Internships at Cannes International Film Festival are magnifique for Rowan seniors

Rowan University seniors Britny Molloy and Caitlin Nascher aren't short on career goals.

Both devotees of international study, Molloy wants to work in public relations in the entertainment industry. Nascher aspires to a career as a film historian.

So what better place to hone their skills than the most famous film festival in the world? 

Molloy, a public relations major from Haddon Township, and Nascher, a radio/television/film and writing arts major from Old Bridge, did just that last month at the 2010 Cannes International Film Festival in the south of France.

Molloy and Nascher secured their two-week internships at Cannes through the American Pavilion Student Program. The competitive program provides students with internships/educational opportunities designed to give them an insider's view of the film business. Both students learned about the internship program through a recruiter who visited Rowan University last fall.

Molloy used her internship to prolong her study abroad experience this past spring at the Universite de Savoie in Chambery, while Nascher secured hers as a way to return to France. Last summer, she studied in Paris through the International Studies Abroad's (ISA) Fine Arts Program.

At Cannes, Molloy worked as an intern with Mia Farrell of Romley Davies Publicity of London. Formerly vice president of international publicity for Paramount Pictures, Farrell handled publicity for "The Myth of the American Sleepover," the Cannes Critics' Week selection by filmmaker David Robert Mitchell.

Along with three other interns, Molloy helped work ribbon-cutting events; attended short panel discussions, including one with actors Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, stars of the new film "Blue Valentine"; translated correspondence for Farrell; and generally got to hobnob-and walk the red carpet-with well-known industry folks and officials. At a ribbon cutting ceremony, Molloy met Charles H. Rivkin, the American ambassador to France and Monaco.

"I got to give him my card. That was pretty cool," laughs Molloy, who is pursing a minor in French and a concentration in international studies at Rowan.

"The Cannes internships are usually exclusively for film students, but my knowledge of French helped me stand out."

Molloy, who dabbled in a few majors before deciding on public relations, says her work experience echoed her Rowan classroom learning in many ways.

"As I worked, I was thinking about Professor Litwin all the time," she says of Rowan public relations professor Larry Litwin, who wrote a letter of recommendation for Molloy's internship application. "I was hearing things from others that he would say in the classroom. I was trying to be a sponge, to take it all in."

The Cannes has been dubbed as one of the biggest international media gatherings in the world. And while Molloy wishes she could have even more hands-on work with the media, she's grateful to have worked with Farrell.

"In every situation, she was just cool and collected," Molloy says of her Cannes boss. "No matter what was happening, she was completely level-headed."

The experience solidified Molloy's choice of public relations as a career, she says.

"I went through a lot of majors--education, social work, psychology," says Molloy, a 2007 graduate of Haddon Township High School. "When I took my first PR class, something clicked. I thought, ‘This is where I belong.' I was having fun. I just loved it."

Nascher, meanwhile, wrote for indieWIRE.com while working at the American Pavilion in Cannes. Covering the event as a reporter, Nascher contributed to the daily "Minute by Minute" reports produced by indieWIRE, a leading news, information and networking site for filmmakers, movie-goers and industry professionals.

"It was a better opportunity than I had expected," says Nascher, a student in Rowan's Thomas N. Bantivoglio Honors Program who has served as secretary and  treasurer for Avant, the student literary magazine. She also blogs about films at fireandmusicmovies.blogspot.com.

"The first thing that interested me about Cannes was the chance to return to France. When I left last year, I didn't know if I'd ever be able to go back. When I saw a presentation about the internship at Rowan, I realized Cannes was an incredible opportunity to learn how the business side of the film industry works."

Nascher added her RTF major in the critical studies track last year.  As an aspiring film historian, she's particularly interested in researching censorship during World War II and the Cold War era. She developed an interest in that era of filmmaking after taking an Honors "Film History & Appreciation" course with Rowan RTF Professor Sheri Chinen Biesen.

"It was a challenging class and seeing how film evolved from its beginning left me with an appreciation for how technologically innovative the movies of classic Hollywood really were," says Nascher.

Declaring the film major--and seeking the Cannes internship--was a natural progression for her, she says.

"I wanted to know more about how films are made and exhibited," Nascher says of her Cannes experience. "I don't think it's possible to write about films effectively without some understanding of how the finished product came to be.

"Just being at Cannes was exhilarating and very surreal. I've only been a film student for a year and suddenly I was at the most prestigious festival in the industry," she continues.

"I learned a lot by watching the production students network. The experiences of going to panels and being treated like a ‘real' writer--down to the reserved front-row seat--was very exciting. And, of course, the screenings were a lot of fun."

But all was not glamorous for Nascher at Cannes. She had to go "old school" to cover the festival with just a reporter's pad and paper.

"I didn't have my laptop, so I had to rely on the Internet café in the American Pavilion to do my writing. I took very detailed notes during each event so that I would be able to write about it afterward," she says.

Nascher was able to see many films that won't be widely available in the U.S.

"And I even got to attend the red carpet screening of ‘Uncle Bonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives,' which ultimately won the Palm d'Or," she says.

The Palm d'Or is the highest prize given to competing films at Cannes. "Uncle Bonmee" is a Thai film directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

Nascher attended a host of panel discussions including one with American directors David Mitchell and Cam Archer, as well as Emmy-winning actress Ellen Barkin.

Going to Cannes was like coming home in some ways for Nascher, a 2006 graduate of Cardinal McCarrick High School in South Amboy who also is pursuing a minor in French and a concentration in creative writing at Rowan.

Last summer, her ISA experience included studies on contemporary French cinema and the art and architecture of Paris at the Institut Catholique de Paris.

"I studied several French films, including one starring Mathieu Amalric, who directed a film that was in the Cannes competition this year," says Nascher.

"In the art and architecture course, the professor would have us meet at a different location in the city each day and lead us through museums, historic sites and other places of interest. It was like having a month-long guided tour of the city. And we took weekend excursions to the Loire Valley and Normandy to experience French culture outside of Paris."

Though some universities, like the University of Alabama, had a contingent of students at Cannes, Molloy and Nascher were pleased to meet up in France to represent Rowan. Neither knew the other was working the internship.

To their surprise, they found another intern with a Rowan connection. Scott Fitting, a 2009 RTF graduate from Wenonah, also served as an intern in the American Pavilion. While working in a restaurant in the pavilion, Fitting was able to make contacts he hopes will jump-start his film career.

"I didn't know Britny or Scott before we met in Cannes," says Nascher, who got to the Cannes orientation session late after a flight delay. "I took a seat in the back row of the theater to avoid being disruptive. As it turned out, I sat right next to Scott.

"After two days of travel to get out of New Jersey, the first person I talked to in the program also went to Rowan," she adds. "‘Surreal'" is the perfect way to describe it."