Film Students Do Some Serious Elbow-Rubbing at Cannes

Each May thousands of people from all over the world — journalists, glitterati, filmmakers, and just plain movie fans — descend on the south of France for a week of film screenings and stargazing at the Cannes Film Festival. The focal point of Cannes during festival time is the Palais du Festival (with its famous red-carpeted steps), where all the films in competition and many more make their premieres. On the beach just steps away, the American Pavilion serves as a business center, forum venue, and "American oasis" for U.S. press, filmmakers, and industry professionals working at or attending the event.

Since 1988 Kodak and the American Pavilion have given 100 U.S. film students each year the opportunity to attend and participate in the magic that is Cannes. Students chosen for the Kodak Worldwide Student Program work six-hour shifts each day in the American Pavilion. During their off time they attend workshops and seminars with industry professionals, get the chance to view officially competing movies and other screenings, and hobnob with the rich and famous.

This year two Park School students, Chris Canariato ’00 and Danielle Gitkin ’02, were chosen to participate, and the James B. Pendleton endowment in the Park School helped fund their participation. Here they share some firsthand glimpses into the big week in Cannes:

Chris Canariato '00
Each student was assigned a job to do throughout the festival, from serving food at the pavilion to working for Miramax. My extensive background in documentary production at Ithaca and work on ICTV helped to land me a great job: shooting the American Pavilion student program showcase video (shown to countless people and sponsors who work with the American Pavilion and Kodak at the festival).

I was given a DV Cam and basically had free rein with it. Everything in Cannes is spectacle, and I spent a lot of time in the streets, watching how films and film products were being promoted. One promoter went as far as "setting a person on fire." (You check out that little charade on the E Cannes 2000 special. Look for me: I’m right in front of all the camera operators.)

The American Pavilion was more than just a place for the festival-goers to stop and eat. Every day it sponsored an intimate (30 people maximum) conversation with industry heavyweights, like John Waters (pictured), who discussed subjects like Global Cinema, the dot-com debate, and the promotion of new projects. This was an excellent opportunity to meet and network with industry insiders from all over the world.

There was also plenty of time to see films in competition and attend some of the many parties. The festival screens about 300 films a day (most not in competition), and there are probably about 50 parties a day (not that anyone was counting).

I learned so much about how the industry works and how a festival runs. I feel I now have much more to offer to my own work and to an employer than most other film students. And the networking I did gave me connections to people in the industry now and for the future.

Danielle Gitkin '02
There is no place I’d rather have been from May 10 to 21 than the 53rd Cannes International Film Festival. Experiencing and working at one of the world’s most important film festivals at such an early stage of my career was a valuable, one-of-a-kind experience.

I worked for Alison Amelio as associate producer of the pavilion’s Industry and Focus Program. This was a series of panels and seminars on aspects of the film industry. My job entailed welcoming guests that came to speak at the pavilion — personalities like Willem Dafoe, Roger Ebert, Bridget Fonda, Joan Rivers, Dwight Yoakam; renowned directors like Stanley Donan (Cover Girl, Singin’ in the Rain), Whit Stillman (Metropolitan, Barcelona), and John Waters (Polyester, Hairspray, Pecker); independent producer Saul Zaentz (One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Lord of the Rings, Amadeus, The English Patient); and many, many more.

I worked a lot . . . but had fun. On the opening night of the festival I attended a screening of Vatel, a Roland Joffe film starring Uma Thurman. I got decked out in my most fun Marilyn Monroe-esque gown and walked with my new friends up the famous 22 red-carpeted steps into the Palais du Festival. Photographers, an ocean of onlookers, velvet ropes, and lines of French police! My two-week journey was just starting, and Cannes was already living up to my fantasy.

I loved the work, but some of the best times I had at Cannes were at the parties. There was "Cure by the Shore," a benefit for breast cancer awareness, at which Deborah Cox performed and I met Linda Evans, French Stewart, Sela Ward, and Jared Leto (who had an awful hairdo). Yacht parties were all the rage; at a party on the Budweiser yacht I spoke with Martin Landau. After meeting Dan Myrick and Ed Sanchez (the directors of The Blair Witch Project) and Kevin Foxe (its executive producer) at the pavilion, where they spoke on a panel, I ran into them at two parties — one for the film Nurse Betty and one for the New York Knicks. They asked me to join them; we talked for hours.

Both Chris and I screened films we produced at Ithaca College for emerging filmmakers as well as industry professionals. Now I’m looking forward to pursuing several exciting internship opportunities that came my way in Cannes.

I worked a great deal, I learned a great deal, and I had a great deal of fun! What more could I have asked for?