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Frank’s Diary

It was such an adventure! In 53 years it has to be the highlight of my life.

I arrived in a panic because I thought I was at the wrong terminal, and I didn’t really want to miss my flight this was on opportunity of a lifetime. Luckily, I saw my flight on the departure board and that’s when I felt extremely relaxed.

At the back of my mind I kept thinking am I going to bump into any celebrities! And then low and behold sitting next to me on the plane was celebrity number one, on his way to the Cannes Film Festival!

When he said he wasn’t sure how to get to Cannes from Nice airport, I told him not to worry and that I’d sort him out. He then ended up spending the whole day in our apartment with us!

The Short Film Corner

The weather was beautiful in Cannes, the sun was shining and the shops were expensive! It was time to head to the film corner. We started pitching our films straight away, to editors, directors, distributors, sellers everyone and anyone. At first I thought this was going to be a daunting task, but because of the skills I’ve got on the market for over 34 years, I took to it like a duck to water.Ìý People were very interested in what I was doing and why I was there.They all told me I was wasting my talents and that I should give up the day job and go into show business!

The short film corner is in the Grand Palais, where literally 350 films have been submitted, a handful of these films were from Britain. You had to book a time and a screen to watch whatever you wanted to see. By the end of the day three of the short films submitted by Dominic had risen from 70 to number 11 of the most viewed films. All thanks to Frank Pittal of course! I haven’t come down from the clouds!

In the evening we were told we were invited to the Film London beach party. The wine and the champagne flowed. I met a number of people from the British Film Institute, the Lord Mayor’s office and Ken Livingston’s office too. I decided to set up a meeting with Ken himself with the primary objective to ask him to regenerate and save our London street markets. This needs to be done before 2012.

Michael Joseph

I met a very famous film maker called Michael Joseph from New York. He explained how the film industry works and how it doesn’t.Ìý Many young talented people go out there (to places like Cannes) to have their films produced but it doesn’t quite work like that. He’s worked with Tarrintino, Spielberg and people like that. He was a lot of fun to interview.

I saw the premiere of a film called ‘The Man from London’ it was interesting but not really my cup of tea, I really wanted to see Tarrintino’s new film but I couldn’t so was quite peeved about that.

At the marina

The marina had some of the most exotic boats docked and the security was tight. I found out that Sharon Stone’s agent was in one of them. I really wanted to see her so started asking people if I could get in. To one person I said I’d bend over backwards to meet Sharon Stone! I even offered her some shoes from my market stall, but she wasn’t having it!

The Le Croixssant, during the evening was awash with cameras, crews and people in gowns and suits. It was packed at all times and was a hype of activity. We walked past Norah Jones at one point and some famous French actresses. I saw Quetin Tarrintino, Jude Law, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. Banners from Oceans 13 were everywhere as well so I was hoping to see the cast but I didn’t see Brad Pitt.

Progress

By the way, negotiations are at an advance stage with a Japanese Broadcasting Company Fuji TV at the moment they want to screen the film.

Oh and did I mention I was interviewed by the French TV Station Canal Plus?

Towards the end of the trip I felt drained, there was more walking and talking involved then when I’m on the market. But I’m glad to say the objective was achieved. The Portrait of Walthamstow market was a huge success at the 60th Cannes film festival.Ìý

It’s the best DVD I’ve seen of a London street market for many years and it’s been a pleasure not only to have starred in it, to promote it, to be on the posters but also to had the honour to attend the 60th Cannes Film Festival. A once in a lifetime opportunity.

Have you seen A Portrait of Walthamstow? Do you, like Frank, think the street markets of London need to be regenerated?

Email your thoughts to ramaa.sharma@bbc.co.uk