The small coastal town of Cannes is today returning to normality after the biggest film festival in Europe held its closing ceremony yesterday. It was a wrap for this year’s competition – which has received less than warm reviews by the critics – and an end to the Brit hopes for the Palme D’Or as Thai Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives collected the top prize.

As the UK film industry returns home, Alois Di Leo, a film-maker supported by Film London to screen his film in Cannes, reports on his festival experience. His animated short, The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Lion, received funding from Film London’s Film-makers’ Festival Fund to produce a 35mm print and premiere as part of the prestigious Critics’ Week.

Sunday 16 May

I’m here in Cannes with the producer, writer, cinematographer and editor of my film, as well as my wife. We arrived on Friday and now feel like we’ve mastered Croisette traffic, the geography of the international village, and the art of actually getting to see a film in the festival. Tonight the seven shorts in competition at Critics Week screen back-to-back at the Espace Miramar. I find myself feeling hugely nervous. The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Lion is my first film and my NFTS graduation project. It was first presented at our graduation screening in February, but that was alongside other student films that I knew well, and to an audience that included a large contingent of tutors, students, family and friends.  The directors file onto the stage before the screening to be presented to the jury and I can feel my heart in my chest. Will my film hold up in this new context?

There are five live action and three animation films. They seem to share a passion and seriousness – something to say about the world, perhaps. We screen fifth, either side of my two favourite shorts, which are both live action. Deeper Than Yesterday is a dark and compelling film, shot entirely on a submarine. It is another graduation film, by a group of Australian students, and I’m hugely impressed by the achievement and cinematic quality. The final film, A Distração de Ivan, is set on the outskirts of Rio Di Janeiro and is about an 11-year old boy growing up. It has a wonderful surprising final sequence and it reminds me of Brazil, where I lived for nine years, and of my friends there who worked remotely on The Boy Who – we couldn’t have made it without them.

Our film, which is a hand-drawn animation, is being screened in a new 35mm print and it looks fantastic; there is a new depth and richness to the images. I can feel the story taking possession of the audience – the cinema feels still and alert – there is even laughter! The film is only eight minutes and the ending is realist, perhaps not what an audience expects from animation material. The shock feels tangible and there is a magical silence before the applause begins. I feel very proud then, and after the screening when I meet with the other directors in competition and we share our congratulations.

Tuesday 18 May

Yesterday, our short screened at the Espace Miramar three times in front of one of the seven features in competition in Critics' Week, The Myth of the American Sleepover. The feature is an ensemble piece about teenagers growing up in suburban America; it’s gentle and delicate and feels European in sensibility. I like it very much and feel pleased to be paired with a film that I respond to so strongly. The feature also attracts large audiences which is good news for exposure to our short. Today (and tomorrow) this film and The Boy Who ‘tour’ to three cinemas outside Cannes to play to local (i.e. non-festival) audiences and we drive out for a Q&A.

Tonight we are at Valbonne, a picturesque village about 45 minutes outside Cannes. We sit in the square with a member of the selection committee, a programmer from the cinema and our colleagues from The Myth of the American Sleepover and drink wine and eat steak frites. It’s a balmy evening and we all enjoy a moment away from the frantic energy of the festival to reflect on how far this little film has travelled and the people who helped us along the way.  After supper, we take the stage for a lively round of questions – I’m very happy to receive as many as the feature does. Why is this story told in animation? Why did we choose a lion? What do we want to say about deafness? Why does the film end so sadly? They are not new questions, but there is a real freshness and energy in the way that they are being asked. It’s exciting to feel that we are connecting with a whole new audience; tonight its people who just love films.

Thursday 20 May

It’s the last night in Cannes and it’s beginning to feel like time to go home. Partly because I’m exhausted and have run out of Euros, but also because the effect of seeing so many films is to make me feel inspired to work – to begin to make something new, to have a chance to come back and share a story all over again.  I feel liberated to have seen such diverse films – reminded that film is such a personal and generous medium.

There is a Closing Night ceremony where prizes for features and shorts are awarded. First, two shorts are screened – one by Kirsten Dunst and another by James Franco, a beautifully observed meditative film called The Clerk’s Tale, inspired by a poem by Spencer Reece. Up until now, Critics’ Week has felt like the most modest of the Cannes sidebars but tonight there is lots of press and a real buzz. We don’t win a prize, but we cheer loudly when Ariel Kleiman, the director of Deeper Than Yesterday, accepts his. 

After the ceremony, 1950s-style buses drive us out to a casino where there is a party with very small canapés and a very abundant supply of alcohol. We dance with our friends, old and new, until the small hours, feeling like we have become part of a Critics’ Week community, which exists so strongly tonight and will evaporate in the morning.

To learn more about The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Lion visit the film's blog. Film London's Film-makers' Festival Fund is open for applications - check the next deadline by visiting the fund's dedicated website.