1997 Cannes Film Festival Diaries
Cannes-Scan #3

by Jerry (the usher)

Episode 3:

We have been spending time sitting in the Cafes along the beach, sipping espressos and pastis (the regional licorice-flavored liqueur, mixed with ice and water which gives it a milky coloring). It is really foul tasting, but the locals live on it, and I always drink the local brew no matter how awful.

At night, we hang out at a place called the Petit Carlton, a bar where you go after the evening screenings if you don't have a party invitation, or after the party for a nightcap. The crowd takes over the whole street pretty much. It's an exercise in being pushy to get a drink there. As Americans, we're rather inclined to be polite and avoid physical contact, but you'll die of thirst if you act like that here.

It's a really lively scene and pretty much everyone there is in the movie business one way or another. I'm hoping to maybe meet a producer for my screenplay, but Jai-Pi says "Oh, you don't want any of these people here. They're all as desperate as you. The people you want to meet, you have to find them before dark, at night they just vanish back into the underworld."