Cannes Day 1

Although there wasn't much to the festival as of yet, the first day was quite an adventure.
Getting up earlier than usual wasn't too much of a hassle (I didn't come here to sleep after all). From the train station, it was a straight shot to the American pavilion.
As me and a few others waited, I met a woman with the cutest small dog. Upon talking to her, it turned out she was a director. We exchanged information and that was that. The director wasn't the sole potential contact I made, as I met an Indian screenwriter while getting my bag checked.
The IndyWire talk was particularly fascinating. It gave me some ideas as to how to approach my review. Speaking of which, my group and I actually made it to a screening after a quick lunch.

We saw Heavy Water, a documentary about extreme surfers that somehow sucked the excitement from surfing. I don't know how it's possible to make extreme surfing painfully boring, but these documentarians seemed to manage.

After the screening,we changed and attempted to beg for tickets. Only one of our group of 10 actually managed to do so. I hope she had a good time. Hopefully I'll have better luck in the next few weeks.

After having given up on begging for tickets, we tried to get into a hotel to soak in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, two of my colleagues were met with a racist security guard who refused entry to them. We gathered up the group and left for dinner. Needless to say, none of us will ever return there.

Dinner met an awkward end, as we'd blindly walked into a restaurant without having looked at the menu. The restaurant looked about as expensive as it was, eg, incredibly expensive. The only affordable options were salads and desserts. We argued amongst ourselves as to whether or not we'd commit a faux pas by leaving the place. We did both those things; leave and commit a faux pas. I don't think we're welcome anymore.

Rather than eat in Cannes, we took Ubers to Juan Les Pins and went our separate ways for dinner.

All and all, it was quite the eventful day.