A few days before the opening of the 79th Cannes Film Festival, Eye Haïdara, mistress of ceremonies for this edition, spoke to TIME France, explaining behind the scenes of the preparation of the ceremony.
Behind the splendor of the great cinema festival in Cannes, the hours of preparation and work. As the famous film festival prepares to celebrate the seventh art, it’s time for preparatory work. This is the case for the one who will be responsible for embodying the festival as mistress of ceremonies: Eye Haïdara. The French actress who worked with Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, or even Cédric Klapisch and Michel Hazanavicius, and the one who, this year, will be behind the festival ceremonies.
At TIME France, she tells how she learned that it would be her who would be the mistress of ceremonies of a festival which awakened her curiosity about cinema, but also the behind the scenes of her preparation for this role which honors her. Without revealing the details of the message she will be able to broadcast, she assures: “I want to be in phase with myself, in phase with what I want to say. HAS”
TIME France: What does it mean to you to be the mistress of ceremonies at the next Cannes Film Festival?
Eye of Hadar : It is both a pleasure and an honor to say that this annual meeting that I myself followed and that I still follow. Now to sign up for it is fantastic.
Beyond your role, what does the Cannes festival represent for you and for cinema? What do you think its prestige is due to?
I easily associate it with something relating to the discovery of world cinema. At least it was for me. When I was much younger, and when I began to be more and more interested in films other than French films and American blockbusters, I think that this annual meeting, with all the little subjects that could have every evening on TV, I heard new words, cinema names of the world and I think that’s where these names resonated like the Dardenne brothers, for example. All this helped me to awaken my curiosity, to go and discover these films once they were released in theaters. I then became interested in films that carry this “Cannes Festival” label. I think it reminds me of the curiosity of international cinema.
How do you find out that you become a mistress of ceremonies in Cannes?
First it was a request from the deputy general director of the festival who asked me if I agreed for him to submit my name. Obviously, I told him yes. After that, validates with France Télévisions, who was up for it. So I obviously said yes to something completely crazy. To these requests, we say yes because we can’t say no, but once we hang up, we have difficulty realizing it. At the start, there is a side that is a little above ground and which becomes more and more concrete as the weeks progress, then I get back to work.
How do you prepare for what seems like such a marathon?
This can be worked on, of course. I write, I rewrite, I test, I read to people, I work with a small team with whom we reread, we test, we observe how the text evolves, we change. The text is still in motion, it was practically final last week, it is no longer final the week after, it was final on Friday, it will no longer be final later when I meet my team: it is still in motion. The goal is to be as close as possible to what we want to say and to give ourselves the best chance that this message will be heard and that people will enter the ceremony with a beautiful opening speech.
How do we choose the message(s) to highlight on this occasion?
It’s often what we want to say depending on what we feel and who we are too. That’s what it’s all about for me. I don’t want to betray myself, I don’t want to do things that aren’t like me, I want to be in phase with myself, in phase with what I want to say. You will be surprised. In any case it will be sincere. Everything will be about sincerity and passion.
“Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache were the first people to know about it.”
To prepare yourself, did you call former masters or former mistresses of ceremonies to get their perspective, their advice?
Of course, I think the first person I called was B©rénice Béjo, that made her laugh, I had to vent, so I could tell someone. Then, I called Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, they were the first people to know about it. They are also part of the group of people with whom I reflect. Bérénice shares with me all her experience and the jitters she had to do this job.
What do you think of this year’s selection?
For me, everything is a matter of curiosity. I’m very curious about cinema, I’m happy to see Almodóvar come back, I’m happy to see Jeanne Herry take her first steps in Cannes. All this makes me curious. I’m also happy because I have a film that will be presented. I won’t be able to discover many things on site because I have a big mission to accomplish, but in any case I’m quite curious about certain films in competition and what this edition will be like.
