Laurie Geddes’ Cannes Diary #1

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cannes pic day 1lr.jpgLaurie Geddes, creative group head, J. Walter Thompson, Sydney is sitting on the Cannes Film Lions jury. Geddes reports on the judging exclusively for Campaign Brief.

Day 1

7pm Saturday. One day down, six to go. I am trying not to think about the fact it’s 3am in Sydney. It seems someone has replaced the inside of my eyelids with sandpaper. I guess nine hours of staring at a screen will do that to you. With only seconds to vote on each entry, you literally cannot afford to blink. And today was the so-called “easing into it” day.

We have three days to get through the hard slog of creating a shortlist. And then the fun starts. I’m told the days will get progressively longer and more interesting once we enter the discussion phase. They say we won’t truly bond as a group until we’ve had a few fights. Hard to imagine that right now; my fellow jurors appear to be a united nations of absolute angels. Let’s see what happens when the gloves come off.

I arrived yesterday after thirty-two hours in transit, looking and feeling like something from the Walking Dead. Miraculously, they let me into the hotel anyway. I am sharing a room with Marion Cotillard. She adds an appropriately Gallic air, smiling regally down from her position above the bed (odd? Maybe). Either way, she’s no good to me when I’m wide awake at four in the morning.

Off to dinner now with the UN. Trying hard to get on local time. Hopefully I won’t fall asleep in the soup.