I'm walking through a park full of people with backpacks and rock-climbing gear. Who are these people? I've been looking for someone for 2 years to climb with in Cambodia... BZZZZZ.
7am and it's time to wake up. This is the day I go to Cannes. I officially started working in film in 1999. I've attended the American Film Market since 2000. Cannes is the Big Daddy of festivals and markets. Now it's my turn. And I'm representing Cambodia; how cool is that!
Uli walks me to the Metro station and we say goodbye. I discovered the night before that I can check in my large "carry-on" - and that even though I measured the bag when I bought it - somehow it grew from 55cm to 60cm. I expected Easyjet to be picky about carry-ons, so better to not take any chances. I had to go down several stairs to get on the number 3 train for about 15 minutes. Then I transfered to the A line.
This one was tricky because there are several exits and I thought I saw the right one, but I figured out quickly that none of the subsequent hallways went to A. I backtracked and saw a sign in the middle of the platform for A and proceeded forward. Fortunately, there were two sets of escalators and only two short stairs to the next platform.
Once I was on the A train, I only had to go one station before changing again. This one was super easy because I just walked to the other side of the platform - wah-la! I only had to be careful to get on the B-train with the correct end-station - because there are two. A train arrived and someone who worked at the station was standing there, "Orly?" was all I needed to say and his reply was "Oui." I boarded the train.
Two or three stops later, the train didn't leave the station. A female voice kept repeating an announcement in French, but no one seemed bothered, so I didn't worry. Finally, I decided to ask the gentleman next to me what the announcement was about - perhaps it said how long we had to wait. First, I had to ask if he spoke English - wah-la! He was from the UK and we ended up talking the rest of the way until I had to get off for the special Orly train.
About 10-15 minutes later I was checking in my bag and getting my boarding pass. Security was tight and for the first time this trip I had to remove my shoes. But I had left early so even with the multitude of delays, I was still early at the boarding gate.
I was thrilled to see lounge chairs with foot-rests and a power outlet to plug in my computer. I got comfortable and for a small fee sent a few emails while I waited for boarding. We all got on the plane in time to sit and wait for an additional 20 minutes before our flight took off. Someone didn't arrive for the flight and their bag had to be found and removed before taking off.
Less than two hours later I was in Nice. After picking up my luggage, I purchased a bus ticket to Cannes. Since I am flying out of Nice on the 16th, I got a round trip for $24 Euros. The man next to me in line turned out to be a film sales agent and gave me his press kit. At the waiting area I met a man with a Chinese film company, Deepjoy. On the bus, I started chatting with the gentleman next to me, and it turned out that he was staying at the same college as me! This meant we could share a taxi. Synchronicity! So the taxi only set me back $5 Euros.
After checking in to my room, I walked to the festival headquarters to pick up my badge. No problems there. I opened up the Market Guide to check my listing. In between Bulgaria and Cameroon is ONE company for Cambodia - Kmy Films. This puts Cambodia on the film industry map - ooh-la-la!
In the lobby I ran into Brett of Lonely Seal films, who said they just shipped the movies I purchased in Hong Kong, and he has 10 new films. I'll be stopping by his booth tomorrow.
On a quest to find food, I stopped at a little cafe for a crepe fromage and cafe crème. I found some postcards and took the bus back to my room to study the films which are available and plan my visits to the booths of distributors and sales agents selling films.
Watch out Cannes - I'm here!
Mariam Arthur at destination, Cannes
Film Cambodia - Founder, Director of Operations
Thunderbird Film Festival - Festival Founder