Penn in Cannes: Meet Our Special Correspondent

Felisha Liu (W’09) is part of a semester long Penn in Cannes program which will have her and other Penn undergrads attending the festival from May 14 – 25.

There she will be acting as special Dueling Tampons Correspondent and giving us the exclusive early scoop about some of the great (and not so great) films to come out of the festival.

As she preps for her trip to Cannes, she sent me the following post to share with my DT readers which includes:

her experience with the program thus far
some of the risqué films she’s already seen
what tactics she will consider in order to get into the most screenings while at Cannes

Read her post…+/-

“Professor Gentili dismisses the class. I look to the left. I look to the right. The next time I will see these people will be in Cannes, amidst thousands of the most famous people in the world (read: Brad Pitt). Nothing separates me and my
Penn-In-Cannes experience! Oh, except for those 3 pesky finals and 4 group presentations.

As a part of the program, I attended several screenings from the Philadelphia Film Festival.

Usually a fan of Hugh Grant romantic comedies, I was thrust into the world of international independent work too risqué for the main screen. “The Sperm” fulfilled its shocking title. Picture a college student with an overdue erection jacking off into a sewer and his sperm turning into sexually frustrated mutant babies. That got your attention? Watch on to find out about the arrival of a father-daughter alien team who find the cure to deflating the babies: a beam of concentrated sperm produced through love. I can’t imagine seeing this film without the guise of being a film critic, but as a member of the film community, everything seems all right.

Students from past years visited the last class lecture to give practical advice about getting into the most screenings while in Cannes.

For instance, you should build a faux website and make false business cards to get accreditation for the coveted VIP red badges.

Girls: if you are slightly less inspired, just wear a pretty dress and smile wide. Some things work no matter what country you are in.
The next three weeks will consist of finishing out the school year, writing the 5-8 page non-graded pre-departure paper, and shopping shopping shopping! I have got to get myself some pretty dresses- all in the name of pursuing higher education, of course. Stay tuned and I’ll see you in Cannes!

XOXO—FL”