In the world of film, the Festival de Cannes — known to many of us as the Cannes Film Festival — is the largest international showcase of cinematic art. In the world of the yet-to-be-discovered filmmaker, the Cannes Film Festival is a godsend. It’s not like the Oscars: Anyone can submit a film, and every submission has the chance to be viewed by representatives of the international movie industry.

Every year, for 12 days in May, the small city of Cannes in southern France turns into a meeting place for cinema’s players, would-be players and the people who report on them. If you don’t fall into any of these categories, your chances of attending a film screening at the festival are almost nonexistent, but you can gawk at the stars and bask in the atmosphere to your heart’s content.

Artistically, it’s an anything-goes film showcase that has launched the careers of directors like Quentin Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh. It boasts such diverse events as black-tie screenings and midnight movies on the beach, and it has grown into a fairly intricate system of main events, sidebars and awards. In this article, you’ll find out what goes on during the Cannes Film Festival and why it is so unique.

The Cannes Experience

The unique combination of ground-floor, first-time moviemakers and international stars creates an environment that is unlike any other. On the one hand, you have the very grand, art-above-all philosophy of the Cannes Film Festival, stated on the official Web site as an intent to be “a crossroads for world cinema,” an apolitical “melting pot of creativity” in which the “linguistic boundaries should fade away in the face of universal images.” On the other hand, you have the celebrities strolling down the red carpet at the main screening, the press snapping pictures at every turn, and festival guards who have been known to refuse admittance to people whose attire doesn’t meet their standards.

This intense meeting of art, stardom and finance — Cannes is the number-one international market for first-time films, and multi-million dollar deals are signed there every year — attracts in the neighborhood of 27,000 film industry representatives and countless tourists. The perfect spring weather in Cannes doesn’t hurt, either.

Cannes Awards

There are two official juries at the Cannes Film Festival: the Feature Films Jury and the Short Films and Cinefondation Jury. Voting is by secret ballot, and majority rules. Members of the juries cannot have a film in competition.

Jury members are invited by the same selection committee that chooses the films. The official jurors are all people in the film industry, and more recently are almost exclusively directors or actors. It is an honor to be invited to sit on one of these juries — an even greater one to be jury president. The committee invites actors and directors it wants to recognize for great achievement. Jury members for the 2006 festival include the Chinese film director Wong Kar-Wai (serving as president), the Italian actress Monica Bellucci, the British actress Helena Bonham Carter, the British actor Tim Roth and the American actor Samuel L. Jackson.

There are lots of awards at the Cannes Film Festival, but the biggest of them all is the Palme d’Or, which is awarded to the best feature film and the best short film in Competition. In general, when people refer to “the Palme d’Or,” they mean the one for feature films. In the past decade, there have been two ties for the Palme d’Or — “The Piano” and “Bawang Bieji” in 1993, and “Unagi” and “Ta’m e Guilass” in 1997.

The Camera d’Or is awarded by a separate jury to the best first-time film in the entire festival, including all sections of the Official Selection, the Directors’ Fortnight and International Critics’ Week. By Cannes standards, a “first-time film” is at least an hour long and its director has never before made a movie of that length for the cinema or TV.

One of the coolest things about the awards at Cannes is that they can be a little bit different every year. Juries have the freedom to add awards as they see fit, depending on the movies in the Official Selection that year. In 2000, “La Noce” by Pavel Lounguine won an award for the best ensemble of actors; in 1998, “Velvet Goldmine” by Todd Haynes was awarded the Prix de la meilleure contribution artistique au Festival International du Film — the prize for the greatest artistic contribution to the Festival. In 1991, Samuel L. Jackson won a best supporting actor award for his role in Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever” — the first supporting actor award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. To view the entire archive of Cannes Film Festival awards, visit the official Web site.

While it is an extremely big deal to win an award at Cannes, there are other prizes to be had too. The screenings themselves are a major aspect of the festival, a place for new films, new artists and new artistic approaches to be seen by the people who matter in the film world. The Marche du Film at Cannes is the biggest international film market, and whether or not a movie wins the Palme d’Or, it has the chance of attracting the attention of critics and producers who can launch careers in the movie industry. Especially for an “indie” film, an invitation to Cannes can be a huge boost, and a win usually means serious dollars from producers who want to get in on the next big thing.

The Scene:
It’s the biggest hotel opening to hit St. Tropez and the South of France in 5 years as the operators or Murano Resorts (Murano Paris, Murano Marrakech, KUBE Paris) debut their first resort property on the French beach scene. Not your quick boutique hotel remodel, KUBE St Tropez is a design achievement located on the edge of town in Gassin near haute hoteliers Villa Marie and Villa Belrose. The property takes the former-Caesar Domus and resurrects it into the best design boutique property to date in the St. Tropez area.

KUBE sprawls out along a rectangular resort pool, outdoor restaurant and fitness spa aimed to please fickle urbanites looking for a dose of cool in old money St. Tropez. By night the hotel morphs into a nightclub with two bars including a rooftop sky lounge with bay view (a rarity for St. Tropez hotels) and garden-level ‘Ice KUBE’ sponsored by Grey Goose Vodka where DJs spin hip-hop and lounge dance tracks till the wee hours of morning.

The Room:
While swish design hotels like the Benkirai and Pan dei Palais offers stylish design properties for St. Tropez travelers, their meager guest rooms can feel like a cruise cabin to nowhere. KUBE offers more variety in their guest rooms arranged in four freestanding buildings along the perimeter of the resort garden and pools. 41 rooms and suites are divided between S, M, L, XL, XXL and XXL Terrace categories with smaller spaces ranging in price from 250-390 Euro per night and largest going for 950-1200 Euro per night. While very little is walkable from the location, the laid-back setting is an ideal retreat from the hectic village during high season.

KUBE St. Tropez
13 Chemin de Rogon de la Valette
St. Tropez – Gassin 83580
France
(33) 1 42 05 20 00
Official Website

Vintage from Champagne, France – Other regions

Winemaker’s Notes:
“The Dom Pérignon Vintage 1998 has a special way of holding its final note on and on. It’s as if it doesn’t want to let go. It’s surprising, unique and magnicent.”
Richard Geoffroy, Chef de Cave

Color:
Pale yellow with golden highlights.

On the nose: The initial notes of fresh almond and grapefruit gradually lead into cashew nut and spices complemented by lightly toasted brioche.

On the Palate:
Satiny texture unfurls on the palate, embracing and caressing it. Momentary weightlessness with a vibrating finish arouses the taste buds with controlled ardor. The persistence is remarkable, with the slightest undertone of tartness (citrus zest and buds.)

The 1998 Harvest
The year featured two unusual and contrasting weather related events: Record high temperatures in August followed by exceptional rainfall in the first half of September. Patience prevailed at harvest and was rewarded by a period of miraculously good weather resulting in healthy, especially well-ripened grapes.