Cannes 2010

Over 5,000 film festivals occur every year internationally but Cannes’s Palme d’Or Festival is the big draw that gets filmmakers fluttering like the carburetor of an AGM springing down a racetrack in Monaco.  Special screenings premiere hotly-anticipated works like Under Your Feet Grass Will Growby Sophie Fiennes, and pieces by box office stalwarts like Oliver Stone, Woody Allen, Stephen Frears and Ridley Scott.  This collective prestige attracts rock stars like Liam Gallagher to announce his making of The Longest Cocktail (his behind-the-scenes on Apple Records), and Mick Jagger for the premiere of Exile on Main Street, which has a clean retrospective narrative compared to the banned Cocksucker Blues shot in the same early 70s Riviera period. Alongside competition films are those selected by the Cannes committee as ‘original and different’,  the reliably interesting 'Un Certain Regard' strand, a fitting bill being the new Godard film, Socialisme starring Patti Smith.  We poured a reasonably long cocktail of our own with Cannes veteran Andy Serkis who was in town for several reasons...

Dazed Digital: What does Cannes mean to you?
Andy Serkis: It’s just mad, you drink so much alcohol you’re running on fumes by the end of it.  It’s incredibly varied, brilliant, high octane.

DD: And why are you here this year?
Andy Serkis: Well, I’m here for three reasons, Burke & Hare, directed by John Landis, with myself and Simon Pegg for Ealing Studios, it’s set in 1828 in Northern Ireland and is a fine comedy about the biggest grave robbers of all time... then my production company, Caveman has a film in Director’s Fortnight, a romantic comedy called All Good Men directed by Alicia Duffy, and I’m also here for my new digital capture studio, investigating the relationship between live arts and film-catching – let's just say a band can be projected into an avatar; it’s like puppeteering in reverse.  I’m spearheading it with producer John Cavendish, and we’re setting up an academy for young people wanting to get involved with visual effects.  We’re looking for about 10,000 square-foot, potentially linked up with somewhere like the South Bank, it should feel like a living laboratory. As far as acting I’ve got The Hobbit lined-up, produced by Peter Jackson, directed by Guillermo del Toro, and a couple of films that I want to direct myself.

But it's not all about film in Cannes, or rather, sometimes fashion squeezes in for a piece of the pie. One such example is the Style Star Lounge who have a three-year contract to host and parties and interviews in Cannes and Venice. Style Star Lounge is the brainchild of Marina Garzoni who initiated collaborative ‘talkshows’ with MIT and CEOs from fashion houses to develop brand communication amidst our changing media consumption. Essentially Garzoni is collating international fashion people by showcasing the new wave of fashion-ad films that 'offer safety to brands’ in the uncontrollable online world by featuring actresses shot with fashion aesthetics. Garzoni says ‘the catwalk system is dead’ and is launching a competition called 'Experience The Future!' that will hook winners up with fashion academics like Annagemma Lascari. Working with sponsors such as AMG, they also arranged a micro-cinema to showcase Felice Limosani's unique Maya 3D animation, which reacts to the design of products as techno-film impressions. Dazed sat down for a quick chat...

Dazed Digital: You are a director, but much of the CG content we see in Cannes has armies of backroom people, is it the same for you?
Felice Limosani: Not at all, I have a studio in Florence with four people.

DD: Your pieces have zero narrative and remind me of Warp Records experimentation, some pieces look almost Chalayan-esque...
Felice Limosani: I work on an evocative and metaphorical level, these films are about the superficial values of products without the language of branding.

DD: Yes, like in the Breitling piece which makes the watch become like the bones of an animal. They're beautiful. You've worked with Roger Eno on Bulgari, Brian Eno with Emilio Pucci and many more...
Felice Limosani: Roger is like the true musician in that family, a complete artist.  Music is so integrated with my work.  I love Pucci. It's almost sacrilege to work with the classic designs worn by people like Elizabeth Rosselini but I think it's almost a poem...I am very grateful to show these films in Cannes.