A Small Slice of Cannes : No crowd of celebrities or <i> paparazzi</i> at the American Film Market. But Santa Monica already likes what it sees of the bottom line.

The U.S. version of the Cannes Film Festival opens Thursday in Santa Monica sans the scantily clad starlets found at the famous French festival. But city officials are excited at the prospect of enhancing the city’s image as an entertainment hub--and the potential revenues the event will generate.

The city will put on its best face for the American Film Market, which will run from Thursday to March 8. Colorful banners will be strung throughout the downtown area announcing the event, painted stripes on the street will direct more than 9,000 participants to restaurants and theaters, and there will even be official greeters zipping through town on Roller Blades welcoming visitors.

The Film Market, which was held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills last year, is an opportunity for independent movie producers to sell their films to foreign distributors. An estimated $350 million worth of business is conducted annually at the event.

From the success of the market--which essentially is a business meeting without a film festival--city officials hope to attract to the city not the paparazzi and glitz associated with Cannes, but other events that will bring revenue to the city.

Councilman Dennis Zane, who was a leader in pushing for the renovation of the Third Street Promenade and in creating an image for Santa Monica as an entertainment hub, said it would be natural for the city to host other film-related events.

However, he said that because Santa Monica is still primarily a residential community, city officials should move slowly.

“This event will not create an inconvenience for the city,” Zane said. “But Santa Monica is a city that is sensitive to how various activities impact its residents. It’s a direction that I would like to see the city go in, but I think we need to take it one step at a time.”

Careful planning has gone into making the market as unobtrusive to residents as possible. A task force composed of city, hotel, tourism and market officials has been meeting monthly for the past two years to work out such issues as parking, transportation, hotel rooms and security.

“The city has been phenomenal,” said Tim Kittleson, executive director of the American Film Market. “I have never had cooperation like I have had with Santa Monica.”

One of the reasons city officials have been so cooperative--including instructing police to be a little more sympathetic toward jaywalkers--is the revenue the event will produce. Participants in the annual nine-day market, which will be headquartered at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, are expected to spend between $10 million and $15 million. That could mean more than $600,000 in taxes to the city.

And before the first deal can even be struck at the market, the city has already walked off with another deal of its own. Market officials have agreed to host a second market in Santa Monica in October. While it will be for only seven days, it is expected to generate a similar amount of cash.

“It’s a real coup,” said Mayor Judy Abdo. “This is a relatively painless way for the city to raise some money.”

The Loews hotel is removing its beds and replacing them with desks to create temporary luxury office space for the more than 200 film companies that will set up shop in the hotel.

And while no one will be sleeping at the Loews, there will be plenty of activity there. Food plazas will be set up on the fourth through eighth floors of the hotel, as well as at the Santa Monica Municipal Pier and at the beach. The bar will open at 10 a.m. and is not expected to close until nearly 2 a.m.

Michael Ryan, the hotel’s food and beverage manager, said 300 pounds of chicken, 600 pounds of fresh fish and 650 pounds of pasta have been ordered for the event. For the bar, 300 cases of liquor, 200 cases of beer and 500 cases of mineral water have been ordered.

The market’s 50-member staff has taken over the entire first floor of the hotel and converted the bedrooms into offices and the video arcade room into a communication center with nine fax machines and four photocopiers.

The telephone company has added a separate trunk to accommodate 600 new telephone lines for the market. Kittleson said that last year the market handled 15,000 calls a day.

In connection with the market, Location Expo will be held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium about a block south of the Loews. More than 100 film commissions worldwide will meet to promote their locations for films.

Participants will be staying at the various hotels in the downtown area as well as in Marina del Rey. A shuttle will take participants between the hotels and the Third Street Promenade, where screenings will be held and where most of the participants are expected to shop and dine.

More than 280 films will be shown on 21 screens at three theaters in the Promenade and one on 2nd Street. Some celebrities may be present at the market, but, unlike Cannes, this is primarily business rather than fun.

“There will be no starlets jumping in swimming pools,” Kittleson warned. “It’s purely a business event. It’s like any other trade market, except that we’ll be in a luxury hotel at the beach.”