I’ve said it once before – Cannes always flet like home to me once you’ve arrived. For me there are several factors in making that statement. The first fact would be taking comfort after a long trip.  I think perhaps the further you travel to get to Cannes the more of a relief you feel upon arrival. I met a producer all the way from Brazil (flew 11 hours to get to Amsterdam and then he still needed to fly 2 hours) to Nice. That’s a total of 13 hours in the air not to mentioned time waiting for your connection. Reminds me of that saying “Are we there yet?”

As for myself I flew 7 hours to Paris sitting next to the most irritating couple – two older business men who are on their way to Russia. To keep themselves entertain they drank throughout most of the flight and got louder with each drink. At some point the thought to change seat had cross my mind but unfortunately it was a full flight. So at this point you can only imagine 7 hours of sitting next to a couple of drunks with a 2 hours of lay over connection then one hour speeding on another flight to Nice plus a 40 minutes bus trip into Cannes – a total of 12 hours including all my connections. However, upon my arrival in Cannes I saw the beach heard the French language and felt the 21 degree weather. It was all starting to worth all that effort to get here. There were people lying on the beach soaking up the sun and a view of the Mediterranean Sea with floating yachts that makes it all picture perfect.

But that’s just the backdrop for a uniquely popular festival that has been running for the last 64 years.

The Festival Opening Night featured the U.S director Woody Allan with an American cast adding to the mix our Canadian darling Rachel McAdams in what I imagined was a romantic story about Paris. I made these assumption based on a trailer (post earlier in April on FMA) and the fact that I arrive too late to see the film. But had I arrived earlier I would have declined seeing it. I’m just not a fan of Woody.

So I made my way to the accreditation office to get my pass and ran into a really good friend who used to live in NYC, producer Moria Griffin. Moria now resides in L.A as Industry Affairs at Loyola Marymount University. We took time over dinner to catch up on what we were both up to and what our goals were for this festival. I chose a familiar restaurant. We talked, laughed, eat and drink a glass of wine occasionally watching and commenting as people as they stroll by for an evening out all dress up. A couple of times we were greeted by other colleagues and joined by one. This may seem like the norm and it is in Cannes. It’s kinda of experience that makes you feel like your home.

So a couple hours later it was time to return to my hotel – do some last minute emails, Facebook updates and tweeting then hit the sack because Thursday is really the start of the full schedule to the festival and I expect it to be a long day. Stay tuned!

This is more about what the New York Times wrote back in February.  New York Times asked a very important question – Has filmmakers somehow exhaust the subject “black experience”? Or has the cultural ground shifted and, with the economic crisis, made other kinds of stories (insert non-black experience here) feel more urgent?

So here we are five months in and only two black films released, one from Tyler Perry’s another from producer Tracey Edmonds. Many will remember Tracey Edmonds from films such as the indie “Hav Plenty”, or the American anthem “Soul Food” and “Light It Up” all very popular with a diverse audience. Her latest film “Jumping The Broom” is a broad African-American family comedy about two very different families that converge on Martha’s Vineyard one weekend for a wedding. As one entertainment critic pointed out – albeit a white wedding…

Lorretta Devine and Angela Bassett as mother of the loving couples in "Jumping The Broom"

After waking up from another one-night stand, up-and-coming corporate lawyer Sabrina Watson (Paula Patton) makes a promise to God: She’ll save her “cookies,” (which she’s apparently been distributing to the phine looking men of NYC), if the Almighty will simply find her Mr. Right. Sure enough, along comes Jason Taylor (Laz Alonso) — handsome well-fixed … the whole package. Six months later, they’re planning to exchange vows. This apparently came all too soon for the audience as it did for both respective families who haven’t met each other until two days prior to a wedding. The film stars some of Hollywood most recognizable actors which included Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, Mike Epps, Meagan Good and Romeo.

The film has some real comical moments that put a few actors right where we are familiar with their talents and range. Like for example Loretta Devine is simple a darling on screen even when she is a manipulative overbearing mother. One of her most memorable line towards Mrs. Watson (Angela Bassett) was simply “You better get off your high horse, ’cause baby, you black!” To which Mrs. Watson replied in French “I’m about to have this women drag out of my house”

Personally, I have always enjoyed wedding films – “My Best Friend’s Wedding”, “Wedding Crashers” and the classic “Philadelphia Story”. However I simply felt that the Jumping The Broom failed slightly in the script and some of its actors’ performances. A friend that I went to watch the film with commented on Paula Patton performance who is a strong lead for the film – she felt that she was flat one dimensional to which I agreed. Having seen what Patton can deliver in “Precious” she fails in her attempt to be a wholesome fiancée.

But I have to give script credit on two things. Since this was also produced by T.D Jakes who is of the religious faith which meant that the film would carry a wholesome message of love, acceptance and chastity. I also loved the respect for traditions which was embedded in the cultural significance of jumping the broom. The idea of jumping the broom was part of the African American phrase used as a slang expression to describe the act of getting married, rather than a formal union which would not be recognized by church or state during the time period of slavery.

Measure against other black films of the past this may not be smash hit but it’s a clear sign that Hollywood has not given up on black culture. Perhaps all they need to do is to mixed it up a bit; add a bit of the past with new developments. African American culture is not so black and white it’s quite diverse and our many accomplishments are varied from Oprah to Colin Powel. But before we give up on Hollywood remember it was Hollywood that gave us the image of the first Black President.

- “Jumping The Broom” …Hit Theatres Mothers Day – May 8th