When I last wrote, I was in line for the Salma Hayek panel at the American Pavilion. It was such a great experience to listen to her speak about her career and her passion projects. She always speaks from the heart, and it’s so refreshing to know that there are genuine and passionate souls working in this normally cutthroat industry.

After the panel, Erin asked me to write up a little something on my impressions to hopefully put it up on Indiewire.

And as of today, I’m really proud to share the article with you here!

That’s right folks. I’m now officially a published writer on Indiewire.
HOW MUCH MORE UNREAL CAN LIFE GET.

Well… A lot apparently.

Sunday went by pretty fast after the panel. Danielle and I met up with Brooke and Katelin later in the evening to catch a screening of The Lobster, which despite being so bizarre we all really enjoyed. That night, we had the Panama party which was super fun. We had met one of the women planning out the event during Danielle’s meetings last week, and she ushered us right in as soon as we got there. Legitimacy rocks. It was in the same tent on the beach as the Colombian party and there was an open bar and (best of all) free food.

Afterwards, we met with one of Danielle’s friends who was having drinks at the Carlton with her mom and cousin. As soon as we sat down, her friend’s mom told us that Guillermo del Toro was sitting outside and she wanted to go introduce herself. Inside I fangirled like crazy but on the outside, I remained professional and politely asked to come with her. We went outside to the table where was sitting and I stood with what I hoped was a normal-looking smile as she spoke to him. She introduced me and I shook his hand and he was just so incredibly humble and genuinely nice and it took all my self-control to refrain from asking him to cast me in Pacific Rim 2.

When we said goodbye, I actually gave him my card which means absolutely nothing to him but just the fact that this crazy talented Latin American director has my name in his pocket is so exhilarating.

Oh yeah Jake Gyllenghal was at his table too and I made ~~*~eye contact~~*~

It was a lot for one night.

Monday was pretty relaxed for me in terms of workload so I mostly spent the day playing catch-up and accompanying Danielle to a few meetings. Later in the afternoon, we went to a screening of one of the Critic’s Week films, a Colombian movie called Tierra y Sombra. We were both so tired from the night before and unfortunately the movie was much too slow and the theater much too dark for us to fight off the exhaustion.

Aka we fell asleep. Oops.

That night we had invitations to the Chile party and had received last minute invitations to the Arabian Nights movie party afterwards. We didn’t know what to expect from the Chile party but I am SO glad we were able to go. Not to mention how great it felt to push through the crowd of people begging to come through and hand our official invitations to the bouncer and stroll in.

Self-importance was through the roof that night.

The party was at another one of the tents by the beach but this one was much bigger than the one in which the Colombia and Panama parties had taken place. There were so many people and by this point we were seeing plenty of familiar faces. We got food and drinks and danced. They had actually hired a group of dancers to perform and get the party started which was just so awesome and really got people going. We didn’t want to leave.

Eventually, we took a huge complimentary bus to the Arabian Nights party which was way further down the beach. The venue was insane and every single person somehow involved with the film was in attendance. There was a dance floor and pool on the ground floor, a bar right in the sand, and a whole upstairs section where people were just mingling and talking. It was an awesome night.

Yesterday, I finally reached it. The point everyone warned us about. The moment I knew was coming.

I burnt out.

You can only go so hard for so long before your body makes you sit your ass down and take a break. Only two hours after falling sleep following the double whammy Chile & Arabian parties, I woke up at the crack of dawn to make my way back to the American Pavilion for another TimesTalk panel.

Why would I torture myself in this way you ask?

Oh because the panel was on Pixar’s Inside Out featuring AMY POEHLER AND MINDY KALING IT’S FINE I’M FINE I’M OKAY I’M BREATHING.

After a nerve-wracking morning in line wondering if we were gonna be able to get in, it was time. Just before they let us in to sit down, we watched them come down and enter the tent and I took a million pictures and cried a million tears.

Somehow, because somewhere there is a god that wants me to be in their presence, I was one of the first ones in and I snagged a seat in the tiny little intimate space just three rows away from the stage. I was about to be a stone’s throw away from two of my favorite women in television. I knew from Salma Hayek’s panel that the talent walks down the center aisle to the stage so I strategically planted myself down in the aisle seat and tried to emotionally prepare.

I failed like as soon as they walked in but hey what can you do. I honestly debated whether running up on stage and hugging them both would be worth getting kicked out of Cannes. You’ll be happy to know that I maintained my composure and took very professional notes and laughed way too loudly at every word and unfairly ignored the other wonderful talent that were accompanying them on the panel.

Erin asked me to write up another piece on that panel so hopefully soon I’ll be able to share another Indiewire link with my thoughts! Let’s hope the gibberish in my head translates into something really compelling.

After the panel, Brooke and I decided our wounds had healed and we were ready to try begging for tickets again. It was early in the afternoon so it was much less embarrassing to stand around with signs wearing normal clothes. It took a little over an hour for a guy to walk up to Brooke and give her his Balcony ticket for the 3pm screening for Sicario. She hung around with me for another twenty minutes while I tried to get another one to join her. Finally she had to go get in line so I decided to wait it out just a little bit longer and then going to get food. I had skipped breakfast in the anxious rush to get to the panel that morning and was positively starving.

Literally five minutes after Brooke left, a guy walked up to me and handed me his ticket for the 3pm screening. ORCHESTRA SEATING BABY.

I ran to get in line and called Brooke. We wouldn’t be able to sit together but at least we got to sorta see it together. We had been hoping for the nighttime red carpet screening but hey, we’d take it. There were still plenty of chances to get on the red carpet before we left. So what if the first time we walked it were in shorts and sandals? We were in the Grand Theatre Lumiere at Cannes!!!

The film was great. Very heavy and dark but the violence had an emotional undertone that linked the story together. After the festival I’ll write a post with my thoughts from all the films I was able to see and get into more detail. The only negative thing about the experience was by the time the movie let out around 5pm I had officially not eaten in nearly 24 hours and was pretty close to passing out.

We went to grab food and then headed back to the hotel to rest. I had no intention of leaving my bed that night. I had finally reached the breaking point. My body felt just about ready to collapse into itself and I wanted nothing more than my pjs and my book. No sooner had I thought that then an invitation came through to meet in the lobby at midnight for a surprise outing. Hating everything about life in general and complaining the entire time, I forced myself out of my bunk at 11pm to get ready and meet Danielle downstairs.

We ended up at VIP — one of the best clubs in Cannes located at the JW Marriott. We had tried three times over the past week to get in with no luck. Snoop Dogg was performing which I cared very little about but people were excited. The club was awesome and the group we were with were all great and in my mind I was having so much fun but my body was just not having it. I had gone beyond exhaustion. No amount of adrenaline or loud music could bring me back.

To my incredible surprise, I made it through the entire night all the way through past 5am when they started ushering people out. I finally collapsed back in my bed past 6am half-convinced I would wake up in the next millennium.

Today I slept until 11am which honestly was not nearly enough. I had made plans with Brooke and Katelin to hit up the beach since none of us had work obligations and it was gorgeous and hot and sunny outside and the rest of the weekend was gonna be much cooler. As tired as I was, I can never say no to the beach. We had a much-needed relaxing afternoon by the Plage de Cinema and topped it all off with sushi and gelato.

I made plans to have no plans tonight and take a much needed break. No sooner had I got in comfortable in bed with my book after a relaxing shower than a text from Danielle came through with an invitation to hang out with the Venezuelan friends we had made a few days ago.

Okay Cannes. There are no such things as breaks here. Lesson learned. Message received. Roger, Roger.

Luckily we’re just going to hang out at their place which means for the first time in over a week I can wear flats instead of heels. Yeah that’s actually what I’m most excited about. If I can’t stay in, then a chill night out with good friends is the next best thing.

I can’t believe this experience is almost over. I’ve got so much planned for the last four days and I know it’s gonna go by way too quickly for my liking.

Nothing left to do but enjoy the ride.