SAGIndie

After the AFI party last night I came back to the American Pavilion to my enter my first post from Cannes.

Big mistake.

I had a cocktail (or seven) on an empty stomach (All of the food at the party was animal-based and I never eat anything with a face). It’s probably never a good idea to write anything that will be seen by other people while in an absinthe-induced haze but I did it anyway. Or so I thought…

I was very surprised to check the indieblog today and see that my entry was nowhere to be found. I’m positive that I pushed that "Post" button… but maybe not… My big fear (other than Scott being mad at me for not posting sooner) is that my drunken diatribe about rude French waiters has somehow been posted somewhere else… like an elementary school or the French Consulate.

Anyway, I’m completely sober now (unless Orangina has an ingredient I don’t know about), and just finished moderating a couple of Round Table Sessions with industry professionals. This morning Geoff Gilmore, Director of the Sundance Film Festival met with the American Pavilion students, and Rachel Blanchard, star of the new Atom Egoyan film "Where the Truth Lies," joined us this afternoon.

By the way, nothing makes me happier than being forced to publish a picture of my ever-increasing bald spot.

Yes. It is all about me.

O.K., this is going to be fairly quick, because I’m sitting on the beach, facing the Mediterranean, and this computer is losing juice by the second. 

Cannes is now fully underway - stars have come and gone (o.k., just Woody Allen and Scarlett Johannson so far, but more are coming).  Yesterday, we encountered Cuba Gooding, Jr. outside our apartment, just hanging out with a papparazzo attached.  The streets today have about 500% more people than they did when we arrived on Sunday.  Walking has become quite the obstacle course. 

And, throughout it all, SAGIndie is bringing the best of industryites (I hate that word) to the American Pavilion.  The highlight for the students, other than my attendance, is the amazing individuals that have agreed to take pitches from the students.  Not to really BUY the pitches, but to give students a chance to experience how to pitch and what to work on.  So far, Sherri Strain from The Asylum and Producer Robert Baruc have faced the students. Such vessels of knowledge as Geoffrey Gilmore, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, actor Colin Firth, and director Stephen Frears are coming up. 

We’re also arranging for a series of new generation actors to come and talk.  We’ll take some pictures and show you how SAGIndie rolls in France.  Stay tuned, more action to come. 

BTW, we’re headed to our first party tonight, so I’ll keep an eye out for drunk celebs.

While we wait for the SAGIndie team to weigh in from Cannes (ahem), indieWIRE’s on-scene bloggers are churning out plenty o’ in-depth content on the Festival.

Also covering Cannes: The newly revamped L.A. Times site has sent a blogger to post dispatches from la Croisette, and Yahoo! has pulled together all the wire service coverage and nicely packaged it (with plenty of pics) here.

And finally, for the 4 megapixel view of the Festival proceedings, flickr’s Cannes page has all the cameraphone pics that are fit to post.