Every Spring the film elite rub shoulders and pop champagne at fabulous parties and beach soirees, prance around in exquisite up-to-the-minute fashions and oh yeah, watch some movies, all in the south of France. The Festival De Cannes has been the hot European spot for directors, celebrities and socialites to schmooze since 1946.
What was once a tasteful and glamorous film festival at a serene seaside town in France decked with classic films, tuxedos and one-piece bathing suits has turned a bit topsy-turvy over the past few years. The films and celebrities are still there, but with over 10,000 film industry professionals coming from over 97 countries, the festival is now prone to some outrageous moments.
After seeing this post in Movie Moron, I had to re-share some moments they found and some we found! Happy Friday!
Paris likes to keep her man on her tongue leash in public.
Borat’s mankini was the must have for every man that summer!
Multitasking is key at Cannes. However does ‘The King of Cannes’ Jacques d’Azur do it?
Jerry Seinfeld buzzing around to promote Bee Movie. Is this all they could really think of?
What? The poor girl was hot! (note all of the empty champagne glasses by her feet )
This group of Belgium bicyclists were swealtering hot too! What a way to get the attention of their favorite celebs!
Finally after all of the partying is done and the wee hours of the morning approach, at least someone’s responsible enough to recycle! France is so green!
Ke$ha, a Los Angeles based singer, moved 610,069 downloads of her first single “Tik Tok” in a week placing her at the number 2 spot for one week downloads ever with Flo Rida’s “Right Round” at number one in one week sales (with Ke$ha as an uncredited singer). That number is remarkably similar to the number of times New Moon was illegally downloaded online during it’s first week of release (610,000). That number pales in comparison to the first week illegal downloads for Avatar which came close to one million illegal downloads.
Illegal online downloads during the theater run doesn’t appear to have much of an impact on the box office numbers, the challenge for the movie industry comes when the films are released to DVD/Blu-Ray. With Netflix and other cost effective (or illegal and free) options for watching movies, it’s become harder and harder to sell DVD/Blu-Ray discs. According to the Wall Street Journal, 2009 was the first year since 2002 that ticket sales out did DVD/Blu-Ray sales, challenging the existing business model of the movie industry. The music industry faced a similar challenge with the appearance of digital downloads but they were able to recover from the disaster that Napster could have been after a little resistance. The did lead to the near death of the compact disc.
The movie industry isn’t quite there. With new release digital movie downloads costing up to the monthly membership at Netflix (and I mean the good membership with 3 movies at a time), what is the movie industry to do in 2010 to turn that around? SmartMoney recently released a list of things not to buy in 2010 and along with newspaper subscriptions, new college text books and CDs was DVDs. Perhaps it’s time the industry lower the cost of a digital download and move the home release date closer to the theatrical release date. This will allow for two money making opportunities for the industry and allow for the movie watcher to choose the type of experience they want and trump the massive amount of illegal downloads. Of course, with Avatar passing $1 billion dollars at the box office, the need for change is not as immediate but as the quality and availability of downloads become a bit easier for the non-techie, that may shift quickly.
We did survive the death of the VHS, I think we can make it through the next shift.
The 2009 Tasty Awards are coming to San Francisco January 14. Featuring some of the best culinary and fashion arts of 2009 from television, film and the web.
Realizing that food, drink, fashion and design are all a dominate factor in video and television viewership, they did not have an award for their own achievements until 2008 at the New Media Tastemakers Summit.
The Tasty awards will showcase some of 2009’s best achievements in food, wine, and style programming. Online, televised, mobile or cinema, celebrity or self proclaimed, everyone has an opportunity to win.
Hosted by food and travel television star Zane Lamprey, the show features a star-studded lineup of food and fashion TV celebrities.
Winners of the Tasty will be announced on January 14, 2010 at an exclusive red carpet awards show in San Francisco at the Sundance Kabuki. Select portions of the show will be filmed for a televised broadcast to be aired in February 2010 to millions of households.
Like so many other design-loving filmgoers, I was pulled into the intricate story and visuals in the 2007 documentary, Helvetica. Although a documentary about a font may not initially seem captivating, it is a beautifully crafted independent film that explores typography, graphic design and global visual culture. Helvetica as a typeface celebrated its 50th year in 2007 and had a surprising impact on design. After seeing the film, I couldn’t wait to see what came next for the director.
Gary Hustwit, the director of Helvetica, decided to look at design from another angle in his 2009 film, Objectified. The film was released in the theatres in March and made its television debut in November on PBS. Although similar to Helvetica, this film focuses on the origins and designs of objects. The term “objects” can cover almost anything: the focus of this documentary is on modern design. Something as simple as the grip on a vegetable peeler was a well thought out design created for each consumer by focusing on the needs of the weakest and strongest to find the perfect balance. The documentary examines our relationship with objects and by proxy, those that design those objects. Objectified opens viewers eyes to the process that takes place to create and perfect the products consumers us on a day-to-day basis.
On of the more interesting sections of the film was the discussion around sustainability and the future of design. Electronics in particular are designed for short-term consumption and are quickly discarded and end up in a landfill. Smart marketing makes the newest product old very quickly and leaves us craving the next new thing. The challenge for designers is to create products that are recyclable and/or reusable that also stand the test of time. The film features interview and commentary answering this question as well as many others tied to the history, present and future of design.
The documentary is smart and interesting. You may also find yourself rattling off random facts about design to your friends (which may or may not be appreciated depending on the setting). If you missed Objectified in theatres or on PBS, the film is available on DVD for rent or purchase.
Jerry Seinfeld buzzing around to promote Bee Movie. Is this all they could really think of?
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Gary Hustwit, the director of Helvetica, decided to look at design from another angle in his 2009 film, 
