TF1 International sales has confirmed the 'one-time-only' appearance of Luc Besson in Cannes today. Besson will be in town to add his star-power to the sales house which is hawking the Besson-produced Taxi. 

The film, an action pic directed by Gerard Pires, will be screened for the first time with English subtitles to potential buyers and those who've already picked it up since the AFM and some, it is believed, here in Cannes. Besson and other cast and crew members will also take a spin in the pic's original car which is parked in front of the Noga from this morning. 

Sales so far have been slow but steady, with Cecchi Gori, Cine Libre and the Japanese distributor Constock among those who've bitten. But TF1 is anxiously awaiting the Americans who should be well represented with Paramount, Fine Line and October among those taking a look.  
The role of producer is a departure for Besson who normally does the helming himself and has in the past worked exclusively with Gaumont. Industry speculation has said that TF1 is trying to establish a relationship with Besson in an effort to lure him from the powerful studio. But he is likely to also be in town meeting with Gaumont execs who are looking for an American distribution partner for Joan of Arc, Besson's next project.  

TF1 is proving to be one of the busiest marketers at the festival. Bringing in cast members from several pics and making the rounds, the upstart is attempting to carve a substantial niche in the international scene. Nancy Tartaglione 

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Cure by the Shore 

This evening, a search for a cure for breast and ovarian cancer will go global with Cure by the Shore, a televised charity fundraiser, co-chaired by Martin Scorsese, Lilly Tartikoff and CAA, ICM and William Morris and broadcast live on QVC. The high end American shopping channel will sell over $1 million dollars worth of fashion accessories which have been donated by some of the world's biggest quality brands. It will be a star-studded event, with actors such as Winona Ryder, Sigourney Weaver, Bill Pullman, and Rufus Sewell drinking pink martinis in the park. Model and presenter Veronica Webb will be the roving reporter on the scene. 

The two and a half hour event will be broadcast live to America, where QVC has a potential audience of 64 million viewers. Brand name sunglasses and skin care products will be sold at half price, and the organisers hope to raise over 1 million dollars. "We are using the Cannes film festival with all its glitz and glamour to save our breasts and ovaries," said Tartikoff. "It is a unique event, and we will be back!" Alannah Weston 

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The Internet cometh 

Newly opened Fox Studios in Sydney launched its website (foxstudios.com.au) on 15 May, catering for professionals and the public, symbolic of the growing acceptance of the Internet as part of the filmmaking business – globally. Fox is not alone, of course; the majors have long operated Websites as a promotional tool, but it is the general business community that is fast catching on to the Web as not just hype but a source of real content, such as Moving Pictures' daily updated (free) Cannes coverage at the well-established site at filmfestivals.com. 

Moving Pictures maintains a year-round information resource at this site, focusing on festivals around the world. It acts as a natural extension to its print-based publishing. The Cannes coverage includes The Roddick Interviews, updates, market information and much more. It covers events around the world, from the Oscars to the Paris Film Festival. 

Other film trades are also on-line, some free, some for a fee; and this writer (Moving Pictures' Australian bureau chief) edits a weekly updated movie magazine (urbancinefile.com.au) with an Australian perspective, carrying news, reviews, box office, interviews and links to the Moving Pictures site.  

The Internet is ideal for fast information processing, but it is also a growing force in film marketing. The power of the Net is well understood by some, as illustrated by the clumsily handled and ineffective squeeze on media when Fox and Paramount launched Titanic. In a misguided attempt to muzzle comment on the Internet which may have proved negative and damaging in the lead up to the film's US and Australian launch (in which the Australian release actually preceded the US release by some 36 hours), the studios limited media access to the film.  

In terms of public relations it was a disaster, sending the wrong message: that the movie was not up to it. It also backfired as a tactic, with the damning Time magazine review (Titanic Dead in the Water) up on the Net a week earlier – exactly what the studios wanted to avoid happening from somewhere like Australia. 

Content, not hype, is the real issue for the Internet, and for all information processing. But for service providers, like Fox Studios, there is also the element of efficient sales information processing, with a rundown on the full range of facilities and the other businesses that operate on the lot. 

International filmmakers have already begun using the new Fox Studios site for forward planning, and chief executive Kim Williams says the site reflects the sophistication of today's film and television production. The studios' newly created new media department, Foxbyte, developed specialised Internet software to accommodate the multi-task nature of the site. Andrew L Urban 

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Auster to give Ebeltoft lecture 

As part of a new initiative, novelist, screenwriter and now director Paul Auster will deliver the Ebeltoft Cannes lecture today at 4pm in the Salon Floride, Hotel Martinez. 
Auster, the writer/director of Lulu on the Bridge, which opened Un certain regard, has chosen as his subject "The Route from Literature to Film from the Author's Perspective". He looks set to talk about his experience of moving from writing novels to making films. 

Beginning in 1994, the Ebeltoft Lectures have won reknown as high-level reflections on current issues in film and TV. They are given three times a year during undergraduate courses at the European Film College (EFC) at Ebeltoft in Jutland, Denmark. Recent lecturers include Bernardo Bertolucci, Jean-Claude Carriere and Sir Jeremy Isaacs, who spoke in February about the future of European television.  

Tomorrow's lecture will be introduced by Henning Carlsen, chairman of the board of the European Film College. The five-year-old college is co-financed by the Danish government and is sponsored by entities such as Bang & Olufsen and the MPAA, which targets its  support for the professional training activities of the EFC. These run throughout the summer but in the future will be extended over the whole year. 

"From this year, the professional training will be focused on film and TV distribution, helping the industry  to bridge the gap between the  creative and commercial communities," EFC principal Kjeld Veirup told Moving Pictures.  
John Hopewell 

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Cannes specs appeal 

Unbeknown to most, Ray-Ban, a division of Bausch & Lomb, has a relationship with the film industry that stretches far beyond Tom Cruise in Wayfarers in Risky Business. In 1954, Marilyn Monroe presented an Oscar to the parent company for inventing the Cinemascope lens. Ray-Ban has been with us ever since, most noticeably in films such as Blues Brothers, Men in Black and, now, Blues Brothers 2000. 

Product placement has become big business for manufacturers, but Ray-Ban enjoys something of a privileged position. "We don't pay for product placement," explained Global Ray-Ban vice president Bob Moore. "The studios come to us and ask us to help them decide what styles are right for what characters." 

For all that the film industry has done for Ray-Bans, said president of Global Ray-Ban, Dwain Hahas, "We felt that it was time to give something back." 

The company is doing that at the Festival in a number of ways. For the media, it is sponsoring the Media Lounge at the American Pavilion. It is also involved in the Cure by the Sea charity auction where a pair of diamond-studded Ray-Bans designed by Harry Winston for Sigourney Weaver (she wore them at this year's Oscars) are to be auctioned. They are expected to raise $50,000. 

Ray-Ban executives, according to Moore, feel at home in Cannes: "We have sponsorships all over the world, but we feel much more at home here." 

The lucky 2,000 who make it to the Blues Brothers 2000 screening and party on Saturday night, are likely to be happy to welcome Ray-Ban into their homes again. All party-goers will receive a Blues Brothers fedora and a pair of Wayfarers upon entry.  Jeffrey Sipe 

***** 

A Rock and a Hard Place

Despite the glamour of Cannes, filmmakers who make the trek here are not always destined to return to a life of leisure. 

Director Ken Yunome is caught between something of a rock and a hard place. Just before his film, Island, Alicia, was selected for Un Certain Regard, Yunome received word from his parents in Japan that they thought it was time that his dreams of becoming a filmmaker come to an end. No more support from the family. Time to come home. 

The prestige of inclusion in Cannes will probably mute the family's criticism, but he's more than likely going to have to face the folks in the very near future. Yunome is far from Easy Street. His US visa recently expired and once the festival ends, he's off to his native Japan, unable to reenter the US, for the moment. Sharon Kahn, Island, Alicia's publicist, told Moving Pictures that the team's secondary mission in Cannes is to find an agent for Yunome who, hopefully, can help the director through the morass of US immigration and get him back home to New York, proper visa in hand. Jeff Sipe