TORONTO — Canadian director Noah Pink’s film hasn’t yet screened at the Cannes Film Festival but that hasn’t dimmed the excitement for the Halifax native as he rubs shoulders with filmdom’s elite.
“Oh my gosh, it’s been surreal,” Pink said. “It’s been overly exciting and it’s basically myself and my actor walking around with massive smiles on our faces all day. We don’t quite believe it’s true still. We’re still soaking it all in.
“We’re tourists and we’re trying to enjoy every moment. We’re definitely trying to take advantage as much as we can — not getting very much sleep.”
Pink is in town to premiere his 44-minute debut ZedCrew, about Zambian hip-hop artists.
The latest surreal moment for the 27-year-old was sitting down with Canuck directors Atom Egoyan and Xavier Dolan for a panel discussion, hosted by Telefilm Canada, called Speaking Parts: Atom Egoyan in conversation with the next wave of Canadian filmmakers.
Pink said the chat took place in the Canadian pavilion — one in a series of tents positioned along the beach. He said Egoyan, whom he hadn’t met, had already seen parts of his film.
“He’d watched my film, which was the biggest honour of them all,” Pink said. “Definitely a special day. . . . He had some really nice things to say, which was really encouraging.”
Pink said the discussion covered a range of topics, including technology, Internet promotion, Cannes itself and, of course, Pink’s documentary.
“(Egoyan) said that when he was starting out, that the Canadian documentary was the big thing going on in the late ’80s, so he and his peers kind of went against that style and tried to make fantastic and surreal cinema,” Pink explained.
“But when he saw my film, it was back to that documentary style, but he thought it really worked in a way. So he was happy that things have almost gone a little bit full circle.”
Over the years, Egoyan has shown nine features at Cannes plus a short that he did for the festival’s 60th anniversary.
Dolan is at Cannes with his second film, “Les amours imaginaires” (“Heartbeats”). He caused a sensation at the fest last year with his smash debut “J’ai tue ma mere” (“I Killed My Mother”).
Pink said he enjoyed soaking up his peers’ experience.
“Seeing two veterans in a way — even though one of the veterans is six years younger than me — speak about their experiences and their creative process is true encouragement to continuing to do what you want to do,” he said. “Some people warned me: ’When you go to Cannes, don’t leave yourself, Noah.’ But I find it’s the absolute opposite.
“Coming here, you see how independent cinema is put on this pedestal and it’s just encouragement as an independent filmmaker to continue.”
The festival runs May 12 to 23.