'Elephants' duo looks for silver lining

CANNES -- The volcanic ash cloud chaos blanketed out writer-actor Jonnie Hurn and director Paul Hills' moment in the sun during this year's Festival de Cannes.

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The duo are in Cannes and were due to be presented with a Santa Cruz Film Festival best narrative feature award for their U.K. indie feature "Do Elephants Pray?" -- dished out over the weekend in California.

But the prize never arrived because actress Julie Dray, who jetted out to Santa Cruz to pick up the award, couldn't get back to Cannes in time to give them their prize.

Why the desire to have a moment here? Well the filmmakers wanted to mark the exact spot in Cannes, where the script was optioned in 2007.

The movie is life imitating art/art imitating life and is Cannes to the core.

Shot in London and France for less than $100,000, the film is based on real events. And May 18th also marks the sixth anniversary of the day Hurn first met his wife in Cannes, who inspired the unique true story.

The movie details the story of a stressed-out marketing executive who is challenged to sell the unsellable product, prompting a chance meeting with a free-spirited French seductress Malika (Dray) who promises to change his life forever -- providing he keeps her identity a secret.

"We wanted to have the award here to wave it around and see if we can attract a sales agent to help us," Hurnsaid. "Now we'll have to do it without that prop."