Cannes, 5/19.

First, an online listening tip. The New York Times posts an MP3: Manohla Dargis talks with Sight & Sound editor Nick James. On a related note, S&S will be presenting a talk by Cannes artistic director Thierry Frémaux on June 12 in London.

Dave Kehr gathers a generous cluster of highlights from coverage of the festival in the French press.

Via Movie City News, Stephen Applebaum in the Scotsman: "Cannes is the film industry in a nutshell, a place, the novelist Irwin Shaw wrote, that attracts 'the artists and pseudo-artists, the businessmen, the con men, the buyers and sellers, the peddlers, the whores, the pornographers, critics, hangers-on, the year's heroes, the year's failures.' It is like a Hogarth sketch come to life - only in Cannes people are more likely to be drinking Champagne than gin and the only horses getting flogged are dead ones."

The might not be any British films competing this year, but Stephen Frears is heading the jury and Control is scoring raves. The Independent reports on another British triumph, the "re-release of the classic Hammer version of Bram Stoker's work," Count Dracula, "complete with scenes judged too gory for audiences in 1958. Ed Caesar and Arifa Akbar report on the premiere, while John Walsh profiles the men who will be forever associated with the vampire count."

In the Guardian:

• Mike Kaplan tells the story behind his film about Lindsay Anderson: "With Never Apologise, Anderson is again back in Cannes, which he loved; which he first covered as a critic; where all his major films had their international premieres; where Richard Harris won the best actor award for This Sporting Life; where Anderson took the Palme D'Or for If... In other words I like to think of him as back in full force, cheering us on."

• Don Cheadle, "along with his Ocean's 13 co-star [George] Clooney, has hijacked the premiere of Steven Soderbergh's latest film to focus the gaze of Hollywood - and, by extension, the world - on Darfur," reports Dan Glaister. "Tuesday's party [in Cannes] will be a benefit to aid the fledgling Not on our Watch Foundation, a fundraising and advocacy group that aims 'to focus global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities.' But unlike most non-profit start-ups, this one boasts a stellar list of board members on its letterhead: Cheadle, Clooney, [Matt] Damon, Brad Pitt and the Ocean's 13 producer, Jerry Weintraub."

• Mike Brett tours "Marché du Film section of the Palais - the land of The Films No One Has Bought."

At the Austin Movie Blog, Charles Ealy listens to Leonardo DiCaprio talk about global warming and The 11th Hour.

Matt Dentler's got lots of pix and a few quick words on Triangle, Boarding Gate and Control.

Cinematical's James Rocchi's got more pix, too.

IndieWIRE's latest Atelier interview: Semih Kaplanoglu (Milk, Turkey).

Posted by dwhudson at May 19, 2007 12:32 PM