Renault gave Art is Alive the amazing opportunity to experience the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Our special correspondent Rachel reports!
SCENE ONE:
[Titles fade to reveal young ingénue wandering round busy airport in a daze, unable to believe that she has been offered an all-expenses paid trip to the Cannes Film Festival]
[Titles fade to reveal young ingénue wandering round busy airport in a daze, unable to believe that she has been offered an all-expenses paid trip to the Cannes Film Festival]
A-List omnipresence begins early: Lily Cole is on my flight…
…her incandescent whiteness reminiscent of a modern day red-haired Rosemary Hoyt. One can’t help but hope that the putty Prada holdall, around which the starlet’s long and slender arm is entwined, contains sufficient quantities of very high-factor sun screen…
a wily pigeon wearing its Rolex
Sensory overload. In a good way...
Hotel photo
Arriving at Hôtel Majestic Barrière alongside a gold Lamborghini and trolleys loaded with mountains of LV luggage I head inside where le tout beautiful fashionista are artfully and expensively draped across equally expensive furniture. I spot Lily (in Cannes for a Dior dinner, I later discover) at the check-in desk, before being led down to L’Atelier Renault down on the beach.
Over a delightful first-class lunch of oysters and similar decadent delicacies I meet the lovely Vicki (Project Director from Buzz Paradise) and the seven other bloggers who won the golden ticket.
(introduce bloggers from left to right)
Adrien from Belgium (Blog tendances);
Romain from France (Fubiz);
Demetra from Italy (pigchic);
Marjolijn from Amsterdam – (Dutchcowboys);
Natalie from Germany (Lesmads);
Play hunter from Switzerland (Playlust);
Raul from Madrid (Jasp)
We are all here courtesy of Renault, the Film Festival’s Partenaire Officiel. The romance between Renault and cinema harks back over 100 years - Louis Renault was one of the first manufacturers to use cinema as a new way of promoting his products. Renault have recently launched VERY GOOD TRIP, an online reality adventure show in which 8 teams from across Europe road-trip 5000k across the continent in Coupes-Cabriolets (their fabulous brand new models). We are here in Cannes to witness the unveiling of the finalists.
FADE IN: Plage de la Croisette, Cote d'Azur, France at dusk. A cocktail party. An elegant red-carpet ready crowd/ VERY GOOD TRIP film crew network cradling champagne flutes. The bar is well-stocked.
PHOTO YACHTS SUNSET
Feeling a million miles from London, I mingle with bloggers, contestants, Renault representatives and party people, some filming taking place on the sand. Watching the filming I spot the delightful Team UK.
Angela’s dress from Amethyst Designs couture; Bag – Angela’s own
Introducing the beautiful Angela Agor and the charming Richard Foster from London Town
(As I - the most inexperienced blogger/ interviewer ever - try to conduct an interview I realise my dictaphone is not in fact recording. I have fancy-technology envy. Driven on with champagne-fuelled purpose, I make mental notes and scribble on scraps of paper in my gold clutch. To recall a quote from Home Alone, “I am what the French call “les incompetents””.)Introducing the beautiful Angela Agor and the charming Richard Foster from London Town
This is what I cobbled together (squealed greetings and air kissing excluded from below monologue):
Q. Why did you apply to participate in VERY GOOD TRIP?
Angela: To alter the course of my life, to do something that I had NEVER done before. Knowing you want to change your life is one thing, doing something about it is different.
Q. What does Renault represent for you?
A: Memories and lots of them. My father was always been a Renault man and. Our summers were spent driving to and from Dagenham in Dad’s yellow 1970 R12 TL Renault.
Q. How has your experience of Cannes been so far?
A: Cannes has been a magical whirlwind of glamour. Everybody wants to be a star. The atmosphere is electric, the sun is fierce.
It’s pretty swish
Red carpet o’clock – swish black Renault (with flags) drives us (all of 20 metres) to the foot of the red stairs at the famous Palais des Festivals to the premiere of Lung Boonmee Raluek Chat (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
On cue, the car doors are swung open and atmosphere is insane – Pulp Fiction’s Misirlou
blasting, crowds clustering around the barriers, lightbulbs pop pop popping and I feel more superfluous than a superstar, especially in my tipsy Dick Diver-like state. THIS is where the magic happens. The lovely Yvan Juget from Renault Communications kindly assists when I farcially discover I have mislaid my ticket. Oops.
Pesky ticket
The movie is awesome and deservedly scoops the Palme D’Or - GO THAILAND! A very welcome accolade (in light of recent bad press) for a very beautiful country.
Tim Burton –President of the Jury and general legend – is only seats away and although I didn’t manage to pap him (my technical incompetency strikes again), I did get a snap of one of his many illustrations adorning the walls.
Après-movie we’re driven to Tantra for a sumptuous slap-up fusion dinner (it’s 1am – this is how Cannes rolls) passing the gigantic yachts which are (to quote Richard Foster) “bigger than my entire apartment block” .
Lily Cole is again at the airport. Stalker.
London: Driving home along the concrete tower block-bordered A13, I gaze wistfully out the window, across the utterly-devoid-of-alluring sparkle building sites. While I cannot be entirely certain of my future as a (good) blogger I am sure of one thing - if Art is Alive, then glamour is most certainly live and high-kicking in Cannes. In fact, if anywhere can do high-voltage decadence Cannes can.
PHOTO WITH MERCI IN SAND
*Air kisses* Rachel xx (une blogger ou une blagger?)
THE END
Thanks to Cannes, all the fabulous bloggers and contestants, darling Vicki and the WONDERFUL people at Renault.
THE END
Thanks to Cannes, all the fabulous bloggers and contestants, darling Vicki and the WONDERFUL people at Renault.
