It's 8:47 a.m. in Cannes and I'm sitting on a curb outside of the Palais. Sydney went to the morning premiere of “Wonderstruck” and I have a 10:30 talk with Robin Wright. The talk is not one-on-one, of course. It will include me and 50 other journalists. But still, if I talk in the same room Robin Wright talks at the same time, technically we talked.

The reason I’m sitting on this curb is because I am waiting for the Press Protocol center in the Palais to open. Apparently, much does not begin until 9 a.m. here. This was learned when I accidentally strolled through the artist’s entrance and almost directly into the den of Pedro Almodovar and his Grand Jury cohorts. Much to my chagrin, Cannes is as excellent at security as they are everything else, so I was quickly directed down the stairs.

So what is the Press Protocol? A way to request for press to red carpet tickets. Last night, Sydney and I learned the hard way that a yellow press accreditation only allows certain access to screenings and events. After being turned away from the accredited professionals and press opening night party, we wandered the streets — painfully, because heels — looking for something to do. The phrase “all dressed up with nowhere to go” was taken quite literally.

Defeated, we called an Uber. While waiting we decided to take our own version of a red carpet photograph: on a dirty red rug outside a boarded up store. We stopped a nice looking man and asked him to take our photo. As luck would have it, he was not just any nice looking man, but in fact, a Cannes veteran. He had a white badge, which is the equivalent of being a King at the festival.

As we talked, he shared some insight to the festival. Cannes can be a lot of queuing, rejection and disdain. But, as he reminded us, we are students lucky to be here, and are here first and foremost, to see films. Remove the smoke filled glasses and remember that we get to watch some of the world’s premier films premiere. Cannes, he said, sets the standards for the industry.

That lesson would have been enough, but he wasn't done. He peppered in some advice on who to seek out for help and where to go for Red Carpet invitations: the Press Protocol. So that is why I’m here, sitting on the curb at 8:47 a.m. outside the Palais.

Day 2 - Part 2

It’s now 1:04 a.m. and I’m sitting in our Airbnb surrounded by flyers, tickets and bottles of San Pellegrino. Cannes may be glamorous, but it is not eco-friendly!

Picking up where we left off at the Press Protocol — that was a colossal bust. It seems that the list was full and with that, my red carpet dreams were crushed (or were they? Stay tuned). Next, I decided to follow another piece of advice we’d been given and headed down to the American Pavilion. The American Pavilion is a 29-year old organization designed to bring together international industry professionals at the festival.

The next big activity on my agenda was the Robin Wright “Women in Motion” talk. At 9:30 a.m. I headed to the Majestic Barriere Hotel. After walking through the lobby (where a hot chocolate costs 8 euro?) I went to the 7th floor for the chat. The talk was in an intimate, well-lit room with about 50 chairs for journalists. I befriended my seatmate, a French film and TV journalist from Monaco. We exchanged business cards (as one does in Cannes) and then the room fell silent: Robin was coming.

An incredibly accomplished actress, she is as graceful and composed as her character Claire from “House of Cards.” Where Claire is cold, however, Robin Wright is warm and kind. The next hour consisted of a moderator from Variety asking Robin about her career, her directing pursuits and her opinions on women in the entertainment industry. You can read a summary of the talk here when it’s posted.

At one point, the moderator asked Wright how “House of Cards” was going to change as a result of the Trump presidency. Said Wright, “Trump has stolen all of our ideas for Season 6!”

He then opened the floor. On a Variety livestream, in front of 50 international reporters, I raised my hand and asked Robin Wright a question. The question was … “what’s your favorite color?”

Only joking. The real question was what advice she might share with young women entering the industry.

I rode the Robin Wright high all the way into the Screening of the Day: a Russian film called “Nelyubov” (“Loveless”). In competition for the Palme d’Or, “Loveless” exceeded my expectations. It is one of the most moving and heart-wrenching films I have ever seen. You can read the full review of “Loveless” here when it’s posted.

On the way out, I noticed a crowd around a man in the lobby. It was the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air himself, otherwise known as Will Smith. I took a minute to gape as he grinned, waved and (probably) wiped tears off his face because “Loveless” was an emotional roller coaster.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the Press Lounge writing reviews. After that, Sydney and I headed to a cocktail party at The American Pavilion. By this point, we had pretty much given up hope on finding red carpet tickets, and were happy to schmooze for a few hours, watch a film in a smaller theatre and then go to bed. But the American Pavilion cocktail party had other plans for us. While there, we were lucky enough to be offered a set of tickets for the evening’s late Red Carpet screening of “Mugen No Junin” (“Blade of the Immortal”).

Two hours later, Sydney and I rushed back to our Airbnb to change for our first red carpet screening of the festival. The film was a gratuitously grotesque Samurai film. We spent the final hours of our night in the Grand Theatre Lumiere watching an immortal Samurai get his hand repeatedly chopped off by many people. But the blood-induced nausea was worth it.

As I precariously climbed the red-carpeted steps, tightly gripping my ticket, I turned back and looked at the scene below me. It was a mess of camera bulbs flashing, black-tie clad guests and fans peering from behind a fence.

Thank god I didn’t fall.