Wanjiru Kinyanjui

Three Kenyans are among the more than 30000 professionals attending the annual Cannes Film Festival in France that began on May 12, 2004. Tourism and Information Minister Raphael Tuju is leading a three-member delegation to the world's capital of film that is marking its 57th anniversary this year. Europe and the fight against piracy are at the centre of the 12-day event as the future of cinema is prepared by players in politics, art, and film industry from across the world.

Those in Tuju's entourage are filmmaker Wanjiru Kinyanjui and arts and culture critic and publisher Ogova Ondego. Olivier Lechien, the audiovisual attache at the French embassy in Nairobi that sponsored the Kenyans to France, says the embassy hopes they will network with other professionals in order to help develop Kenya's audiovisual sector.

"We hope the presence of Kenyans at Cannes will expose them to cross-pollination of ideas they could adopt for use back home," he says. Fonds Sud Cinema, the organisation that partially sponsored Wanjiru Kinyanjui's student film, The Battle of the Sacred Tree, is marking two decades this year and has invited beneficiary filmmakers from the South to Cannes to celebrate the event. Kinyanjui is the only East African to have benefited from the fund. While in France, the Kenyans are scheduled to participate in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs-organised Fonds Sud Cinema events, establish contacts, and plan further meetings and activities with personalities present at he festival.

African Cinemas, a European Union fund to help support the distribution of African films through commercial theatres, is also being launched at Cannes. The fund is coordinated by Bukinabe Toussaind Tiendrebeogo. Cameroonian filmmaker Bassek be Kobhio is also scheduled to launch the Yaounde Film Festival that he runs at Cannes.

Wanjiru on the set of Battle of the sacred tree

Unlike other film festivals that are either cultural or commercial, Cannes seeks to strike a balance between showcasing film merely as cultural and artistic creations and film as commercial products that can be sold and bought in a market. "The cultural content is a very important segment of Cannes. Although this should not be taken to mean it is purely industry-driven like the Hollywood Academy awards," Lechien says, adding that he hopes the Kenyan delegation will learn from this how to run their own film matters. As heads of major international film studios--from Bollywood to Hollywood, China and Europe--meet to draw up an internationally concerted action against piracy on May 16, 25 Ministers of Culture from the European Union will discuss "becoming a filmmaker" two days later, on May 18.

To underscore the importance of Cannes as the world's most important centre of film, 5000 producers, 4,000 distributors, 4,000 journalists, and 1000 authors and directors are among the more than 30000 accredited festivaliers from all over the world who are mingling and interacting in the Film Village. A weekend-long closing festivities are planned. On Saturday May 22, the Awards Ceremony will be followed by the world premier of Irwin Winkler's film, De-lovely.

This biopic is based on the life of American composer Cole Porter played by Kevin Kline and starring Ashley Judd and Jonathan Pryce, along with a number of stars from the contemporary pop and rock music world: Alanis Morissette, Robbie Williams, Lara Fabian, Natalie Cole, Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, and Diana Krall. A fireworks display will follow and kick off the Awards Party, which will give way to a live concert in Cannes Bay performed by several of the singers and musicians from the film. On Sunday May 23, all the films from the official selection will be re-scheduled in the Palais theatres. In the evening, the Closing Ceremony will be the scene of the official jury prize-giving, honouring the Palme d'Or cast and crew and showing the winning film.

The screening will be preceded by a presentation of the best moments of the 2004 edition of CannesFilm Festival.

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