Films either deliberately or unconsciously convey the national identity of their makers. By watching films with an insightful eye, one can capture a picture of their origin. There are few places as multinational as Cannes in May: the town is like a great melting pot of people, countries and film cultures. If you stand for fifteen minutes on any walkway of the festival, the whole world passes by. The global village of world cinema meets in Cannes. So, be prepared for a journey through cultures and continents.

In the Palais du Festival and on the Croisette one minute you are in Japan, the next in Chile. One minute a troubled country’s resurrected film industry is in the spotlight, the other, mired directors stand up for their cinema against their leader’s will. There is drama and great celebration. Cinema can reveal and reconcile all controversies.

The narrow streets are crammed with limousines, tuxedoes, photographers stretching to the limit of their ladders. It is a showcase of beauty and elegance. It is a festival where nothing is too expensive and no one is too illustrious for the Croisette. Events like royal weddings or film carnivals like this one are necessary for the collective soul of the world, as they heal their participants from the depressions of daily existence. The carnival of Cannes may not reach to far-away countries, but for those who are queuing in anticipation of the glamour and the movies, it is heaven; for those who are trudging the red carpet of the Palais in the hope of unexpected meetings, it could be the launching pad of a career.

By Patrícia Veszpremi