The steps: the beating heart of the Cannes film festival
By Maureen COFFLARD
Climbed every evening by the dozens of lucky ones who have been invited to come and see films in competition, the 24 steps which lead to the Cannes festival palace are the festival’s beating heart. At the 65th festival in 2011, AFP journalist Maureen Cofflard asked the agency’s photographers to tell of the biggest moments of this ritual.
Climbing the Cannes steps: highlights as seen by AFP photographers
CANNES, May 25, 2012 (AFP) – At the 65th edition, the highlight on the Cannes red carpet was American Alec Baldwin with his partner leaning on his shoulder, the ever-exciting arrival of Brad Pitt and the downpour of rain. AFP’s reporters tell of the big moments.
- Dancing on the Red Carpet -
When Quentin Tarantino and Melanie Laurent twisted to the music of Pulp Fiction in 2009:” They started to dance as they waited to walk the red carpet. Tarantino, in tuxedo and black shirt, started to quickly sway his hips joined by Melanie Laurent in a white tuxedo” AFP’ photographer on the steps Anne-Christine Poujoulat, recalls.
"In the same vein Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki had done the same several years earlier in 2002, like John Travolta in “Grease”, undulating, his back bent, clicking his fingers. “He was there to present his film and instead of waiting, as he should have, for the music and the red carpet to be opened for him he climbed the steps dancing, passing the photographers completely ignoring protocol. One of the festival’s team came up to ask him to stand in the middle and to mount the carpet normally, and he fell into line."
-"Brangelina", a glamourous ritual -
"There is nothing more beautiful on the red carpet than Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. They know how to pose and have a demeanour to be photogenic together. The glamour professionals!", Anne-Christine Poujoulat says. In 2011," Brad Pitt mounted the steps with all the crew of his film “The Tree of Life" by Terrence Malick, who would go on to win the Palme d'or. He does his job as always. Having posed with all the members of his crew he goes back down the red carpet and goes to get beautiful Angelina Jolie who was waiting for him at the bottom of the steps. And they go back up the red carpet together to cheers from the photographers and the public," Valery Hache says. "Every time they go through the same ritual,", adds Anne-Christine Poujoulat, who had witnessed a similar ascent for Kung Fu Panda II before seeing him go back down for his partner.
- Stunt of honour for Jean-Paul Belmondo in 2011 -
To mark the return to Cannes of Jean-Paul Belmondo, who came to receive a lifetime Palme d'or, a man in a white tuxedo rushed down the steps rolling and diving. "Noone had been warned. When the stuntman started his performance at the top of the steps a security guard threw himself on him to stop him. The security guard had his moment of glory because he leapt like a leopard."
- Maradona climbs dribbling -
Maradona came to show his documentary ‘Maradona by Kusturica’ directed by Serbia’s Emir Kusturica in 2008. He climbed the steps with his daughters and wife. It was after he went through dry out cures, and physically he looked well, in a tuxedo, and had lost weight. A football was thrown onto the red carpet and he started to juggle, climbing while juggling. At the top, he continued to show off, playing with the ball, as he knows how to, with his head, his knees, his feet, as the God of football he is,” AFP photographer Valery Hache recalls.