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It's a beautiful cerulean blue setting between the sky and a hundred yards from the Mediterranean where interested industry and media gathered for the panel discussion on the Future of Media in the digital age. Guest speakers are established industry professionals moderated by Bruno Chatelin founder of Film Festivals.com, a site for film festivals and film news and Anna Serano CFC Media Lab (Canadian Media Center), with a background in interactive entertainment, gaming with real time spaces and interactive documentaries. The panel, with Michael Peyser, executive director of the U2 3D show, Alki David, filmmaker distributor of B2B audio/visual media, Bertrand Decoux from Kodak and Aviva Silver of the European Film Commission overall see a good future ahead although no one knows for certain what it will be.

Much of the discussion revolved around creating dynamic cinema using technology yet remaining true to storytelling. Changing audience participation from passive to active would alter the cinematic experience thus reenergizing the theatric experience, but will that actually be the final result? Silver from the European Film Commission tried not to be cynical - she insisted she was more realistic than the rest acknowledging past investments in VOD (video on demand) didn't pan out as predicted and there currently isn't a digital standard. But the most discussed topic was the cinema experience as a communal one and that a virtual theatrical experience will eventually replace the actual act of theater going. I hope not. While the virtual transition from collective experience may take another 10-20 years this panel discussion is immediately available on the Film Festival.com website and can be experienced from a computer anywhere in the world. Yet there's nothing like being physically present under a tent canopy on the beach with bay breezes and waves rolling onto the white sand a hundred feet away.

By far, the massive collective experience I witness is the amount of people waiting outside the theaters for a glimpse of celebrities that have taken on the role of cinema royalty. Along the barriers lining both sides of the street are places staked out by people who come everyday to see the black ties and fancy gowns. Their chairs and ladders are chained to the barriers and a thick wall of bodies press forward for a fleeting glimpse - very small from where they stand but hugely available on the projected big screens. This accessibility makes it worthwhile I suppose, but standing out in the hot sun is not my idea of a meaningful afternoon.

I spent most of the day visiting the various pavilions where countries and commissions present film screenings throughout the day. A happy hour in the Short Film corner at the Marche du Film was all about the beer and I did feel I was in a frat party with a chaotic mess of postcards, flyers and posters piled in a jumble and if I was a buyer, I'd keep on walking. It was literally a mess and I'm not sure if any of these frenzied filmmakers were aware that although they were here at Cannes, they still need to find a way to stand out from the rest possibly in a more inventive, yet organized way and make that one connection that will change their film life forever.