Cannes Part Two

I am at the end of my Cannes adventure. It has been a crazy five days that I consider as one of the most valuable in my brief career in filmmaking, besides the whole film making process.
Yesterday, I had an early meeting with a French producer, which was very interesting, but unfortunately somewhat short in length. I guess everything is scheduled in a short and compact manner. Fortunately, due to my (other) studies -in French Literature- and a long stay in France, I speak French quite fluently. This made it possible for me I to understand and discuss issues that were brought up by a French colleague filmmaker, who was not very familiar with the English language. Then I spend a fair amount of my time watching short films of high en less impressive quality. Many fellow filmmakers swap business cards, titles and invitations for their screenings at the SFC’s (Short Film Corner) daily happy hour. In the afternoon I attended a Q&A with Pierre Ange Le Pogam, a big shot French producer (‘Hitman’, ‘Grace of Monaco’) who gave us valuable insights about producing films in internationally, especially in the US. He has a particular dry kind of humour for a Frenchman. He told some hilarious anecdotes with French/English expressions about how it is to work with Hollywood stars ‘with beaucoup de bull shit’.
After a vast sleep with earplugs (Cannes never sleeps), I had to wake up early for a couple of breakfast meetings on the roof terrace of the Palais des Congres (with a ridiculous Mediterranean view. This morning turned out to be very useful. We, as filmmakers, could meet with many interesting film professionals –all in one morning (programmers of the largest international film festivals, TV programmers, distributers and filmmakers).
I left with a bag full of cards and a head that, by then, was almost exploding by the tons of information that I gained during the last days. I spend the rest of the day with a group of Cannes-friends. We had dinner in Le Suquet, the old town and we ended the evening at a screening. Films of diverse quality, but also with some beautiful little pearls. Tomorrow I will watch some last short films in the SFC and then I will reward myself with a lunch at the beach, before I fly back to Holland.
Cannes is exhausting, but it is definitely a festival I could get used to..