After reading the films in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, a breath of meekness and a wind of… reality sank in: Tarantino, the Coen brothers, Won Kar Wai, Fincher, Kim Ki Duk, Kusturica, Gus Van Sant, Shnabel will go head to head in a celebrity deathmatch for the Palme D’or… and me… who only hoped of competing against these monsters, who only aspired of seeing my name engraved next to these giants, will only watch from the stands… in the bleechers… and i’ll relax… finally… because yesterday I decided to PULL OUT 3:19 out of The International Critic’s Week and from the Director’s Fortnight (parallel festivals of Cannes’ festival), because, thanks to the mentioned gust of reality, and being realistic, the only way of sending a 35 mm copy on May 14th to France, implied leaving many of the processes halfway done such as: sound design, color correction, scratch removal, film out and final copy with subtitles. And if we add, transportation from Los Angeles, I would most probably be sending a handicapped celluloid-challenged 3:19 (if I can send it in the first place) and an exhausted and pooped Dany Saadia.
The project has been complicated. The process long. Money is… as usual… (you already know). Taking distance and proper time seems to be the intelligent thing to do.
Venice and Toronto forever!