THE RAIN HAS brought some relief after a long, hot summer, but temperatures are rising fast inside the Beijing Novotel's main conference room.
All was calm at first, but when Sophie Marceau makes her entrance, there's pandemonium as Chinese and French photographers start jostling each other for a better position, shouting and - when words don't work or aren't understood - resorting to brute force.
All this at an event being held to highlight the cordial relationship between the two nations and their people. Marceau, one of France's leading film actresses, is visiting Beijing for the first time, as an official representative presiding over the close of the Year of France in China. She's brought along her latest film, the Jerome Salle-directed Anthony Zimmer, and is also presenting three of her works, two of which she's written and directed.
Faced with the mayhem, the 38-year-old Marceau surprises everyone by whipping out a mini-camera and firing off a few shots of her own. Curious reporters immediately ask why. Is she frightened by the fighting? No, she says. She simply likes taking photos because they help tell her life story.
And telling stories is what Marceau is all about, now that she's stepped into the director's chair. 'I've spent more than half my life on set, meeting different directors and working on different movies,' she says later, in the quiet of Beijing's Grand Hyatt hotel.
'Cinema is my life. To me, [directing] is a natural continuation of my career. I've been writing since I was a child. Acting, writing and taking pictures finally can't lead you anyway else but to directing.'
