STARS SHINE BRIGHT IN CANNES
Glittering city by the sea
by Beth and Christine K. Zarb
 Amongst the Riviera’s star-studded events, the Cannes Film Festival is undoubtedly the most glamorous of all. During the Festival, the tranquil coastal town lights up like a Christmas tree. Everyone looks a celebrity. Elegantly dressed men and impeccably groomed women in evening gowns and flaunting jewels, parade through the narrow city streets.
It’s intoxicating to be caught up in all the glitter and excitement, as if life had turned into a big party and you’d been invited. The anticipation peaks twice daily, at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. when the movie stars appear at the front of the Palais des Festivals, on the world’s most famous boardwalk — the Croisette.
As soon as the stars are out in the open, the tension in the crowd escalates. Photographers, news reporters, curious onlookers and paparazzi, plunge simultaneously to the front of the line to catch a glimpse of the celebrities. The crowd bursts into a bubbling mass of people in frenetic action. A buzzing sound emerges from the throng as light bulbs flash and cameras click.
Photographers stand in line all day waiting to snap up the perfect shot. If they need to take a break, they’ll pay someone to hold their spot while they’re away. It’s not unusual to see local characters mixed in with the media crowd, a fishermen smoking a pipe or a granny knitting on a foldable stool.
An important part of the festival takes place in the streets, beyond the walls of the Palais, before the eyes of the media. The Film Festival is about image; to be photographed in Cannes during the Festival is as important as the event itself. A good-natured symbiosis takes place between VIPs and journalists. As if the films screening inside the theatre were secondary to the complicity between celebrities and media outside, on the Croisette.
After all, the Festival is one of the most notorious media events in the world and the presence of thousands of international journalists corroborates Cannes’ prestige as capital of the international film circuit. In 1946 the Association Française du Festival International du Film, created what is known to the world as the Cannes Film Festival.
The Festival’s official selection comprises about twenty feature films that compete for the Palme d'Or and a program of films out of competition, which are screened in the Salle Lumière. Over 200’000 movie buffs attend the 900 screenings each year, and more than 30,000 distributors, producers, directors, actors, technicians and media people meet at the Festival.
2001 FEATURE FILM AWARDS OF THE 54th CANNES FILM FESTIVAL:
PALME D'OR: The Son's Room by Nanni Moretti (Italy)
GRAND PRIX OF THE JURY: The Piano Player by Michael Haneke (Austria)
BEST ACTRESS: Isabelle Huppert for The Piano Player (France)
BEST ACTOR: Benoît Magimel for The Piano Player
BEST DIRECTOR: ex aequo to Joel Coen for The Man Who Wasn't There (USA) and David Lynch for Mulholland Drive (USA)
BEST SCREEN PLAY: No Man's Land by Danis Tanovic (Bosnia)
TECHNICAL PRIZE: Tuu Duu-Chih for Millenium Mambo and Ni Nei Pien Chi Tien
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