Actor, filmmaker and politician, Hon Desmond Elliot has arrived in Cannes, France, for this years edition of the annual Cannes International Film Festival which opened on Tuesday.Elliot, a lawmaker representing Surulere Constituency in the Lagos State House of Assembly, is among the delegation from Lagos at the global event, otherwise called the word Cup of film festivals.Upon getting to festival town, he hinted of his stalled plan to board a train to Cannes from Paris, saying; If you are thinking of using the train (as I was); besides the fact that its a 5 hour journey, trains are on strike ooo, he admonished other Nigerian filmmakers, Lagos State delegates, journalists and tourists who may be coming after.The closest airport to Cannes is in Nice, from where buses, cabs and trains are usually boarded to Cannes, but as a tourist, Elliot had planned a train ride, to enable him behold the beautiful sights that the European country holds in that part of town.With the ongoing strike by train workers in Paris, Elliot said: Fly please, from Paris to Nice.Among the first Nigerians to arrive in Cannes was the Director General of Lagos State Film and Video Censors Board, Mr. Dele Balogun who conveyed good news about the Nigerian pavilion.As far as arrangement here is concerned, we are good. The location is even better than last years, he said.This is the second time in a row that Lagos State will provide a pavilion for Nigerian contingents in Cannes.The Lagos State participation at the festival is being led by the Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr. Steve Ayorinde.As part of the programmes for the festival this year, filmmaker Kunle Afolayan will be on hand with a special documentary on Nollywood in Lagos which will be screened to guests, before the unveiling of the 2018 edition of Cinema in Lagos magazine, edited by Olumide Iyanda, at the weekend.Elliot, Afolayan, Lagos State Perm. Sec., Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr. Fola Adeyemi, and the Audio Visual Attache of the French Embassy in Lagos, Yoann Talhouarne will help unveil the Cinema in Lagos magazine and introduce the documentary.This is expected to be followed by the Lagos Special Day at the pavilion or a venue along the Riviera or by the beach, among other activities to be announced later.In its 71st edition, the festival opened Tuesday evening at the Grand Thtre Lumire with an excerpt from Pierrot le fou by Jean-Luc Godard, from which the poster for this years edition was taken.The hallmark of this edition is inspiration, and the tone was set by the verve and enthusiasm of Edouard Baer, Master of Ceremonies, accompanied on piano by Grard Daguerre.The post Cannes 2018: Desmond Elliot warns against rail transportation appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.
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