Gone Fishing at the Cannes Film Festival

I am now back in the UK and I slept 16 hours last night... and I am still tired.

What a Cannes 2008 was! The final day, when we had the screening and the after screening party, was so much fun! The screening was off the 35mm print in the Palais, and it cost about £140 for the room for half an hour. This was an advantage to screenings in the short film corner as it was presented in all it's visual and acoustic glory (and not on a computer screen in a window).

One problem we had is that the screening was at 11.30 and the projectionist insisted at starting at 11.30 on the dot, even though we had booked and paid for the full half hour. And believe me, there is not negotiating with these guys. I did manage to squeeze two minutes out of him but even that was a struggle.

ScreeningThe after screening party was held at the Century Club on the beach and it was tough to get people in, as so much is always going on. But we got a good group and they watched the film on a big plasma. Dennis Hopper was just next door and Ivan invited him in, but his body guard took of Ivan just as he opening his mouth...! Dennis just smiled and chewed on his cigar.

I also got a very serious offer from an LA based producer who was very impressed with the short, particularly the look and sound, but also the strong commercial sensibilities of the story. He liked that fact that it wasn't depressing or social realist in content, or about a dripping tap! So now I am thinking about a screening in LA very soon (also in part to get the Oscar accreditation)

On reflection, we learned a few things during this day that we will implement next time.

1. If you screening starts at 11.30, tell everyone it starts at 11.15, giving enough time for people to be a bit late. The Cannes projectionists will start screening on the minute. They won't care about your problems.

2. Have a hot girl handing out fliers. We were approached at one point by a very attractive, short skirted French film maker and almost EVERYONE took a ticket for her film, and a fair few turned up to her screening. Sorry if this sounds sexist, and yes it is sexist, but it also works.

3. Have something free at your party, ideally drinks and nibbles. If people have to buy their own drinks, they won't come.

Anyway, I am back and exhausted... If you watch the video, I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed being there.

Onward and upward!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author
www.livingspirit.com
mail@livingspirit.com

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• cannes
• film
• screening
• short
• festival
• documentary
• tutorial
• interview

[RinaDasler]

very lovely film

[jezza79]

best short story i have ever seen!  nice work.

[christoff5]

@marissamasangcay Do a google search on Buy Gone Fishing and you will find our site.

[marissamasangcay]

I am absolutely in love with this film. I was able to watch it as an in-flight film and have been looking for it everywhere. I wanted to know if there was any way that I can purchase it or if it will be showing in any theatres. It is definitely a film to share with others.

[pauljohnwood]

Read your first book when i was about 14/15 and loved it. Thought I'd do a random search on Youtube and found this...good to see you're still at 'it'. Cool stuff.

[MarkForbesFilmmaker]

Thats great Chris! I was in contact with you a while ago between 2001 and 2003. I was working on my 2nd short film back then. Now I'm working on my 4th short. Its great you got such a great cast, story was very good and moving. I think you should definetly make another feature! would be great to meet up for pint in the near future! :)

[EddieRex]

Very interesting, i was in Cannes last year and it brought back memmories.