Nadia’s Cannes Diary: Part Three—Schmoozing With The Sexiest Men Alive

From my balcony a 15 minute walk from the Palais, I could hear the crowds early this morning cheering for perhaps the most anticipated film at Cannes – Terrence Malick’s Pitt/Penn starring Tree of Life. Since the reclusive director and Penn were a no show on the red carpet, the crowd must have felt a stronger urge to unleash their fever on Pitt.

Early accounts already call the film a masterpiece, but a few have also spoken of jeers inside the theatre.

Over the weekend, Johnny Depp popped round, Kanye West brought supermodels and Jamie Fox to the beach, and "the most beautiful woman in the world" Aishwarya Rai wore a completely see-through dress (which seems a little try-hard given her moniker, to be honest). I prefer new starlet Astrid Berges-Frisbey, the 24-year-old Spanish ingénue who plays a mermaid in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Her angelic face and refreshing style is just begging for a Chanel contract.

There is not a moment that goes by here where nothing happens. Either you are in a silk backless Philip Lim dress and lose your coveted festival badge in a French taxi and need to run (in silk and Riviera heat) along the beach to get to a private party at the famed Plage de Palmes.

Or you are turned away from a premiere at the Grand Lumiere Theatre because you are 25 minutes early and in Cannes you need to be at least 35 minutes early.

Or, while ogling the droves of fans who’re screaming “Johnny” at the premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, you get a text that it is your directing hero Sofia Coppola’s birthday, just as they blare her husband’s band Phoenix’s song Lisztomania along the Croissette.

These experiences were my weekend in Cannes.

In a town where something is always happening, it is heaven to dip into the Debussy Theatre and watch some of the best films in the world. Home to the Un Certain Regard section, I am reminded that I stood on its stage 10 years earlier as a young actress in my first film The Five Senses. Back a decade later as an invited director, I watch young starlets in the making like Nathalia Galgani of the charming Chilean film Bonsai and imagine (and, in fact, know something about) the super-size life they’re about to begin.

Nadia Litz is a Canadian actress. Her directorial debut, the short How To Rid Your Love of A Negative Emotion Caused By You! is screening at Cannes. Read more of her Cannes adventures

Tags: Brad Pitt, Cannes Diary, Cannes Film Festival, Film, Johnny Depp