CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 1999
TheFilm Festivals Server
 

Downey and Dirty

Life's a beach, then you party...

Gregory von Hausch and Bonnie Adams of the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival made their presence felt on the Croisette this year with a most amazing event on the Long Beach. If their party is anything to go by, then there will be a lot of people trying to get their films shown down in Florida this November. It takes guts, style and panache for another film festival to attempt a high-profile party in Cannes - and Fort Lauderdale managed to pull it off.

Greg has built the festival up from a low-key local event to one of the most respected internationally oriented festivals in North America.

The party was graced with many stars old and new - including the formidable Vittorio Gassman (who confided to a friend that he had five boys by five different women in order to have a bunch of bodyguards). The legendary Lina Wertmueller was also in attendance.

Cosmopolitan and sophisticated (the festival, not Gregory, stupid), the festival has become an important regional launch pad for distributors - well done guys!

* "Sounds dreadful," said the man with the white Soirée press card as his colleagues shared horror stories from the Austin Powers party. "But what really bothers me is that my name didn't even make it onto the top 2,800 people in Cannes."

Not to worry. He and the crème de la crème of the Cannes critical fraternity were gathered at Montreal Festival director Serge Losique's annual poolside lunch at the Majestic.

Calmer, quieter, better food and much more exclusive... in fact, so exclusive, Serge that... erm... uh... oh, what's the point!?

* We are always taking publicists' names in vain over here in the Moving Pictures pink dungeon, bandying them around with cheerful abusive abandon. However, yesterday, when our very own advertising sales exec Toby Allen shouted out to a colleague: "Does anyone have a number for MacDonald & Rutter?", nobody batted an eyelid. Until later, that is. On leaving the office, Toby found himself in the lift with our Russian editorial assistant Pavel, who leaned over and whispered conspiratorially: "Toby, excuse me, but why do you want the number of MacDonald's in Russia?" Well, it wasn't to sell them an ad...

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Quotes of the day

"What I like about acting is that you come out of yourself, because always staying within yourself doesn't make you go forward in life. You end up getting bored" - Footballer-turned-actor Eric Cantona

"I am very aware of how old I am and the inherent dangers. My body sometimes lets me down but my mind doesn't" - Michael Caine

"I cannot take this job seriously. There is nothing worse than those actors who give the impression they've taken on a vow of priesthood" - Johnny Depp

There are a lot of things in Christianity that I adore. But when they say 'Father', I just replace it with 'Mother' and then I'm cool with it. That's fine" - Courtney Love