74th Cannes Film Festival is Back in 2021, Day One- 06-07-2021

After canceling the Cannes Film Festival in 2020 because of Covid 19, the 74th Cannes Film Festival is back in 2021 with its opening day on July 6, albeit two months later than its usual May date.  However, with some major changes to protect attendees, including Covid testing daily, fully vaccinated people along with social distancing and the wearing of masks.  

The red carpet steps are as lively with the paparazzi who I am sure missed having the opportunity last year of capturing pictures of the stars in attendance. This year they have the added pleasure of having Jury President Spike Lee Jury who always brings a lot of antics and wit on the red carpet. Opening day at the 74th Cannes Film Festival he showed up in a Louis Vuitton hot pink suit with matching sunglasses and custom Nike sneakers with his face on the tongue and a pink trim. Spike also has the added attention of having his likeness on the this years program, the Palais billboard and the official poster. An unheard of accomplishment at the Cannes Film Festival. I have attended every year since 2000 and never saw this offered to any other Jury President. Spike Lee will lead the jury of this year's at this years Cannes Film Festival and organizers hope the provocative American director will “shake things up” at the gathering of the world's cinema elite. Lee said he was “honored to be the first person of the African diaspora" chosen for the prestigious position. I am so sorry I was not able to attend Cannes this year for this historic moment and to cheer on Spike Lee in his history making role. 

Met Erica Watson in Cannes in 2012 when she was promoting her short film Rubado. I was fortunate support her in that effort and since then she has been making quite an impact in Hollywood, directing numerous episodes of major television shows. 

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/the-4400-reboot-cw-erica-watson-director-1234934897/?fbclid=IwAR02ie5q0ug9Cir0W-HG5Pl-lfXb04NvUEHU5Ef7k-musQLOrHdGdf-v2Q4

The hottest new actor on the scene right now is the breakout star of Netflix's Bridgerton Series, Rege'-Jean Page.

From the moment Rege'-Jean Page appears on the screen in Netflix's Bridgerton series from Shondaland Productions, you were mesmerized, caught up,  falling in love and swooning all at the same time. Like one of my associates said, "everyone get out your fans, because Rege' is hotter than the fourth of July."

This was not Rege's first turn working with Shonda Rhimes (Shondaland), he starred for two seasons in the series "For the People" from 2018-2019. Born in January 1990 he falls under the zodiac sign of Aquarius. His name pronunciation is Rege' as in reggae, and Jean as in Wyclef. Born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe of mixed race to a Zimbabwean mother and British father, Rege' moved to London at the age of 14. He formed a punk band with his younger brother where he played drums and sang.

Movies - Troublemaker (2004), Space Ark (2014), The Merchant of Venice (2016), Mortal Engines (2018), and Sylvies Love (2020).

 TV Shows - Casualty (2005),  Fresh Meat (2013), Waterloo Road (2015), Roots (2016), For the People (2109) and Bridgerton (2020). 

As of January 2021, Rege'-Jean's social media following has gone from 72.6k followers in December 2020 on Instagram to 2.8M, and 15.6K followers on Twitter to 93.2k.