My short film, The Tape, is part of a program called Not Short on Talent that selected 25 of Canada's best films to bring to Cannes. This morning all of the filmmakers met at a breakfast that Telefilm Canada organized. Telefilm Canada is our country's most important funding organization. You can't make a feature film without their support; being selected by them, meeting them in person, and having coffee with the other filmmakers is a fantastic opportunity.
We met in the basement of the Palais, just behind the short film corner. I already knew two of the others directors, Danis Goulet and Ashley McKenzie as I had graduated from the 2011 National Screen Institute Drama Prize program with them. It was a true pleasure to met Chloe Robichaud, whose film Herd Leader, is one of 10 films in the official Cannes competition. I can't wait to watch her short. She was darling and I really enjoyed meeting her producer, Fanny.
From this meet and greet, I traveled over to the Majestic Hotel, where Telefilm was holding a special panel with David Cronenberg and his son, Brandon. They are the first father/son duo ever to both have films in competition here. David was surprisingly funny when answering questions. I actually would love for him to direct a comedy I wrote, and I'm not kidding.
Brandon was clearly nervous, and not entirely sure what it was his father had handed down to him as an artist, but I think everyone could see it clearly. I think we all know it's sometimes easier to look out at someone, than inside at ourselves.
When discussing what was the first film that terrified David as a child, David responded by saying "Bambi." He went onto say the best advice he could give to neophyte directors is to actually go out and direct something. Nothing teaches what it's like to make a film better than actually making one.
Next up was a worldwide producers shin dig, hosted by the international tents. I got a chance to meet with director Craig Goodwill, who have me advice about pursuing my own feature film plans, and cheers'ed with awesome super striving producer Dan Beckerman, who I think I could work with amazingly well.
My evening ending when I got into one of the most hyped parties of the festival: the Abu Dubi party, with an unexpected performance by Kelis (My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard....). She was awesome and I hit the dance floor hard. A producer was so impressed by my moves that he offered me one million dollars to make my feature! Okay, that didn't happen, but it would have been nice if it did. I've never heard of a director's dancing lead to his film being financed, so here's hoping that my film speaks for itself when it has it's world premiere tomorrow!