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Shrek 2 is in place as are Antonia Banderas and Melanie Griffiths, as well as Mike Myers , Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and wife ( first time in Cannes) , Julie Andrews , Jennifer Saunders , Rupert Everett and producer Jerry Katzenberg. The producer admitted that he called up Giles Jacob and Thierry Fremaux when the film was completed and explained how much they had enjoyed being at Cannes with Shrek. Surpisingly, he said, they were invited back for Shrek 2, the first time a film and its sequel have been in competition..

There are no stars in Ousmane Sembène's 'Moolaadé' powerful film in A Certain Regard, on the practice of female circumcision and the right to asylum in Senegal. Another accaimed film from the official selection: 'Old Boy', the second volume in a trilogy on revenge Park Chan-wook ( an auteur fave format) about a man locked up for 15 years without any explanation and then released, where he seeks revenge. The film is unusual said Park because his captor doesn’t try to hide. The sound track has an eclectic collection of music ‘to give the illusion of vertigo’ said the Park: tango, techno and funeral music.

Cannes hosts an anti-piracy conference this year. According to Nicolas Seydoux, President of Gaumont and President of ALPA (against piracy association), "We need international solidarity or else it's creativity that is going to disappear. Two-thirds of the young talent are not able to breakthrough today and filmmakers on the fringe of filmmaking are going to disappear.”

Cannes has chosen today to debut the work of the two women whose films are in the official selection: "Comme une image" ("Look at Me") , a story a young girl obsessed by singing with anorexia by Agnès Jaoui and "La Niña Santa" ("The Holy Girl") by Lucrecia Martel, the story of Amalia a member of a local choir, that questions religious beliefs when it comes to her emerging sexuality. 'The Holy Girl ,is produced by Pedro and Agustin Almodóvar. Says Martel: , the film is about ”good and evil and the difficulty of distinguishing between the two.”
“When I write, it's already musical. It's instinctive: you have to find the right words, like expressions that suit you. Storytelling and music share a sense of rhythm.”, said Jaoui at the press conference.


Moira Sullivan