Welcome to my second installment of my experience at the Cannes Film Festival. To those of you who’ve read the first installment this post might come as a surprise. To those of you who haven’t…
Many memorable experiences in my life have been riddled with contradictions; with great success travelled sorrow, with great love, loss, with great pain, enlightenment and vice versa. I’m working on leveling out the playing field and most days am quite successful but every now and again life throws you a curve ball that you’re ready to hit. Cannes was one of those curve balls for me.
I grew up in a time when films were a little hard to come by, compared to this day and age. Believe it or not, not that long ago, having a VHS machine was a luxury and going to the movie theatre a treat. Since before I was conscious I’ve loved stories. My mom would read different stories to me every night until I was old enough and literate enough to read them on my own and once I discovered film I was in wonderland. The Never Ending Story still topping the charts as one of my all time favorite movies, did I mention of all time?!
I love movies. I love everything about a good movie, I love the story and storytelling. I love cinematography and scene composition; how a seemingly mundane view can appear enchanting on screen. I love the soundtrack that enhances whatever mood the scene calls for. I love great acting in all of its exaggerated flair to its subtle perfection and everything in between. I love how in a great film all of these aspects come together to create a heartfelt romantic tale, a heart wrenching tragedy, a comedy that makes your belly laugh or a magnificent work of art and sometimes all of the above. I love the escape that a great film can induce, the magic that it produces and the inspiration that can ensue. I love how a great film sticks with you like glue and can guide you, affect you, make you think, laugh, cry, feel euphoric, rage driven and love. I love how the movement of a film, the color, lighting, and composition can feel like a painting in motion. I love feeling the films magnificence and imagining all of the individuals who came together to create this work of art; how their beings must have been so synced and how proud they must be with the finished product. I love thinking about the audience that will watch these great films and how their psyches and spirits might actually shift, how their minds might experience something new and expansive, even if it’s something as simple as a smile. I love every genre, every type, every kind of film and what sitting and watching for a couple of hours can produce. It’s magic.
I have had an abundance of fortune in my life and having the opportunity to attend Cannes was one of those fortunate experiences. My second movie on my second night in Cannes was a pinnacle experience in my movie viewing history; if sitting in a theatre, surrounded by talented film makers, actors, writers, directors, producers, wasn’t enough, I was about to embark on an epic journey that poetically depicted love in all of its magnitude. A film that for me exemplified the true nature of love and what we are willing to do to save it when we’ve developed the consciousness to feel it.
Captain Fantastic! Not a typical sci-fi/fantasy superhero movie (admittedly a favorite genre of mine), but a real life superhero movie; a movie about a family that took action to create a lifestyle to be the change that they desired to see in the world. A brilliant magical film that portrayed love in every conceivable capacity. A film that held so much weight in its delivery, so much beauty in its simple cinematography, so much poetry in its writing and magic in all of the actor’s liberation of said poetry. How seamlessly it flowed from one scene to the next, how acute it was to it’s genre and deliberate in it’s exposition. I have to say that Captain Fantastic touched my heart and fuelled my soul and has since become my absolute most favorite movie of all time…that is…after The Never Ending Story.
Capain Fantastic reminded me why we create. It reminded me why such things like the Cannes Film Festival exist in the first place. These events were not created for the ridiculously posh; they were created for the artists struck by genius. They were created to celebrate and give grace to the many voices needing an outlet. They were created to provide opportunities that might not otherwise be available so that we the creators can continue to create and be inspired to create. They were created to connect such genius even if only for a moment, that we might remember what it is we are doing here on this beautiful little planet of ours.
I met many passionate, enthusiastic talents at Cannes, many individuals who came together to inspire and actualize. I will always hold close to my heart all of the brilliant voices with vision pursuing their dreams and following their drive with passion and determination. Their great ideas are the foresight. Their voices the insight.
It is a rare opportunity indeed to be immersed in such vibrant energy, surrounded by overflowing ardency. I am grateful to the Universe to have aligned just right that I was able to experience it, regardless of all of the absurd pomposity. After all, the pompous were there to encompass the creative energy that they’ve always desired but have never possessed. We the Creatives hold the magic of the Universe. We the Creatives have been given gifts that are too great to ignore. We the Creatives shall create new vision, new sensation, and new inspiration for all who witness it. For that I am thankful.
Making the decision to travel life through artistic endevors is a challenging and sometimes frightening decision. Courage is a necessary attribute…stubbornness helps! There are few things as magnificent as being in the presence of Creatives when they are in their essence. The joie de vivre that emanates from these humans whilst in their glory is addictive. I believe that a love force is at play during these times. That force, much like the force produced in Captain Fantastic is purpose in action. If only humans could harness that force within them in any capacity, what a wonderful world it would be.
One by one, may every human experience their own brilliance in their own way so that their hearts could hear the whispers of the trees and their bodies feel the heartbeat of purpose. Creativity comes in all shapes and sizes, from the housewife who gives love everyday to her family, to the truck driver who loves the open road and is friendly to strangers to the painter working day in day out in her studio to the filmmaker gathering individuals together co-creating to the scientist working on a cure to the farmer growing organic produce to the yogi sharing insight…you get my drift.
A little secret that isn’t really a secret, everyone, even the “pomps” have the ability to create beauty, it’s a choice, I made mine before coming to this planet, have you made yours?
Posted on August 3, 2016 Leave a comment