The long-awaited weekend (for me, 'long awaited' really translates to about a month) took place over the weekend, ending on poisson d'avril, or April Fools, though luckily this beared no evil circumstances on the festival and all prevailed, somewhat smoothly.
My role as 'social media content advisor' actually turned out to mean something and I can now tell you with confidence that Facebook and Twitter really can be stressful. Talk about too many friend requests! But really, the weekend pretty much turned into a game of how many people could tell me all at once that they wanted their articles/photos/videos on social media in the shortest amount of time possible. By the end of the first day I couldn't even see the idyllic backdrop on my laptop, poised to calm and relax me, due to the overflow of photos and videos that took up all the space. As well as this, I managed to overload and crash my computer half way through the second day and discover that when technology goes awry, people are still blamed for it and my laptop's inabilities suddenly fell in my hands.
Luckily we had as many laptops as angry French customers (an abundance, actually) and I was able to grab another and get back to work, just after I thought I'd found a way to escape the madness. But despite the constant time pressures and reliance on electronics that are outside my knowledge, the festival was a lot of fun, something about practically living with all the other interns for three days straight turned out for the best and we all got on really well. While running around madly on little sleep and lack of food, we still managed to talk story, smile and laugh at the crazy atmosphere for which no one was prepared.
I did manage to squeeze into the viewing of one and a half short films which come to think about it, I don't know what they were called and can't really remember, but that says more about my amount of sleep than the talent of the film. It was during the Awards Ceremony when the winning filmmakers went up to collect their prizes that it suddenly all seemed worth it. All the filmmakers were so stoked to be there, for some it was the first time that they'd even see their film on a big screen, or simply outside of their laptop! One Australian filmmaker emotionally stated that winning an award was so gratifying because the film was banned from being screened in Australia and putting all your hard work into something not recognised by your own country was tough to take. It was nice to see the people behind the films and hear their stories and 100 percent made the crazy weekend worth it.
The After Parties each night were also a blast, mainly because adding a little bit of alcohol to a day of hard work, little food and lack of sleep is an interesting mix. The last one on Sunday night on the boat down the Seine was definitely the highlight. After rushing to get out the photos from the Awards Ceremony, we were the last from the cinema and practically ran to the boat, making it there 15 minutes after it was supposed to leave at midnight but managing to scurry on anyway. Everyone was decked out in their finest, having changed at the cinema but my lack of time meant I was still repping the ECU t-shirt and work clothes! I think people thought I really liked black...
We were lucky enough (or had a super organised Captain) who managed to float us by the Eiffel Tower just as it started its hourly sparkle. Despite the pretty cold temperatures, everyone was crowded out on the deck, cheering and whistling at the beauty that never gets old. The rest of the night was spent buying too many over-priced, under-filled drinks and dancing to the awesome bands that we were lucky to get to play for us.
And if I learned one thing this weekend, it was that filmmakers really know how to let their hair down...
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