Stephen Walker is a neurotic British filmmaker with a mixed track record. His last documentary was a flop. Everyone hated it. But then he was inspired. He'd make a documentary that would offer a peek inside the world of filmmaking. He'd direct a movie about four ambitious, unknown filmmakers in their quest for fame and glory at the festival of film festivals--Cannes.
King of Cannes is Walker's hilarious uncensored diary of making that documentary--from finding the fledgling directors who will agree to be filmed to following their madcap adventures at the Cannes Film Festival.
Walker's cast of Cannes hopefuls includes an American director who comes to the festival with all the fanfare of a Hollywood prodigy; a young Rastafarian filmmaker from London who hijacks a telephone booth and turns it into an office; a first-time French director who actually has a film in the official competition; and finally, 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 the hopes of raising money for a film title Amsterdam. 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.
King of Cannes is a wild romp through the film business--the celebrities, the glamour, and the driven young directors who want a piece of it all.
