AW: Eureka awards at Cannes

[gregory starr]

Dear Roger,
I stand corrected.  Perhaps I generalized with my "only" (since, of course, I
didn't read all the int'l press) but I would find it rather odd for a journalist
to include it as a favorite when it was largely ignored by the press which,
while not necessarily reflecting jury preferences, does point
to a lack of overall buzz.  The dailies at Cannes had a hard time finding
critics
who saw the film to rate it.  And, as I mentioned, the press conference was
the most
poorly attended of the ones I went to (Wong Kar Wai's, for example, had probably
five or six times the attendance).  Usually at Cannes, you can feel the interest
being generated about certain films.  There were ferocious discussions
about von Trier's, Yang's,
etc, but I found it very hard to find discussion partners for Eureka, and I
was actively
searching.  Sad, but true.

>Dear Greg Starr
>It's not true that Eureka was only discussed by the Japanese press. ARTE,
>the "somewhat different" french-german TV channel mentioned EUREKA (a at
>least 4 minutes report) just before the palmar?s went official. In this
>report it was mentioned as a favorite, even before Van Trier's film.
>All the best
>Roger
>
>-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
>Von: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>[mailto:owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu]Im Auftrag von gregory
>starr
>Gesendet: Dienstag, 23. Mai 2000 22:53
>An: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>Betreff: Re: Eureka awards at Cannes
>
>
>Actually, Eureka and Yakusho Koji were reported to be in the running for
>prizes only in the Japanese press--the same way Kikujiro no Natsu was last
>year, despite the lack of any buzz at the festival itself.  Unfortunately,
>there was a major walk-out during the screening for Eureka, and the major
>discussion afterwards--at least among the international press--was about
>its 3' 37" length.  Even many of its proponents mentioned its lack of
>editorial discipline, and it was the subject of the few questions from the
>poorly represented non-Japanese press at the official press conference.
>One of the organizers admitted to me that its length caused its abysmal
>scheduling (only one screening? most competition
>films get at least two or three).  And there were a lot of jokes about the
>FIPRESKI prize being shared by those critics who lasted through the film.
>Perhaps it would have done a lot better if it had been shown
>closer to the beginning of the fest, when everyone was a bit fresher.
>Greg Starr
>Premiere Japan