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I'm here for five days, to announce my new film Chicken with Plums. It's a chance to watch a couple of great movies, enjoy the festival – and get some nice presents. Handbags, shoes – the highlight of my day is the goody bag. There's nothing you can actually use, but I like it anyway. I got washing machine powder in one bag.

When I've been on the jury, or when I came here with Persepolis, I didn't really have time to enjoy the festival. With Persepolis, we [co-director Vincent Paronnaud and I] were so scared. It was over-exciting: either we were going to have heart attacks or we had to be completely numb. We took all these pills that my mother had given us. I've seen the photos: we look half-dead or half-asleep.