5/9/2018
Day two is done!
I showed up to the festival this morning very unprepared -- something I didn't realize until I was actually here. I had spent the night before working on recruiting stuff for the rowing team back home (I just got selected as Recruitment officer for my team, so I'm having to work remotely while I'm in France) and drinking wine on the beach in Juan Les Pins. I didn't have a chance to open any of the books or pamphlets with information about the films that were being shown at the festival.
This was a huge mistake, as I realized when I got to Cannes and had absolutely no idea what was going on. Everyone else seemed very prepared and ready to go with their books all marked up and highlighted and a schedule for the day planned out. I was fairly lost and a bit hungover, sitting in a chair in the AmPav with my free coffee, blinking around at my peers as they chatted about movies I'd never heard of.
After a few minutes of glancing through the one little pamphlet I had brought with me, I decided I wanted to see Rafiki in a theater at 1:45. It was only around 10:30 am, but I'd heard about the long lines at this festival, so I figured I should go ahead and stand by the door so I would actually get in and be able to see the movie. I GroupMe-d some friends to find the location of the theater and found them standing in a line outside, so I joined them. The lines were extremely long for it being more than two hours before the movie. This festival is crazy, I thought.
After a few minutes of conversing with my friends in line, I realized that I was not in line to see Rafiki.
"...wait, this isn't Rafiki?" I said, feeling stupid as I asked the question. My friends informed me that the movie we were in line for was Donbass, a film about the civil war in Ukraine. It was showing at 11:15, which was why the lines were so long so early. People were lining up for this movie, not Rafiki.
I felt like an idiot, of course, but laughed it off and blamed my sleep deprivation and hangover. I decided to just stay in line and see this movie since I was already there. Besides, I had no idea what else I would do in the two hours before Rafiki actually came on the screen.
I ended up really not liking this movie. It was a bit confusing and disorienting, since every five minutes or so it would pick up with a new plot line and new characters. Some were thinly connected, but most seemed random and completely unrelated. There was a fair amount of violence and lots of yelling and people with guns, and even though it had English subtitles, I couldn't discern exactly what was going on for most of the movie. I found myself falling asleep in the theater despite the coffee I had had that morning.
Walking out of the theater, I was a bit annoyed that I had just wasted two hours of my life watching that movie. Everyone else seemed to have found some deeper meaning in it, though. They didn't love it, but they thought it was powerful and well-made nonetheless.
I suddenly felt as if I was uneducated, or not "deep" enough since I had hated the movie and found zero deeper meaning in it. It had just been a lot of people in furry hats walking around with guns and yelling at each other.
I mostly kept quiet because I felt out of place since I didn't like the movie. I was tired and very hungry, and I felt a bit in over my head being around people and films that seemed more knowledgable and educated than I was.
After I got some food I felt better, and my mood improved a lot after I got to (finally) see Rafiki that afternoon, because I loved that movie. I won't write about it in here, since I may do a review on it, so that will be up on the blog later.
Overall, today was a little weird and made me feel out of place, as I said before. However, I've been flipping through the screening guide and reading up on movies for tomorrow, so I feel much more prepared to take on day three of the festival.
I showed up to the festival this morning very unprepared -- something I didn't realize until I was actually here. I had spent the night before working on recruiting stuff for the rowing team back home (I just got selected as Recruitment officer for my team, so I'm having to work remotely while I'm in France) and drinking wine on the beach in Juan Les Pins. I didn't have a chance to open any of the books or pamphlets with information about the films that were being shown at the festival.
This was a huge mistake, as I realized when I got to Cannes and had absolutely no idea what was going on. Everyone else seemed very prepared and ready to go with their books all marked up and highlighted and a schedule for the day planned out. I was fairly lost and a bit hungover, sitting in a chair in the AmPav with my free coffee, blinking around at my peers as they chatted about movies I'd never heard of.
After a few minutes of glancing through the one little pamphlet I had brought with me, I decided I wanted to see Rafiki in a theater at 1:45. It was only around 10:30 am, but I'd heard about the long lines at this festival, so I figured I should go ahead and stand by the door so I would actually get in and be able to see the movie. I GroupMe-d some friends to find the location of the theater and found them standing in a line outside, so I joined them. The lines were extremely long for it being more than two hours before the movie. This festival is crazy, I thought.
After a few minutes of conversing with my friends in line, I realized that I was not in line to see Rafiki.
"...wait, this isn't Rafiki?" I said, feeling stupid as I asked the question. My friends informed me that the movie we were in line for was Donbass, a film about the civil war in Ukraine. It was showing at 11:15, which was why the lines were so long so early. People were lining up for this movie, not Rafiki.
I felt like an idiot, of course, but laughed it off and blamed my sleep deprivation and hangover. I decided to just stay in line and see this movie since I was already there. Besides, I had no idea what else I would do in the two hours before Rafiki actually came on the screen.
I ended up really not liking this movie. It was a bit confusing and disorienting, since every five minutes or so it would pick up with a new plot line and new characters. Some were thinly connected, but most seemed random and completely unrelated. There was a fair amount of violence and lots of yelling and people with guns, and even though it had English subtitles, I couldn't discern exactly what was going on for most of the movie. I found myself falling asleep in the theater despite the coffee I had had that morning.
Walking out of the theater, I was a bit annoyed that I had just wasted two hours of my life watching that movie. Everyone else seemed to have found some deeper meaning in it, though. They didn't love it, but they thought it was powerful and well-made nonetheless.
I suddenly felt as if I was uneducated, or not "deep" enough since I had hated the movie and found zero deeper meaning in it. It had just been a lot of people in furry hats walking around with guns and yelling at each other.
I mostly kept quiet because I felt out of place since I didn't like the movie. I was tired and very hungry, and I felt a bit in over my head being around people and films that seemed more knowledgable and educated than I was.
After I got some food I felt better, and my mood improved a lot after I got to (finally) see Rafiki that afternoon, because I loved that movie. I won't write about it in here, since I may do a review on it, so that will be up on the blog later.
Overall, today was a little weird and made me feel out of place, as I said before. However, I've been flipping through the screening guide and reading up on movies for tomorrow, so I feel much more prepared to take on day three of the festival.
Glad you are finally getting your bearings...
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