Watched one "montee de marche" (i.e. the event where stars and others walk up the red-carpeted stairs of the Palais du Festival for a screening). They now installed a big screen right next to the stairs, and everybody watches that instead of the real thing, which makes the whole event pretty virtual - one might nearly stay at home. This year, direct observation has been made even more difficult since they blocked the view to the right and the left of the stairs with fake walls, probably for security reasons. Security has advantages, too - the ugly tents that were blocking the park right next to the Palais are gone this year, again for security reasons.
All along the Croisette, they installed spotlights that illuminate the sky at night - very pretty. Although when I told a friend from NYC about this, she said that this sounded like what they did at the World Trade Center site - can't escape the grim political reality. This also shows in the Festival selection - one movie about Palestine, one about the Armenian genociode etc. - but as I already said, seriousness generally rules at the Festival, so this is not necessarily a new thing - it just stands out in a particular way this year.
Also briefly attended the open-air screening they held at the beach right next to the Palais (the stage for the screen is built in the water) - not too many visitors, probably too many other things to do.
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