Excitement all round at Total Film today when Blindness was announced as the opening film for Cannes 2008.
Blind what, y’say? Blind/ness/ – the Fernando Meirelles-directed tale of the day Mark Ruffalo and loads of other people woke up blind. Fernando who, y’say? Fernando Meirelles – the bloke who directed City Of God and The Constant Gardener. It is going to be brilliant and everyone that is going to Cannes can’t wait to see it. Assuming the art/reality line isn’t blurred horribly and we all get the Ruffalo-affliction come the screening.
So, yeah, this year’s festival is proper shaping up. Hell, chuck in the Robert De Niro and Bruce Willis-starring, Barry Levinson-directed What Just Happened? as the fest’s closer and Hunger by Steve McQueen (no not that one, the artist) and the Croisette is, once again, shaping to be the place to be.
However if the by-the-beach on-the-sea hustle gets a little too much, anyone going out there should check out M1NT Festival House nestled away in a villa a short, free cab ride away from the action. For those that know it, it’s Cannes’ best kept secret and for €200 festival goers get some pretty plush treatment. E-mail festivalhouse@custom.tv for more details. Hell, you may even see Total Film’s pallid hacks hanging about. Baggy eyes, keyboard-beaten fingers, ruffled hair. Come and say hi.
