Sophie Kohn from Cannes

“Cannes, içi, Cannes”

May 12th — I have arrived. Perhaps it is just because I am writing about my experiences in Cannes this year or perhaps it is just bad luck, but there were many points during these past four days where I thought would not make it here before the festival began. On Saturday afternoon, my sister was running around the house doing some last minute packing and I was reading a fellow Cannes blogger’s post about Eyjafjallajokull — the not-so-friendly, Icelandic volcano. When I realized the volcano was causing travel problems again, I quickly looked up our flight and the status was a big, red “canceled.” It was at this point that my emotions erupted right along with the volcano.

Left: My sister, Lily, holds up her sign and makes friendly eye contact with passersby in the hopes of receiving a ticket to the premiere of “Robin Hood.”

Great directors and their stampeding fans

My first movie at Cannes will hopefully end up being my worst movie at Cannes. I chose to see “William Vincent,” directed by Jay Anaia. James Franco starred and produced, as it was his production company Rabbit Bandini Productions that made the film.

I love James Franco and think he is a great actor. I was interested in finding out the types of films he would make if given more control. Unfortunately, the result was disappointing.

Coming down from those 6-hour dinners…

May 22 — The past three days have been a whirlwind of films, panel discussions and French-style dining (meaning 6-hour dinners that start at 8 pm at the earliest). All of this has resulted in minimal sleep or in some extreme cases, no sleep at all. On Wednesday, after a solid week into the festival and with less than a week to go, the atmosphere becomes more restless than usual. People can feel the end approaching and a repressed feeling of panic can emerge.

Full screenings and empty stomachs

May16 — The temperature finally felt like it had risen today. I broke a sweat as I made my way to the Olympia theater to see “The Bang Bang Club,” directed by Steven Silver. The film is based on the novel titled “The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War,” written by Greg Marinovich and Joao Silva. The book and film are about photojournalists and their intense struggles to capture the violence that was taking place within the various townships of South Africa during apartheid.

A Market Badge of one’s own

T minus one paper to Cannes…

I have one more paper to write before I was going to allow myself to focus on my trip to the Cannes Film Festival. But I am failing miserably at this task and have been for the past couple of months.

Ever since I saw Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief” at Robert Osborne’s Classic Film Festival here in Athens, Ga., my mind has been on one thing and one thing only — Cannes, Cannes, Cannes and all the wonderful luxuries that come with it.

Watching Cary Grant and Grace Kelly walk around the Carlton Hotel and drive along the hillsides of Monaco would make anyone envious of the beautiful Mediterranean scenery.

Once the official line-up was released I couldn’t help but indulge myself. At first glance I immediately noticed Jean-Luc Godard’s “Film Socialisme,” which is in the Un Certain Regard category.