrusted me to fill and (2) keeping the faith that my French language studies (spanning from the time I was in kindergarten all the way through college) would one day come in handy amidst an ever-growing Spanish-speaking population in America.

Well, now I’m here and the 62nd Cannes Film Festival kicked off yesterday with the red carpet premiere of Disney Pixar’s newest animation, “Up,” an out-of-competition selection whose 3D aspect made it an innovative, historic ‘first’ for the Festival’s opener.  Pete Docter directed the cute flick that is both sentimental and sad while still being funny and uplifting (no pun intended).  There were no huge standout stars doing the voices, but I enjoyed that aspect of it because I tend to get distracted by the voiceovers in movies like this anyway.  For instance, when I hear, “To infinity and beyond,” I see ‘Tim The Toolman Taylor’ in my head instead of focusing on the plastic astronaut-type toy on the screen.  And don’t even ask me how many times I’ve envisioned what the human Ellen DeGeneres would look like swimming in an ocean.  In “Up” I could focus on exactly what was happening on screen at all times without letting my mind wander too much.  Also, seeing it in 3D was a great thrill because of how subtly the effect was used.  It was enjoyable without being distracting.

This year’s Festival has only just begun and already I can see the differences in myself between Cannes 2006 vs. Cannes 2009.  For starters it is only Day 2 of the Festival and I am not even going in to Cannes today.  The thought of hopping a train into town to hustle the crowds for a ticket to tonight’s red carpet premiere is exhausting to even think about. Perhaps my age is showing.  Or maybe I’m just enjoying the simplicity of not having to cram movies into my days, film reviews into my nights, and heels into my purse just in case a last-minute premiere or party invite popped up.  Let’s just say that with my wisdom and experience I know how to pace myself this time around.

I promise to keep you up-to-date on my newfound adventures and stories, but in the meantime I am going to sit back, prop my feet up on my balcony, and keep my cell phone volume on high in case any of this year’s badge-clad students should call for last-minute advice or Brangelina should call for a last-minute babysitter.