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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#147: Yes I Cannes

Cannes Film Festival is one of the most prestigious events in the world of cinema, and is currently celebrating 75 years since it first opened its doors back in 1946. Every year, the crème de la crème of the industry travel to the French Riviera for two weeks of glitz and glamor, while the festival hands out a range of highly sought-after awards, like the Palme d’Or for best film of the year. 


As A-list celebrities and movie mavens attend exclusive screenings and walk miles of red carpet, this week's prompts are all about awards and movie magic.

This week's prompts

Write about someone who has been nominated for a prestigious award, but isn’t sure they deserve it.

Sad – 25 stories

Start your story with two people sitting in a movie theater, waiting for the lights to come back on.

Sad – 72 stories

Start or end your story with someone realizing that life isn’t like the movies, for better or worse.

Kids – 35 stories

Write a story about someone who keeps being cast as the hero but is actually a villain (literally or metaphorically).

Adults – 21 stories

Write about a relationship that has been greatly impacted by a movie.

Kids – 26 stories

Stories

“Falling For Her” by Graham Kinross

Submitted to Contest #147

Sandra Bullock hurtled towards the Earth, screaming. Screaming was all we heard as we kissed. It was awkward with the armrests between us. At that point we didn’t care about anyone around. We were in the back seats and the screening was nearly empty. We came to see Gravity yesterday but with the same result. We started kissing a few minutes in and neither of us saw anything. It sounded interesting. Dates six, seven and eight were just us sitting through films in the cinema and kissing a lot. For the cinephiles outraged that we didn’t pay...

9 comments 9
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“Cass Was Right” by Rose Parkstone

Submitted to Contest #147

Cass was right. I didn’t deserve any of this. The endless amounts of praise and pats on the back. All of the fluttering lights and confetti-stuffed balloons. My name being advertised all over Thistle Park High’s beige, concrete walls. The polished mahogany stage, patiently waiting for me to walk up and accept my ten-thousand-dollar scholarship. And yet there I was, sitting in a dressing room backstage; about to rob hundreds of artists who are far more deserving than me. I’ve been entering the Southwest Community’s Upcoming Artist schol...

8 comments 8
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“Never Mine” by Amanda Lieser

Submitted to Contest #147

It was a superhero film. I never liked super heroes, but Matt did. At the end when they dropped hints for a sequel before the screen went black, I stood on wobbly, cold legs. My pink flip flop sticking to the black ooze of the floor. But I felt his warm hand on my arm because Matt insisted on us sitting through the credits.“The franchise is well known for an ‘after credits scene,’” he told me as I reached for my bag. I sat back down. We, along with a handful of other patrons, sat silently watching names roll by to deafening music. I found my...

7 comments 7
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“Judged for Duty: The Face of the Lost” by Futurama Delivery

Submitted to Contest #147

If you want to kill, join the military legally.That's the thing about soldiers—it looks like they are upstanding citizens, but they are trained killers. They are veterans at stalking their prey through the blood-stained trenches. And we reward them.Whether it's a scorched desert bristling with crumbling, yellow-encrusted sand, they can slaughter anywhere. Soldiers wait months to feel the slightest movement, like a slow-growing plant, enveloped in deathly heat, even in a freckled sauna.They can fight in the thick forests with limbs stretching...

3 comments 3
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“A Pirate's Life For Me” by Michael McCarthy

Submitted to Contest #147

“Sail ho! Sail ho!” shouted Johns from the crow’s nest.  “What do ye see, Johns?” the ship’s second in command shouted up toward the top of the mast. It was in the middle of the second dog watch, sixth bell struck a bit ago, but not quite seventh bell. It was not quite 1930 hours yet; dusk at this time of season and at this latitude; not wholly dark, but well into dusk. If Johns spotted another ship in this light, that meant the ship was closer than any of them would like. This was not good; especially since ...

4 comments 4
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“A Higher Plane” by Gabriela D. Martin

Submitted to Contest #147

I had been riveted by the images on the screen to pay much attention to the man sitting next to me. The initial jolt of our otherworldly encounter had worn off soon after we started watching the narrative of my life on the large white screen – from diaper days to salt-and-pepper adulthood.When the lights came back on, I blinked to readjust my vision to the bright light and, subtly, inched away from the stranger’s elbow. He offered an opaque smile and stepped around the coffee table, making himself comfortable in an armchair across from mine....

15 comments 15
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“The Last Day of Camp” by Graham Kinross

Submitted to Contest #147

TW: Violence and swearing.Looking at my colleagues from the stage as I receive employee of the year it is hard to describe how much I want all of them to die. Every one of them has a glass of wine in their hand.            “Raise a toast,” I say. “We all drink together. Today is a celebration. To the death of rats.” My voice echoes in the dance hall.            Uniformed guards raise their glasses and say it with me. “To th...

16 comments 16
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“Six Bullets” by Kay Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #147

Session One “Do you know why you're here?” I was ready to jot down notes. “The commissioner told me I need to see you in order to get back on the force. I’m pretty sure you’ve seen it all over the news,” Officer Marcus was all over the couch. “I did see it. A hero- how does that make you feel?” “It was nice to get the award. Being in the lights where all eyes were on me. It was nice to be the center of attention. Holding the trophy felt great.” “The award made you feel great because you deserved it. Now, how did the shooting make y...

4 comments 4
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“See You At the Movies” by T.M. Kehoe

Submitted to Contest #147

It was the third time he noticed her, sitting in a back row of the theater, staying until the end of the last credit. He thought he was the only person who did that.She was not attractive, but she was pleasant looking, with mouse-brown hair and what looked like a decent figure. She always dressed in long skirts, with oversized cardigans covering up her top half. It was hard to see her face, lit only by the flickering movie screen.The last credit rolled, the screen blanked. The house lights came up, showing a magical illusion for what it was…...

4 comments 4
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“Snake in the grass” by Mark Sheehan

Submitted to Contest #147

“So, is there anything you don’t get?” Connie asked, resting his tattooed hands on the steering wheel of the Ford F-Series pickup. A Cottonmouth snake—perhaps one of Connie’s victims—curled around each muscled forearm with an open mouth—ready to strike— on the back of each hand. A similar tattoo arose from the collar of his shirt, traversed his neck, and disappeared onto the top of his bald head. I noticed it during my induction. Connie bent down to tie his shoes, and I got a front row view of the head of a Rattlesnake, venom dripping f...

8 comments 8
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“Happily Ever One Day” by Shelby B

Submitted to Contest #147

I remember when I was young, dreaming of the day when Prince Charming would come knocking on my door, ready to whisk me away for our forever fairytale. I was so young and naïve. Oh, how I wish I could go back, but life isn't perfect fairytales and cheesy rom-coms. I know that now. I know that now because of him.I met him when I was just fifteen years old. He was older than me. He was twenty two and he had a motorcycle. He was all tattoos and dark hair. He wasn't exactly the prince I imagined when I was little, but I wasn't that little anymor...

8 comments 8
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“The Perfect Man” by Sydney Richelle

Submitted to Contest #147

The Perfect Man By Sydney Richelle Dr. Carson White was the perfect man. He lived in a perfect house with the perfect family and had the perfect job. He was a paediatrician who worked long hours to afford his habits of getting his shoes shined every morning and taking his family on extravagant vacations to Rome, to Africa, to Dubai. He had met Marie in Italy during a family trip. She was a nurse who just so happened to be transferring to his hospital back in America. She was sassy and stubborn and had scars on her arms from ol...

2 comments 2
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“As You Wish” by Murray Burns

Submitted to Contest #147

As You WishYou might call Harvey “Walter Mitty Lite”. He didn’t concoct fantastic journeys in his mind, or imagine himself committing an impressive array of heroic deeds. Rather, Harvey’s peculiar inclination rested with his ability to wrap himself in the identities of others more interesting or impressive than himself. More often than not, he found these characters in the movies.His parents first noticed the unusual behavior the morning after the Saturday night TV presentation of “Superman”. Their son did not pretend to be Superman; he...

11 comments 11
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“It's the Shoes” by Jim Firth

Submitted to Contest #147

Casting office bathrooms are the worst—nervous stomachs tend to make a mess. You’d think the nerves would lessen with each audition, but that’s not the case for me. An experienced actor once told me to pop antidiarrheals before an audition—a trick I still use to this day. I’ve since added Siberian ginseng and CBD oil to my arsenal of pre-audition tinctures to help battle the nerves. When I was a Midwestern pre-teen dreaming of celluloid immortalisation, I didn’t think of such practicalities. All I cared about was becoming someone else. ...

0 comments 0
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“Well, That Was Terrible” by Ian Gonzales

Submitted to Contest #147

“Well, that was terrible,” he says, leaning back in his seat, as the screen fades to black, leaving the theater in darkness. “Absolutely,” she agrees, shaking her head. “What were they thinking, releasing another rom com with that same, tired formula.” “Same old tropes, same old plot twists, no effort to be fresh or imaginative. The entire story was so utterly predictable. Boy meets girl, boy fights with girl, boy makes up with girl. Happily ever after.” She laughs. “Perfect summary. I couldn’t have said it better. And how about those charac...

1 comment 1
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$250

Prize money

179

Contest entries

94

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - May 27, 2022 EST

Won by Cecilia Maddison 🏆

Title: Just Ask for Mercy

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

Prompts | Many Hands | 2024-09

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