Director Henry Jaglom presents an insider's look at the Cannes Film Festival with his 13th feature, a fictional piece with a documentary style and feeling. Set at the 1999 festival in the sunny, glamorous gleam of the French Riviera and the hub of celebrity and fame at the Hotel de Cannes, the film's atmosphere is an essential element of understanding its characters. Drunk with excitement, hope, and deal-making glitz, a small group of filmmakers and stars wade through the day-to-day chaos of the event. Former actress Alice Palmer (Greta Scacchi) has written a beautiful screenplay for an independent film about an older woman. Seeking funding and a leading actress, Alice meets Kaz (Zach Norman), a sleazy and overbearing financier who makes her skin crawl, but promises her $3 million. She also meets the reserved, graceful, and brilliantly coy actress Millie Marquand (Anouk Aimee), who falls in love with the screenplay. But Millie is being heavily recruited by flashy producer Rick Yorkan (Ron Silver), who promises her a fantastic financial reward to play a small cameo in a Hollywood Tom Hanks film. Meanwhile, Millie's estranged husband, Viktor (Maximilian Schell), a womanizing director, is gallivanting around the festival trying to advocate the value of art films as compared to Hollywood studio films, while also searching for the perfect deal regardless of artistry. A dizzying portrait of a world where everyone has a hidden agenda and a dozen handy lies tucked up their sleeves, FESTIVAL IN CANNES paints a cynical, but perhaps honest, portrait of the film industry.
