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Salisbury University
Goes to Cannes
Nick Hobbes, a double
major in English and CMAT, on his experience at the famous
French Film Festival.
June 22, 2012
During the Spring semester of my junior year at Salisbury
University I decided to study abroad on the French Riviera. At
the end of my program I was given the opportunity to apply for
an internship at the Cannes Film Festival. Being a film and
media production dual major I naturally jumped at the chance and
was fortunate enough to be chosen as an intern for ‘2 Bulls on
the Hill Production.’ With the festival at its end, I would like
to briefly share my experience during this one in a lifetime
opportunity.
Behind the Olympics, the Cannes Film Festival is the second
biggest press event in the entire world. It is the most
prestigious and well known film festival in the world and boasts
a long history of showing remarkable films. Celebrating its
sixty-fifth festival this year, the event once again took the entertainment
world by storm as 22 films in competition all went for the
highest prize awarded at Cannes- the Palme d’Or. These 22 films
offered a variety of talented directors, as well as a large
amount of star power for the festival. Being on the French
Riviera, it is easy to get caught up in the glitz and glam of
the Cannes Film Festival. The outside world sees a lot of what I
talked about above. They watch the stars walk the red carpet,
directors in interviews, and the outrageous parties that happen
at night. What most do not see, or even know about, is the other
side of the Cannes Film Festival- the market.
The market is where all of the trading, buying and selling of
films takes place. The Cannes Film Festival is such a huge event
that it naturally attracts all of the major media companies,
making it the perfect place to do business with clients from all
over the world. The market is where I primarily worked. 2 Bulls
on the Hill (the company I interned for) had two films they
wanted to sell the international rights for – The Rescuers
and After Fall Winter. My primary assignment was
The Rescuers, which is a feature documentary on genocide.
Buying and selling films sounds a lot easier than it actually
is. First you have to make a database of all the buyers, then
you have to narrow said database down to only potential buyers.
After that you have to contact these buyers- whether it be by
email, phone or in person. Some will say they are interested,
some will say no, and some will say maybe,
and from there, you set up meeting
times. This was all done before the festival actually started.
When the festival started the director of The Rescuers
came and I was assigned to be his
personal assistant. We had a screening for the movie on May 22,
and the objective was to get as many potential buyers as
possible into that screening. It was a lot of tedious work, but
definitely worth it. Marketing and communication is such a huge
aspect of the film industry so to put those skills to the test
in a real-life scenario provided a lot of insight into the
business side of the film world.
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I was also given the opportunity to actually film the
red carpet on the night of a premiere with the latest
CANON cameras. The night I filmed was for the premiere
of David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis, starring Robert
Pattinson. Everything about the red carpet is flashy and
glamorous, and even more so when a big star is walking
down it. There are hundreds of flashing camera lights
and thousands of screaming fans. The whole experience
was pretty surreal and definitely something everyone
should aim to do at least once in their life, even if it
is at a smaller red carpet event. I also attended a day
premiere of Mud from director Jeff Nichols. Based
on this one film it is easy to see why being selected to
be in competition at the Cannes Film Festival is such a
big deal. And with so many stars attending it was fairly
common to be walking or passing right beside one (I ran
into Zac Efron 4 times!). |
All of these are phenomenal aspects of the festival, but the
best part is just being immersed in a community of people
working in the career field I want to be in. Every person I
talked to had advice to offer or opportunities to give. There
are representatives from all over the world, so it makes it
easier to make connections. I am a firm believer that the
entertainment business is about who you know, so making
connections is key to succeeding. With that in mind I encourage
every film student to attend film festivals. They provide you
people and experience that a classroom can never truly provide.
Use the classroom and studies as your foundation, but get into
the industry and start to really build your career.
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