The first thing we eye in the program is a conversation with Jane Campion, my absolute favourite director. Campion addresses the audience, specifically female directors, with some advice: "If you're a female director in this room, put all your energy into making a good piece of work."

I was filled with an incredible energy as I stepped onto the red carpet. This is the top of the mountain in the narrative film world, and walking up those steps provided a powerful reminder of my love for this craft. Once you've had a taste of the red carpet, you simply want more!

I gather my umbrella, for the light rain has turned into a downpour, and I leave the Panini man who has no paninis and make my way back to the apartment (via many wrong turns) where I eat the three dry crackers I have left over from the 25 hour journey to France.

Folks who might not normally give you the time of day will gladly chat with you at Cannes. Maybe it's because it is apparent that you are serious about what you are doing, or maybe it's because they are drunk; either way, it does happen. A lot of Cannes is about putting yourself out there and being ready to go with the flow.

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.

Today is an even more special screening day because it's the premiere of my debut feature. I think about the words of advice given to me a few days ago by an unnamed executive: Try not to throw up if there are any walk outs. In a few minutes, everyone is inside and the presentation begins.

It was Friday night in Cannes and my friends and I were determined to get into a yacht party. We strolled the pier of millions-of-dollar yachts after millions-of-dollar yachts and found four with exclusive looking parties. The first one, flashing blue and purple lights and blasting club beats, was swarmed with paparazzi taking photos of Amanda Seyfried leaving.

The final crew to walk the carpet was the cast of Moonrise Kingdom. Bill Murray danced and Ed Norton spent a lot of time looking for someone. They seemed to have a lot more fun, and were less concerned with their poses than earlier, relatively unknown, carpet walkers. Oh the freedom of success. My turn to strut my stuff on "le tapis rouge" came sooner than expected. I now know that the first screening of many films at Cannes are for the press, at 8:30 a.m. So, the next morning at 7:30 a.m., I waited my turn to walk the red carpet for the first time, barely awake, in jeans, sandals and a blazer -- and it was totally worth it.

Now, two days into the festival, I notice the rhythm caused by the restless bodies in endless line-ups, the stomach churn of too much wine and not enough food. I open the bay windows, not to sun and sea, but to an empty beach, and the sound of rain. But it doesn't matter, I have a meeting with Coffin Joe, and an interested distributor.

Quebecois filmmaker Xavier Dolan wore the red square, which has become the symbol of the Quebec student movement, on the red carpet for the premiere o...

Cannes! The Riviera. The croissette. The sun, the sand, the celebrities...the movies. It's the 65th annual Festival de Cannes, a meeting place of filmmakers great and not-so-great. For an independent filmmaker like me, it's as close to a real life Mount Olympus as I have ever set foot on.

Everyone who walks by my trailer looks calm and friendly and not like trailer park axe murderers. This is reassuring because unlike canoe trips, I cannot sleep with my axe and bear spray. Now it is time to take on the Festival. There is no full-length mirror, so let's just hope I look good and feel confident enough to meet that French producer. A bientôt.

As the economy took another nosedive this week, British Prime Minister David Cameron told the House of Parliament that our own prime minister had gotten "every major [economic] decision right." Stephen Harper returned the favor by lauding Cameron's handling of the British economy. The speech signaled the pair's unity going into the upcoming G20 summit in Cannes in November. It also sparked -- as our own Althia Raj reported -- a scramble by the NDP to make ties with the British Labor Party. In more home news, HuffPost and Indigo -- where our Editor-at-Large, Heather Reisman, is CEO -- have teamed up to observe this week's Banned Books Week. I'll be posting a different book each day that has been banned or challenged somewhere on the planet. Do your bit by choosing your own banned book, and reading it!