King of Cannes

Stephen Walker is a neurotic British filmmaker with a mixed track record. His last documentary was a flop. Everyone hated it, and for a while Walker had fantasies of murdering the lot of them. But then he was inspired. He'd make a documentary that would offer a peek inside the crazy world of filmmaking. He'd direct a movie about four ambitious unknown filmmakers in their quest for fame and glory at the film festival of film festivals-Cannes.

King of Cannes is Walker's hilarious, uncensored diary of making that documentary-from finding fledgling directors who will agree to be filmed, to following their madcap adventures at the Cannes Film Festival. Walker's main cast of Cannes-hopefuls includes James Meredino, an American director who comes to Cannes with all the fanfare of a Hollywood prodigy; Mike Hakata, a young Rastafarian filmmaker from London who hijacks a telephone booth in Cannes and turns it into his office; Erick Zonca, a first-time French director who actually has a film in the official competition; and finally, Stephen Loyd, a taxi driver from East London who, along with a couple of buddies, drives to Cannes in a van emblazoned with a giant marijuana leaf, with hopes of raising money to make his film. And then there's Walker himself, practically on the verge of a nervous breakdown trying to film them in their lunatic determination to make their mark.