[Photo by Brian Brooks/indieWIRE]
Partying got serious Saturday, beginning in the evening with a cocktail party for the newly branded distributor Picturehouse on the Majestic pier right off the Croisette. Then, it was the Canadian reception at the Canada Pavilion (go figure) with directors Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg and Stu Samuels. The party was nice (can't beat anything right on the sand of the Med) but the event was a bit marred by this asshole photographer from a well-known major photo company (I'm witholding the name of the group because we normally really get along with everyone there, so I don't want to implicate all the other cool people at the company) who was trying to stop everyone...
from taking pictures of the directors. He started screaming, "don't shoot over me, this is an exclusive!" What...?? An exclusive...? It's a beach dipshit!
Anyway, after the Canada party (and we did get our pictures, thank you -- please view them in Monday's iPOP) a group of us headed over to the marina right behind the Palais de Festivals to the Budweiser yacht for the FIND/Los Angeles Film Festival party. What a spread!! Budweiser beer (of course), champagne, lobster, shrimp and scallops galore. Sipping champagne on a yacht a la "I've been to paradise, but I've never been to me," with the lights glistening off the Cannes harbor is not a bad situation to find yourself in... We hung out with Miami International Film Festival director Nicole Guillemet (one of the coolest people in the biz) as well as director Ryan Eslinger (who just signed a deal to do a project with Sharon Stone) and FIND executive director Dawn Hudson, who is always a great host.
After stuffing ourselves there, we were off to the MTV party for "Kung Fu Hustle" at this kick-ass villa in the hills above Cannes. Getting there by shuttle was not easy, but once we arrived, it was quite good. The Fugees played a set next to the huge pool, and let's just say the crowd was not hard on the eyes. We were surprised to hear (a little birdie told us) that MTV Europe and its American counterpart aren't always the best of friends, which is why there's no U.S. MTV coverage of the Cannes Film Festival. Quite a shock considering Paris Hilton is here, and tonight is the world premiere of the final "Star Wars" saga, "Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith." Speaking of which, somehow the party gods blessed us with an invitation to the party tonight for the film. How we scored that, I'll never know, but you'll hear all about it in tomorrow's "The Morning After" report. God Bless and Cheers...