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Evening
Gala: Bringing Out the Dead - Wednesday, 29 March
The
screening of Martin Scorcese's highly anticipated movie came to
a dead end for many spectators who had been patiently queuing
inside the Gaumont Marignan. Doubts were suddenly raised when
it appeared that a very limited audience could get in the theatre,
which was already filled with guests. To appease the frustrated
crowd a second screening of the movie was rapidly set up later
on the same night.
Recap
of the week
After
a week at the festival, the overriding atmosphere was one of disorder.
As a festival that claims to first and foremost cater to the public
- who duly pay their daily or weekly passes - the festival-goers
were confronted with being turned away, as the creme de la creme
of Paris took their coveted seats flashing their special guest
invitations.
In
an attempt to upgrade their stature to look a bit more like Cannes,
the organizers created color accreditations: blue, brown, gold
or white, further creating the "class" differences and the accompanying
privileges.
At least the films programed were of quality. In the Audience
Prize selection, Boys Don't Cry stands out as a
top contendor. The theatre was packed and Kimberly Pierce was
present to introduce her film. The exceptional role of Hillary
Swank as the central character going through a sexual idenity
crisis won her an Oscar for Best Actress.
In
the competition selection, two French films stand out: Drole
de Felix by the duo Olivier Ducastle and Jacques Martineau,
who presented Jeanne et le Garcon Formidable at
the Paris Film Festival in 1998, which won the Best Actress award
for leading lady Virginie Ledoyen. The other French contendor,
André le magnifique by yet another duo, Emmanuel Sylvestre
and Thibault Staïb, marvelously adapted this play for the screen
with stunning performances by the cast. Although the organization
is a flop, the film programs are full of delightful surprises.
The festival will come to a close Monday night with the ceremony
being held in a location accomodating 3,800. Let's hope the festival-goers
will not be deprived of their entry.
Sorbonne
conference
The
Sorbonne, " haut lieu " of higher education in France, swapped
its traditional formal lectures for a more casual tripartite discussion
between students, the American delegation at the Festival (Irvin
Kerschner, Rick McCallum, Jack Valenti, Rosanna Arquette and,
of course, Faye Dunaway) and the French delegation led by Gerard
Oury.
The discussion, which was to deal with the relationships between
Los Angeles and Paris as two world capitals of cinema, quickly
turned into a delightful battle of wits over the antagonistic
issues of auteur and commercial cinema.
What came out of the mist was the sincerity of each participant's
advocacy.
"Making movies is not an American monopoly" Jack Valenti asserted.
" There is no secret formula hidden in some place on Sunset Boulevard.
Moreover, most great directors in the history of American cinema
have come from Europe..."
Irvin Kershner concluded the meeting with a delectable foray into
the evils of dubbing foreign movies in America. "This is an educational
problem, you know. Semi-literacy. Our youngsters read too slowly,
so when they watch a dubbed foreign movie, they just can't follow
the action !"
Rosanna Arquette took advantage of her intervention to send a
bisou to actor/director Jean Marc Barre, in whose latest DV movie
she stars, and who happened to be present in the amphitheatre
RICHELIEU...
A
final note
The
close of the Paris Film Festival was more attuned to its public-oriented
ambitions. Many efforts were made to give the public the opportunity
to meet its favourite stars, through many autograph sessions and
meetings.
The audience could thus meet and discuss with Guillaume Canet
(The Beach) who stars opposite Sophie Marceau (The
World is not Enough) in Zulawski's latest film La
Fidélité, and who also directed several shorts, his latest
J'peux pas Dormir screened in the short film competition
at the Paris Film Festival.
Christian Slater (Interview with a Vampire), Irvin
Kershner (Empire Strikes Back) and Adrian Paul ("Highlander
" - the series) came together - but without Rosanna Arquette
- to answer the running fire of questions, notably about Christian
Slater's culinary appreciation of apples (which ranks him among
the likeliest to soon meet French president Jacques Chirac) and
Adrian Paul's measurements, which became quite appreciable after
such a long quickening therapy. Venerable director Irvin Kershner
announced his new surprising project (and co-production with Europe)
about Puccini's Arias.
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