ABC News Nightline’s Cynthia McFadden conducted an extensive interview with Madonna at the Cannes Film Festival which aired on May 22, 2008. Madonna discussed her new documentary “I Am Because We Are” which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival. Madonna discussed other subjects; she was candid about her feelings about turning 50 and she even told the story of how a demanding Pharrell Williams made her cry during a recording session for her recently released album “Hard Candy.”

Far above the sidewalk leaning over the top balcony of the famed Carlton Hotel is a woman the world knows by one name: Madonna. Parties are not high on her agenda for this trip. She’s in the South of France to show her new documentary, “I Am Because We Are,” a solemn chronicle of the one million AIDS orphans in Malawi.

There couldn’t be two more different worlds that Cannes and Malawi. Madonna — as she has done so often — embraces the extremes.

“There’s something beautiful about it,” she told “Nightline” co-anchor Cynthia McFadden. “On the one hand you can see that Cannes represents superficiality, but so let’s bring some reality into it. There’s a lot of people here that I think would like to feel inspired by more than the gown they’re wearing or the famous person sitting next to them.”

Madonna and her husband, Guy Ritchie at the 61st Cannes Film Festival 2008

Madonna talked about one of the inspirations that led to the making of the film. How did the Material Girl end up in one of the poorest nations on earth, a decidedly non-material place, adopting a child and making a film?

“I guess it happened at a time in my life where I was just dialed into the frequency of wanting to do something that wasn’t just concentrate on my career and family and I wanted to go outside of that,” she said.

Source: Madonna’s Latest Transformation: Crusading Filmmaker (The extensive article continues.)

See also:

• Behind the Scenes at Nightline: Sneak Peeks, Updates, and Observations: Madonna Unplugged

Video: Madonna on “Nightline” 5-22-08