Cannes. Shorts and shorts.

"The likes of Walter Salles (Motorcycle Diaries), Alexander Payne (Sideways), Alfonso Cuarón (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and Gaspar Noé (Irréversible) would not look out of place in the main competition line-up. Jane Campion, Gus Van Sant and the Coen brothers are former Palme d'Or winners. All of them have short films in this year's event." Xan Brooks talks with Campion about her short, The Water Diary. Cinematical's Martha Fischer has news about Campion's next feature, Bright Star, which, according to Reuters' Stuart Kemp and Winnie Chung, "revolves around the three-year romance between Keats and Fanny Brawne, which was cut short by Keats' untimely death at age 25 in 1821."

Also in the Guardian: Jeremy Kay chats up 50 Cent and Andrew Pulver asks Whit Stillman how the fest's been going for him and hangs with a film buyer, Eve Gabereau of Soda Pictures, who "surveys the floor of the Cannes Marché" and tells him, "'In the end,' she says, 'it's no different from selling plastics.' It's a humbling thought. Those used to thinking of cinema as a noble endeavour, gilded by the twin gods of star lustre and intellectual ambition, would do well to take a stroll around the Riviera conference centre."

And today's "Le wrap" features Mike Figgis and Catalina Sandino Moreno.

Roger Ebert checks the odds on who'll win the Palme d'Or with the Guardian's Derek Malcolm: "'Pedro Almodóvar is now the front-runner at 9 to 4,' he told me. 'Next best chance is Babel, by Alejandro González Iñárritu, at 7-2. Marie Antoinette is 5-1.'"

The Quagmire

IndieWIRE's latest L'Atelier du Festival interviews: Tarde director Santiago Palavecino, El Cielo, La Tierra y La Lluvia director Jose Luis Torres Leiva, Home director Ursula Meier, Virtual Love director Richard Press and The Quagmire director Luiso Berdejo.

Scott Foundas says Dreamgirls is looking very good indeed.

Matt Dentler got a kick out of Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy, Borat.

There certainly is a lot of sex and nudity this year, notes the Hollywood Reporter's Gregg Goldstein.

Deutsche Welle focuses on the entries from Eastern Europe.

Posted by dwhudson at May 25, 2006 3:34 PM