Or An Unexpected Party…
The Berlin premiere was wonderful fun – one always gets swept up in things like this and everything is a blur. My memory will return when we get our photos back from the developers. But Paris, on the other hand, was most definitely a night to remember.
PARIS
Alan and I spent a busy Saturday afternoon at the National Library doing our press bit and running over the program for the opening itself, scheduled at 6 p.m. that evening. After a quick stop back at the hotel, we were off again (myself pursued by a photographer hollering “Alan! Alan!”) to the library at 5:30. Sheperded into a cloakroom by the security people, we waited, then waited some more, which didn’t yet seem unusual, the hurry-up-and-wait is pretty much the way evenings like that work.
I did notice one of the assistants appear with a bag of ice on her elbow, but she said she had slipped and fallen (it was raining hard outside, but in fact she had been run over and squashed by half a dozen burly demonstrators). I did hear noise from the far end of the gallery (the library is huge – the exhbition itself is over 200 yards in length) but didn’t pay attention. Suddenly security ushered us to a door and I thought well at last we’re on our way to the auditorium for the opening ceremony, but we found ourselves first in a cramped stairwell and then packed into a tiny room near one of the service entrances. From there, we were whisked away back to the hotel.
So, here’s a picture of the Paris event:
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Le Journal du Dimanche, Paris
Sunday December 14, 2003
I think perhaps the most interesting part was the film actor’s real interest in the plight of their French colleagues, and their desire to be completely informed on what the protest was about. All of them were ready to go back and talk to the demonstrators, but the security was in no way ready to permit that. The demonstration was in protest of the government’s proposal to radically amend the statutes of interims employed in the entertainment business. (That’s in a nutshell, the issues are complex, but this isn’t really the place to outline them.)
After a brief stop at the hotel, we were away again to dinner, but to make the best of it all, the team went to the theatres where the guests were watching the premieres and went on stage at the end (it was originallly planned that Peter would present the films but there were apparently demonstrators in front of the theatres prior to the showing) of the movie. We awaited the end credits huddled in a stairwell trying not to whisper too loud. Actually, I doubt if anyone would have heard us, they were too busy sniffling and sobbing…
I honestly feel rather sad for the demonstrators, who were pursuing the minister of Culture, and ready to jump on any opportunity. The declaration of their spokesman “We are protesting against the sale of our culture to a huge multinational” I think shows that they were probably not terribly aware of what they were gatecrashing. The show didn’t have a lot to do with culture-mongering.
I remember thinking when I got a very distant glimpse of running figures that those particular fans were pretty eager for autographs. Well, they may not have accomplished a great deal to further their cause, but I do hope they enjoyed the buffet.
