For several personal reasons, I am not attending the Cannes Film Festival this year, a sojourn that I have taken more than 15 times in the last 20 years. So, here I sit nearly 5000 miles and six time zones away, remembering previous Croisette crawls and still feeling the rumblings of an event like no other in the film business. I remember the long, meandering walks along the famously crowded Croisette, the flop sweat of rushing from one meeting to another interview, the exasperation of negotia...

Wednesday was the first official day of the festival, but to a few select few it really started on Tuesday. Tuesday was the arrival of the Da Vinci Code Key Players: Dan Brown, Ron Howard, Paul Bettany (who also starred in Wimbledon...a quality piece of romantic comedy with a superb soundtrack in my opinion), Ian McKellen, Audrey Tautou, and Tom Hanks...to name a few. Unfortuantely, Hanks likes his privacy, so I only got a really good picture of the reflective window in his car. They arrived ...

Had director Ron Howard been a woman, how would “The Da Vinci Code ...

THE DA VINCI CODE COCKTAIL – FACT, MYTH, FICTION & RELIGION Fuelled by controversy both within its covers and in the courts, The Da Vinci Code arrives on our screens with its intoxicating mix of fact, myth, fiction and religion, crowned by the honour of opening the Cannes film festival. Andrew L. Urban explores the duality behind the phenomenon, and the filmmakers discuss the core elements that drive this religion flavoured adventure thriller. There’s nothing new about Jesus surviving t...

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In complement to and inseparable from the Festival de Cannes, the Marché du Film is home to the international motion-picture trade. Each and every year, it welcomes producers, international sales agents, distributors and financiers alike hailing from more than 80 different countries. In 2006, the Film Market should top the bar of 10,000 attendees. This steady increase has made the Film Market the world's number-one meeting-place for motion-picture industry professionals. With over 1,400 scree...

The Official Selection of the Festival de Cannes 2006 will, as every year, be made up films presented in: the Competition, Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition screenings. It offers both a shorts and film schools competition (Cinéfondation). Cannes Classics concerns heritage films, shown principally in the Buñuel Theatre. Finally, in addition to the theatres of the Palais (Lumière, Debussy, Buñuel, Bazin) now the Beach Cinema offers festival-goers and Cannes residents alike outdoors scr...

WONG Kar Wai, President Chinese director Monica BELLUCCI - Italian actress Helena BONHAM CARTER - English actress Lucrecia MARTEL - Argentinean director ZHANG Ziyi - Chinese actress Samuel L. JACKSON - American actor Patrice LECONTE - French director Tim ROTH - English director, actor Elia SULEIMAN - Palestinian director Cinéfondation and short films Jury Andreï KONCHALOVSKY, President Russian director Sandrine BONNAIRE - French actress Daniel BRÜHL - German actor Souleymane CISSE - Mali...

From the Udine Far East Film Festival comes the list of Asian films that will be at Cannes! Plus Jury President Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai is the brilliant signature of this festival. Asian Cannes Competition: Summer Palace, Lou Ye Quinzaine des realizateurs: The Host, Bong Joon-ho Yureru, Nishikawa Miwa Sepohon Rambutan Indah Kepunyaanku Di Tanjung Rambutan, U-Wei bin HajiSaari Un Certain regard: Re-cycle, Oxide Pang Chun & Danny Pang Gwai Wik Luxury Car, Wang Chao The Unforgiven,...

The Jury of Un Certain Regard will be presided by Monte Hellman. The Jury of the Golden Camera will be presided by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. The Actor's MasterClass will be given on Friday, May 19th by Gena Rowlands. The Music MasterClass by Alexandre Desplat, in dialogue with Jacques Audiard, will take place on Sunday, May 21st. The Cinema MasterClass will be hosted by Sydney Pollack on Thursday, May 25th. On this occasion he will present his documentary SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY. A brand-ne...