George-Hamilton

Source: Protagonist

George Hamilton

Hamilton is the chief commercial officer at Protagonist Pictures.

He joined the UK sales company in 2013 and is now on his 11th Cannes, representing titles in this year’s market including Thordur Palsson’s The Damned, Nick Moore’s This Time Next Year and Marc Turtletaub’s Jules.

Typical Cannes breakfast 
Yoghurt and fruit for the first four days… and then it becomes the croissants.

Favourite restaurant in Cannes
I have a favourite three. I love Le Pastis; The Grandmothers’ Wheelbarrow is an absolute classic; and it’s hard to not include Da Laura. I don’t think there are any surprises in there. Years ago, when I did sales for Asia, we used to, with other companies, do 20-people strong South Korea buyers’ dinners at The Grandmother’s Wheelbarrow, and it was always a wonderful time.

Most memorable film you’ve seen on the Croisette
I don’t get to see a lot of films that aren’t our films. I can usually only sneak away to one on the last day, before I fly. I was fortunate enough to catch a 9am screening of Parasite in 2019, and it absolutely blew me away. It was such a unique thing to see it at the festival, given what it then went on to do. 

Your first year at Cannes
My very first Cannes experience was as a market intern for James Norrie at The Salt Company, back in 2013. This year’s my lucky 11 at Cannes.

Favourite Cannes hotel
I love eating at Carlton Beach Club, but we always stay in apartments, never in hotels.

Top Cannes survival tip
Aspire to Cinderella rules – at least until you get to the weekend.

Craziest Cannes memory
When we did American Honey, the entire cast – Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf, Riley Keough ­­– came over, who were there to party. [American Honey cinematographer] Robbie Ryan was DJing, with the cast dancing and tearing it up. It was one of those genuinely wild Cannes parties.

Average amount of sleep per night while at the festival
About six or seven hours.

Where are we likely to find you at 2am
Who knows…

Topics