Festival planners expect the total number of films screened this year to top 5,000 this year, counting the many hawking foreign rights in the Festival's Market. And when all the deals have been counted, the Noga Hilton, the Carlton and the Hotel du Cap will have given birth to more movie deals than anyone could sit through in a lifetime of Sundance festivals.
And speaking of Sundance, its stepchild Slamdance catches some French rays in its debut this year, packing its bags full of notable Park City winners Amerikan Passport and Chi Girl.
With celluloid fever sweeping multitudes of fans, paparazzi, studio heads and stars alike onto Mediterranean shores, it makes you wonder where they'll all be sleeping. Guidebooks report that even hostels are overwhelmed by the mid-May influx that marks the beginning of the Cote D'Azur's May to October tourist season. Some savvy entrepreneurs rent out vans (that sleep two!) to ride the crest of the tourist wave, and so opportunistic are those entrepreneur types to take advantage of the poor Hollywood millionaires, one web site cites a McDonald's "value" meal sucking a quick $10 from your wallet.
So what about the rest of us plebians who couldn't afford a single pastis at the Hotel Martinez' La Palm d'Or restaurant? We'll read coverage of the fest in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, and we'll make plans to visit the French Riviera after the pretty people have all gone home, leaving behind them crumbs of glamour at star-depleted private beaches, scant sightings of errant A-listers on vacation, and, of course, a Cannes 52nd International Film Festival T-shirt.
With all the high-wattage excitement taking place this month on foreign shores, it makes one wonder who will be left to mind the store when the Phantom Menace invades American theaters beginning May 19. The new gazillion-dollar adventure from the mind that is George Lucas likely won't feel too much of a pinch, though, considering the sci-fi crowd has been foaming at the mouth for the prequel for, oh, 15 years or so. Let's just hope good things come to those who wait.
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