Film: Cannes Film Festival

Marché du Film

Unfortunately I'm not at Cannes this year, because I'm in Sydney... working. But as it's all going on over there - meetings, screenings, buying and selling films and concepts and scripts and companies, I've put up a few images from previous years, to give you a flavour of the Cannes Film Market.

La Croissette, Cannes

A walk down La Croissette will take you to shops, restaurants, parties, hotels and eventually The Pavilion and Cinemas. It's a wide, beautiful street that starts to fill up with people from 6am and is still bustling way, way past 3am

RYAN GOSLING & MICHELLE WILLIAMS

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams talking about BLUE VALENTINE, their Independent film that was screening at Cannes in 2010. Michelle was ethereal, glowing and seemed a little shy. Ryan was funny, warm and boyish. The film is worth seeing, but maybe not if you're going through a break up.

Huge film signage, gorgeous old hotels and crowds watching the red carpet

Cannes shopping, beach art, sculpture, beach parties begin

This beautiful town goes crazy during the festival. People travel from all over the world to be here. Mostly it's all about the business of film, as you can only access all areas if you are involved. But a tourist can also have a lot of fun, unless you get that awful feeling of being on the outside looking in. There is a lot of money spent on stunning yachts and vehicles, resteraunts and bars are flooded by trade and the shopping is great. But a few things really bothered me. There's a guy who brings cats down for a week and makes them perform, standing on a pole and other lame stunts. He's completely hidden by make up. If it was distressing for me, imagine the cats, I hate to think how he trained them to be so ... unemotional and non kitty like. Another guy was doing something similar with small dogs and they were freaked out by the fireworks. I know it's hard toDOUG LIMAN earn a penny at the moment, but can you leave the animals out of it?

My favourite film of the festival in 2010 was BIUTIFUL, staring Javier Bardem and Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. It was such a powerful, colourful and imaginative film, full of passion and emotion.

I also enjoyed FAIR GAME, starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn - Directed by Doug Liman, ANOTHER YEAR directed by Mike Leigh and I really enjoyed Woody Allens' film, YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER, also with Naomi Watts, this time teamed up with a cast of many, including Antonio Banderas and Josh Brolin.

At a full house screening of ROBIN HOOD the stranger sitting next to me asked me if I knew a Producer he had met the previous year at Cannes. He asked me, because the Producer and I are both Australian. Isn't that funny? And what's funnier is I do, in fact he used to be my Producer when I directed commercials. It's a small world sometimes.

My very first time at Cannes during the festival was in 1989 and I was a tourist. I remember paparazzi pushing a man in a suit aside because they spotted Daniel Day-Lewis coming our way, he had just starred in the fabulous film MY LEFT FOOT, but I didnt know who he was, I was just a young thing then, travelling Europe after Uni... It hasn't changed much - but I have.

...by Naomi Rossdeutscher