Students… and festival-goers!

Forget exercise books, break-times and revision! Five hundred school pupils from nineteen classes across the region have been invited to the Cannes Film Festival this year. On the programme are screenings from the Official Selection, mounting the Red Carpet and discussions with young film makers.The initiative stems from an idea by Cinéma du Sud, the regional section of the nationwide cinema students and apprentices network, and is the result of collaboration between the French educational system and the Centre national du cinéma (National Cinema Centre).

Most of the schools chosen for the exercise offer classes that have a connection with film making, with either cinema or art history options. The students have studied a number of films over the past year with the aim of gaining an insight into film culture by analysing various movies from different genres, countries and periods.

One of the schools selected, the Lycée Victor Hugo,arrived in Cannes this morning with some thirty fifth and sixth form students. We will be following them over the next two days, as they mount the red carpet this evening to attend the screening of Schasty Moe , and in their discussions with young director Yanis Koussim, who is participating in the Short Film Corner.

TK