Wednesday was the first official day of the festival, but to a few select few it really started on Tuesday.

Tuesday was the arrival of the Da Vinci Code Key Players: Dan Brown, Ron Howard, Paul Bettany (who also starred in Wimbledon...a quality piece of romantic comedy with a superb soundtrack in my opinion), Ian McKellen, Audrey Tautou, and Tom Hanks...to name a few. Unfortuantely, Hanks likes his privacy, so I only got a really good picture of the reflective window in his car.

They arrived at the Cannes Gare SNCF aboard the Da Vinci Express at around 6pm...we knew they came when a huge burst of camera flashes occured accompied by the yells of the paparazzi to get their attention. That was the moment I realized just how crazy Cannes was going to get- after being forced onto the sidewalk to watch, surrounded by the press, and surrounded by fans...its gonna be intense.

Wednesday- the first red carpet.
I had some friends who had been waiting since 1PM to get good standing seats to watch the red carpet for the premier...right on the railing, close-ish to the red carpet. We could see them driving in. There were certainly some key moments- first was when we discovered 3 people illegally climbing a wall to protest consumerism and promote environmentalism, but they ended up littering a lot with fliers for environmentalists...but the were almost completely ignored by the crpwd fixated on the carpet until they started lighting fireworks. Second, was when Rachel Leigh Cook's car stopped in front of us and one of my friend's had a 5 minute convo with her about minnesota (as lindsey would say; she was mad chill), then there was seeing the jury of the Festvial come through: Wong Kar Wai,Monica Bellucci, Helena Bonham Carter, Lucrecia Martel, Zhang Ziyi, Samuel L. Jackson, Patrice Leconte, Tim Roth, and Elia Suleiman.

That night was time to dress up, hit the town and hope to get into some party...really, any party. Fortunately, a friend and I not only got into a party but THE DA VINCI CODE PARTY. By the time we got there, most of the celebrities left but there were tons of producers and directors networking and enjoying their time with the free food, and of course, the free drinks. At around 2am a show was put on- ballerinas dressed as angels flying from the rafting of the pyramid into the middle of the dance floor flailing their limbs and screaming. It was quite interesting. The music was a good mix of techno and hip hop and the lighting on the inside of the "Louvre" would change constantly, with a graand finale of sparklers going off on the inside at the end of the night. I got an ember in my eye.

It was an amazing experience, an interesting day...and the first of many to come. This is Cannes Film Festival 2006.