ECU 2010 Day 1 – The Grand Entrance

Something of a novice as far as film festivals are concerned, I’m
caught off guard as I’m stampeded out of the intimate hall (really,
though, a corridor that compensates with the title “Le Grand Bar”) of
the Cinéma Grand Action in Paris’ Latin Quarter, in which the entirety
of the Friday night ÉCU film festival crowd are packed like stylish and
remarkably prolific independent-film making sardines.  Tonight people
have gathered for a series of 8 short films, each one of a caliber
worthy of an “official selection.”  It’s a sea of accomplishment and
post-toil catharsis– half of the people in here have made a film in the
far reaches of Europe (and even the world), and here they all are
chatting over bar pretzels.  It’s a sight to behold– only I cannot, as
I am being swept away, up the screening room.  I have a macaron
(Paris’s best flour-based offering) in one hand, a delicious albeit
amorphous and alien berry sandwich cylinder-mini in another hand, and
my third glass of wine somewhere in my third hand.  I’m feeling antsy
to talk to some filmmakers, albeit unsure of who is who, what language
I’ll be expected to speak in, and inevitably afraid I’ll somehow
accidentally blabber something cinematically sacrilegious like, “yeah,
I really noticed Mermaids’ influence on your style.  That
actress of yours is beautiful, kind of Meg Ryan-ish circa 2008.”  Well,
only time and a couple of interviews will tell.