Right from the back of their van, they screen movies from all over the world, The smallest mobile film festival in the world is back were at the Cannes Film Festival for a second year running, and now travel accross UK. Andy Greenhouse, one of the founder of Cannes in a Van gives us hope for bigger and better CiaV shenanigans.
Dazed Digital: When did you start Cannes in a Van? Where did the concept come from?
Andy Greenhouse: I've held a number of film nights in London before at The 100 Club and ran a short film podcast called ShallowShorts100. It seemed like a great idea to take some of those films down to the Cannes Film Festival and screen them from the back of a van. Cannes in a Van was the next step. We first went last year - 2007, so 2008 was only the second year. I intend on taking the van back to Cannes every year from now onwards.
DD: How are the films selected? And what was the audience reaction?
AG: Films are submitted directly to Cannes in a Van via the website. Selections also come from various festivals and external sources such as Rushes Soho Shorts, Birds-Eye-View Film Festival and Channel 4's 3 Minute-Wonders. The audience reaction is appreciative. They seem to like the guerrilla spirit of the van and our approach to the festival.
DD: How does that work running a mobile festival from a van, as you don't have any licenses to show the films. How do you manage that?
AG: I think the police go easy on us because we're not pedalling our own stuff. We're not promoting a product, we don't charge people to watch and I think they kinda like it. It's all in the spirit of guerrilla cinema so it would be wrong to have a license for it I guess!
DD: Despite the fact, you are clandestine projectionist, do you have a sponsor ?
AG: I couldn't do it without sponsors. In 2007 we put most of the money up ourselves, but on the website, we had an option to 'buy parts' of the van. This meant a person or company could buy a steering wheel for £75 and would get a logo on the van. This year we had further support from Dailymotion, Final Draft, ShallowDesign and MovieScope magazine.
DD: What is the future for Cannes in a Van?
AG: There's talk of a Cannes in a Van world tour – taking hundreds of international films around the world to the remotest of places and screening them. We'll need a serious sponsor naturally and maybe a TV deal but it's something I'd like to make happen. It would be nice to rock the van up at Sundance on a brisk winter morning! Then of course there's our future Cannes trips. We'll be there as long as the sun shines, bringing independent film to the masses on the Croisette. Look out for a big yellow van showing films and chances are - that's probably us.
From Cannes in a Van's video blog documenting the augaral opening of Cannes in a Van back in June 2008.