67th Cannes Film Festival - 2014

• Guest of honor: SOPHIA LOREN

Sophia Loren on Red Carpet

It has been almost two months since the end of the 11 days of the 67th Festival de Cannes (May 14-24, 2014) and it has taken me every bit of that time to digest all that I saw, heard and ate during the 10 days of the festival. It should be called the Feastival de Cannes since their is so much to ingest into ones body and soul. The 2014 Cannes Film Festival lived up to its history of being the biggest and most prestigious film festival in the world. I am still in awe even after making fourteen trips to the festival. Red Carpet screenings, jaw dropping red carpet dresses, the film market, networking, beautiful people, yachts, luxury cars..., and then there are the parties and clubs that pop up all over Cannes. Not everyone attend Cannes thinking that every moment will be spent at red carpet screenings, press junkets or just doing business. At the top of your agenda is obtaining the list of parties and connecting with folks who can get you access.  

Nicole Kidman in Grace of Monaco

The opening film this year was Grace de Monaco (Grace of Monaco) directed by Olivier Dahan and starring Nicole Kidman. It is highly controversial since the Palace in Monaco made it public that they were not pleased with this version of their Princesses life. Alas this is the Cannes Film Festival and controversy only fuels international attention. I attended the red carpet screening of the film and was stunned at the audience response to the movie at the end of the screening. Complete and utter silence. Here at Cannes, audiences tend to show their emotion whether its by boisterous applause and standing ovations, or people just walking out of a film. Unfortunately, a lot of  people just fell asleep during this screening, including the people with whom I attended the screening. The critics were not very kind either. I did not see one single favorable review while in Cannes. I guess the Palace in Monaco is happy to say "I told you so". Although Grace of Monaco was not in competition at the Festival, it still stings when your film is panned so badly.

On the Red Carpet stairs at the screening of Grace de Monaco on May 14, 2014

Evelyn Wheeler and Lacy Barnes attend Grace de Monaco screening on May 14, 2014

Below is a brief review of Grace of Monaco by the Hollywood Reporter with a link to the full review:

"The 'Shrek' movies deconstruct fairy tale conventions

 with much more depth and wit than this dreary parade 

of lifeless celebrity waxworks." -- Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood Reporter

Ouch! But fortunately there were other triumphs at this years festival, with the Palme d'Or going to Winter Sleep. The film was the longest in competition running 3 hours and 16 minutes. Runner-up Grand Prize to The Wonders, Jury Prize to two films, Mommy and Goodbye to Language. The Camera d'Or went to Party Girl, a film about an older woman who makes the transition from a cabaret girl to marriage to a former client. I tried to get into this screening and so it seems did everyone else in Cannes. We made it to the entrance and was told the Salle Debussey was full.

Full list of winners with links to the Hollywood Reporter Reviews:

Palme d’Or: Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Winter Sleep

Grand Prix: Alice Rohrwacher, The Wonders

 Jury Prize: Xavier Dolan, Mommy, and Jean-Luc Godard, Goodbye to Language

Best Director: Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher

Best Screenplay: Andrey Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin, Leviathan

Best Actress: Julianne Moore, Maps to the Stars

Best Actor: Timothy Spall, Mr. Turner

Camera d'Or: Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis, Party Girl


Now for the fun side, parties and hot spots.

VIP Room at the JW Marriott located on the Croisette, boast an attendance on average of 1200 people per night during the festival.  It's every bit what the name implies as many high profile people can be spotted getting there Cannes on.

Le Baoli located at Port Canto on the beach combo club, lounge and restaurant is one of the most popular spots in Cannes.

Club Costes by Albane is a pop-up club located on the Terrace of the JW Marriott is established as a membership club for VIP's set up to host the creme de la cream of the movie industry during the Festival. The membership includes not only entry into the club but 24 hour access to chauffeured BMW's and open bar by Belvedere. Not easy to get into but I partied here with friends from England and France and it is a showstopper. VIP and free complimentary everything.

Photo courtesy Gala Magazine

Le Gotha  located at Palm Beach at the far end of Le Croisette, boasts top of the line entertainment every night during the festival and top international DJs are brought in for partying way into the wee hours of the morning.  

Photo courtesy Gala Magazine

Of the top parties in Cannes, Chopard, Vanity Fair, Amfar, there are also many private parties held aboard the many yachts in the harbor and marina, and the surrounding Villas in the hills of Cannes.  I attended the Cinerockom Cannes 2014 Award Party at Villa Jolie that featured a fashion show poolside by Raxann Chin (Femheka) and a ballet performance by Juneta Ozolina.  An absolutely amazing evening at an amazing location, thanks to my friend Alain Azoulay of Azoulay Media.

Bruce B. Gordon, Dr. Gail Gordon,
Gabriel Schmidt, Cinerockom International Film Festival founder and filmmaker 

Evelyn Wheeler and Alain Azoulay (Azoulay Media) at Cinerockom Award Party

Ballerina Juneta Ozolina

Designer Raxann Chin and model Amy Patt



Ballerina Juneta Ozolina performs at Villa Jolie

Femheka Fashion Show at Villa Jolie

My favorite Cannes Red Carpet Gowns:

Zhang Ziyi - (picture courtesy © AFP)

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan - Red carpet - Two Days, One Night

Freida Pinto

Laetitia Casta 

Nicole Kidman -  Red Carpet - Grace of Monaco

Aissa Maiga 

Fatoumata Diawara - Red carpet - Timbuktu
(photo courtesy © FDC C. Duchene)

Freida Pinto

ichem Yacoubi, Abderrahmane Sissako and Abel Jafri
- Red carpet Timbuktu (photo courtesy© AFP)

The film cast - Red carpet - Pulp Fiction  screening
(photo courtesy © AFP)

The film crew - Red carpet - Run
(photo courtesy © FDC)

Blake Lively

Evelyn Wheeler and award winning
Writer/Producer/Director Deborah Riley Draper at the India Party

America Ferrera at the American Pavilion

Evelyn Wheeler, Christy Oldham, Deborah Riley-Draper

Winston the cancer detection dog, Evelyn Wheeler and Actor Jamie Lee-Hill

And Just Because:

Ryan Gosling 

The 68th Cannes Film Festival will run from May 13-23 2015.  See you then On the Red Carpet.

Red Carpet "It Girl" Lupita Nyong'o

By now if you have been keeping up with this years Hollywood award season, you are well aware that there is a new Queen of the red carpet. Move over Jennifer, Nicole, Sophia and all the rest of the previous red carpet darlings, there's a new girl in town and she is dominating the red carpet's 'Best Dressed' lists.

Lupita Nyongo'o, the Mexico born, Kenya raised and Yale Drama School educated is the break out star of Twelve Years A Slave, the multi-award nominated movie based on the autobiography of Solomon Northrup a free man who was kidnapped and sold into southern slavery. Lupita plays Patsy a young slave woman on the plantation where Solomon is bought and placed into slavery. The Steve McQueen directed movie has garnered many award nominations including The Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Picture. Lupita has also been nominated for her acting chops by all of the award agencies and has won the Sag award for best actress and is nominated for Best Supporting Actress by the Academy of Motion Pictures.

But it's not just her superb acting in her first major role, it's also her red carpet style that has everyone buzzing. Lupita has hit the right fashion note for every red carpet since the season started after the premiere of Twelve Years A Slave last fall. With her close cropped natural and athletic body, she is the perfect model for all of the dresses she has worn on the red carpet. Lupita has said that she along with her stylist Micaela Erlanger collaborate on every outfit and then jointly make a decision about what she will wear.  All I can say is this is one of the best collaborations I have seen in a long while. The looks have been pitch perfect and flawless. Micaela should also see a huge demand for her services from the red carpet divas as her star rises along with Lupita.

An Encounter with the Obama's Date Night at A Raisin in the Sun

New York City is always a great place to go for red carpet events, theater, restaurants and just hanging out in general. A weekend in New York this time turned into one of the most memorable of all times. I was joined by six of my fantastic female friends, five from Chicago and one from Atlanta. We met on Friday, April 11, 2014 with plans for our first night of theater to see Denzel Washington in A Raisin in the Sun at the Barrymore Theater on West 47th Street. We met for lunch at Virgil's for some down-home barbeque, followed by a trip to the theater to secure our tickets before showtime. Upon arriving at the box office we noticed a flurry of activity on the street and wondered what was going on. Being the inquiring ladies that we are, we asked a security guard what was up and he informed us that "the President and First Lady are coming to the show tonight". Okay, after we regained our composure looked at each other in disbelief at our good fortune, we raced back to the St. Regis Hotel to change into our theater outfits, anticipating that our evening at the theater would require more than the average jockeying in line to get to our seats.  There was going to be a lot of security checks in order to get seated on time. We were not wrong in that observation. West 47th was closed between 7th and 8th Avenue and we had to walk to 46th and down to 8th and 47th where a security check was installed. Once through that checkpoint, the entrance to the theater had medal detectors with TSA style security checks complete with bag checks, wans and pat downs.

Once in the theater, I was thrilled to find my center orchestra isle seat in the fifth row (thanks to my friend September who is a friend of the director of A Raisin in the Sun) Kenny Leon. You could feel the anticipation from the audience just waiting for the Obama appearance. My friend Chili and I tried to guess where the President was going to sit. After looking around the theater, the only seats that appeared to be vacant were part of the next three rows in front of us. Chili said he's going to sit here. I said "no way".  Right on schedule at 8:00 p.m. the announcement that the show was about to begin and to make sure cellphones were off, the houselights went down and the side door in the back opened and in strode Obama and his entourage of Secret Service. As the President and First Lady passed in front of me, I was able to shake his hand before and he proceeded to sit in the isle seat two rows in front of me. We were separated by three Secret Service Agents who took the seats behind him. You could have wiped me off the floor. I was stunned. Here I am sharing a date night with the Obamas.

During Intermission, the President and First Lady went backstage to meet the cast. After the performance during curtain call, Denzel tipped his hat to the President.  Not only did I get to see Denzel on Broadway, but I can officially say that I shared a date night with the President and First Lady of the United States.

The President and Mrs. Obama backstage during intermission at A Raisin In the Sun on April 11, 2014

(Photo courtesy People Magazine)

The President and First Lady arrive in New York for date night at A Raisin in the Sun

(Photo courtesy of NYdailynews.com) 

The President and First Lady return to Washington after attending A Raisin in the Sun 

(Photo courtesy blogs.wsj.com)

The Barrymore Theater ready for the President and First Lady date night 

(Photo courtesy pix11.com)

The cast takes a curtain call after a performance of A Raisin in the Sun

(Photo courtesy atlantablackstar.com)

The next day we lunched at the ultra sophisticated Bergdorf Goodman restaurant with great views of Central Park. We reviewed our previous evening and  made plans for our second evening at the theater to see Motown the Musical.

But first of course we couldn't visit BG's without doing a little shopping.  Off to the shoe department for some shoe porn.

Christian Louboutin

Giuseppe Zanotti

Okay enough of that!

Motown the Musical at the Lunt-Fontaine Theater was a complete blast.  Dancing in our seats to Dancing in the Street and all the other tunes from Motown that brought back memories and was the soundtrack of our lives. The cast was magnificent.  Krystal Joy Brown seemed to be channeling Diana Ross. I later learned that she replaced the original star, Valisia LeKae who originated the role and was nominated for a Tony Award.  Valisia left the show in December after a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Krystal took over the role on Janaury 24, 2014 from Felicia Boswell who stepped in while Valisia was on vacation last fall and previous to her diagnosis.

Valisia LeKae as Diana Ross

Valisia LeKae

Krystal Joy Brown

Felicia Boswell

Versailles '73 - 40th Anniversary Party Hosted by Coffee Bluffs Pictures and Totem Creative

Totem Creative in New York City was the scene of the 40th Anniversary Party chronicling the 1973 runway fashion show at the Palace of Versailles in Paris, France. Deborah Riley-Draper the director of the 2012 critically-acclaimed, multi-award winning documentary, Versailles '73: American Runway Revolution, hosted the evening along with Totem Creative.

Versailles ’73: American Runway Revolution is a new documentary produced, written and directed by Deborah Riley-Draper and narrated by Cameron Silver tells the story of the November 28, 1973 Battle of Versailles (as it was coined by the news media in 1973) between five American designers, Halston, Stephen Burrows, Anne Klein, Oscar de la Renta, and Bill Blass, and the French fashion giants Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, and Emanuel

As a young woman in 1973 and someone who was strongly influenced by fashion since my early childhood, I remember reading about this story and being amazed and proud that African American models had made such a big impact on the world. I decided then and there that I wanted to be involved in fashion in some way or another. As a result I decided I wanted to start my own retail fashion business and as a matter of course it would have to have a French name. Nouveau Fashion Gallery was born out of that dream.

For more information, visit http://www.versailles73movie.com/.

Guests for the evening included many of the models who walked the runway that night at the Palace, Alva Chinn, Norma Jean Darden, Karen Bjornson, Nancy North, Barbara Jackson, and China Machado, as well as Designer Stephen Burrows and photographer Charles Tracy. Other celebrity guests included,  Essence Magazine Editor-at-Large Mikki Taylor, Actor Dennis Christopher, former design assistant for Halston, Socialite Simone Levitt, a patron at Versailles in 1973 and Author of Skin Deep Barbara Summers, all of whom also appear in the film. 

This is a must see film if you have not seen this critically acclaimed documentary. Versailles '73: American Runway Revolution recounts the legendary fashion show on November 28,1973 at the Chateau de Versailles that catapulted African American models and American ready-to-wear designers, Halston, Klein, Blass, De la Renta and Burrows onto the European stage.

Check out some of the pictures from the evenings celebration.

Versailles '73 Model China Machado, Ajak Deng

Versailles '73 Models Alva Chin and China Machado

Versailles '73 Model China Machado

Versailles '73 Models China Machado, Alva Chin, Norma Jean Darden and Director Deborah Riley Draper

Versailles '73 movie cast and Deborah Riley Draper

Deborah Riley Draper and Caralene Robinson