Cannes (and other fests and events), 5/12.

"[N]o matter how many times you go, or how far inside you get, Cannes never loses its aura," writes the Toronto Star's Geoff Pevere. Via Movie City News.

Richard Brooks pooh-poohs the aura. Also in the New Statesman), Jason Wood: "That two Mexican films are competing for the most prestigious prize in world cinema is a measure of how far the Mexican industry has come in the past six years."

Todd at Twitch on the only Asian film in Competition: "The Chinese government is now saying Lou [Ye] has broken the law by submitting [Summer Palace] to Cannes before submitting it to them and Lou has responded, bizarrely, by saying he never submitted the film to Cannes in the first place and doesn't really know how it got there... All the details on Kaiju Shakedown." Also: a trailer for Jens Lien's Den Brysomme Mannen (The Bothersome Man).

Sheila Johnston sorts through the lineup for the Independent, David Gritten for the Telegraph.

Boyd van Hoeij at Cineuropa: "A meagre selection from the Netherlands this year in the official 2006 Cannes line-up is offset by a strong presence on the market and a total of ten titles that were supported by Rotterdam's CineMart and Hubert Bals Fund."

In the New York Times, Neil Genzlinger previews "a jazzy triple bill of anime offered at the ImaginAsian Theater."

In the Austin area? Jette Kernion's got you covered at Cinematical, where she also looks back at the Best of QT Fest.

DC? Check with Chuck Tryon. NYC? The Reeler.

San Francisco? How about the 10th annual Mission Creek Music & Arts Festival. SF360's Susan Gerhard presents "24 Reasons Why to find yourself in the Mission this Sunday and the rest of the week for the 10th annual music and arts festival."

Wilhelm Hien: Perfekt! in London next weekend. Via Antonio Pasolini.

"What would you do if your wife was killed by a US patriot missile?" Charlie Prince catches up on his Tribeca reviews at Cinema Strikes Back: Civic Duty.

Posted by dwhudson at May 12, 2006 1:33 PM