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Cannes can be rigid and unfair
The weather has been playing spoilsport at Cannes, messing up the Festival now and then. On Wednesday evening, it poured from a menacingly dark sky, and most of the journalists and other Festival goers were caught unawares, since the morning and much of the day had been bright and sunny.
The weather has been playing spoilsport at Cannes, messing up the Festival now and then. On Wednesday evening, it poured from a menacingly dark sky, and most of the journalists and other Festival goers were caught unawares, since the morning and much of the day had been bright and sunny. With no umbrella to shield against the steady shower, many journalists shivered it out in the open before the evening Competition movie.
And those security guards in their immaculate brown suits would not budge; they would not let the waiting journalists even into the lobby, which they could have easily done, if only they had been slightly flexible.
As a Reuters Correspondent and one who has been coming to Cannes for 20 years quipped, “the Festival is getting more and more difficult for those who want to work”.
It is sure is. There is certain rigidity that was always seen at Cannes, but this is getting worse. What is more disturbing, the Film Festival in a nation that has always been known for its fair-mindedness appears to be getting a little unfair.
With 4500 accredited journalists and with Cannes being the third largest media event after the Olympics and the World Cup Football, it may be understandably not easy for the Festival to manage the crowd. Even then, some things need to be addressed.
There is something that I have been noticing for a long time, at least in reference to India. There are some Indians who are by no stretch of imagination journalists and yet are accredited with a Press badge. And that too a good one – which in the Cannes parlance would mean, one that is white or Pink with a Yellow Dot.
