Christie Cooper’s Cannes Diary #1

Christie Cooper, creative director at The Monkeys Aotearoa is representing NZ on the Cannes Entertainment Lions for Music jury. Cooper, along with most of the other NZ and Australian jurors, writes exclusively for CB.

A composer, a director, a creative, and a record exec walk into a bar… No punchline here, just the start of my journey as a judge for the Entertainment for Music category.

We began with welcome drinks in one of the many beach bars on La Croisette. After meeting my fellow jurors and having a few glasses of Rose I headed back for an early night. And it was lucky I did because the next two days were the most challenging and exhausting but rewarding, judging experiences I’ve had – and I don’t think I could have done it with a hangover.

The category was incredibly diverse, encompassing everything from music videos and original compositions to limited edition LPs and music festivals, which made selecting the winners, particularly the Grand Prix, quite challenging.

Our jury was as diverse as the work itself, with members from all over the world and from a wide range of disciplines. One of the jurors had won a Grammy, another had directed the music video that won the Grand Prix last year and our jury president, Madeline, manages Wyclef Jean among many other artists.

Everyone brought unique perspectives to the work, which made the discussions very interesting and occasionally heated. We all had such different takes on it. As we progressed from the Bronze to the Grand Prix levels, each decision became increasingly difficult, and we all felt a pang of disappointment when one of our personal favourites didn’t make it through to the next round.

The show is tonight and I’m looking forward to seeing our winners walk the stage. Congrats to everyone who has picked something up. My biggest outtake was what a massive achievement it really is to get your work through.