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	Heart of the Festival: Coeur Au Du Festival     Produced and Presented by Gilles Jacob France 2004 / Documentary /  104 min /  Color / Dolby Digital 2.0 / 1.33:1 / NTSC /  English with Optional Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish Language Subtitles Gilles Jacob has been involved with Cannes in various capacities for nearly forty years, first as a journalist, later as an event official and, since 2000, as the President of the whole shebang. When he took over Jacob realized that, amazingly, the festival kept no official archives and records of the event’s earliest years were sparse indeed. He embarked on a project designed to rectify the situation, sorting through thousands of hours of broadcast news coverage and other material in order to compose a chronicle that does justice to the monumental history of the event. The result of his efforts is three short films, all directed by Jacob, which tell the story of Cannes from different perspectives. The three documentaries included on “Heart of the Festival” are heavy on images and refreshingly light on words. There is no ponderous voice-over narration and the filmmakers speak for themselves either in interviews or in press conferences. Jacob presents Cannes as a series of dazzling images and famous personalities, not as a dry history lesson and his decision pays off handsomely. The three films on this disc are a cinephile’s dream come true.

FILMS IN CLUDING:

“Cannes Stories” (26 min.) highlights some of the more memorable events from the festival from its earliest days to its recent ones. Jacob mixes the chronology so that in one moment we can see a ravening horde pursuing jail bait-era Brigitte Bardot and in the next Tim Burton. Perhaps the most exciting moment is when an elderly Charlie Chaplin is presented a medal as Commander of the Legion of Honor. A grateful Chaplin can barely choke back the tears as he thanks the crowd for honoring him both in the past and in the present: he rewards the throng with a brief reprise of his trademark Little Tramp character.

“The Red Carpet (A Musical)” (26 min.) focuses on the celebrities and the festivities surround Cannes. Jacob fortunately has managed to unearth some rare footage from the earlier years of the festival and we get to see brief shots of legends like Erich von Stroheim, Abel Gance and Jean Cocteau. As the title suggests, this short documentary is more of a musical montage than anything else and it is quite lovely.

“Words in Progress” (52 min.) covers many of the most interesting press conferences from over the years. Cannes is a place where fans, critics and filmmakers come together to talk film and, just as often, to argue about it. In the most amusing exchange, prickly critic Alexander Walker confronts Australopithecine director Abel Ferrara about his new film. Walker describes the characters in the film as “sexual homunculi” prompting confusion from Ferrara: Walker retorts snidely, “I apologize for using polysyllabic words while addressing you.” Many filmmakers get to hold court here, but Jacob reserves a special extended section for Jean-Luc Godard who is seldom at a loss for words.