Cannes wants focus on film, not politics

Cannes jury president Emir Kusturica wants cinema protected from commercial pressure. Picture / Reuters

The yachts are scrubbed, the red carpet is rolled out, giant movie posters vie for attention on the seafront and long-suffering residents force a smile. Let Cannes, the world's greatest film festival, begin.

The 58th Festival de Cannes opens today in the glamorous Riviera resort, offering up the annual orgy of Hollywood glitz, showbiz excess and a bewildering number of films both in and out of competition.

The biggest event of a packed 12-day programme promises to be the sixth and final instalment of George Lucas' Star Wars epic, which gets its world premiere in Cannes on Monday.

Though not in the running for the coveted Palme d'Or, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith will get the star treatment in recognition of a series that changed cinema forever and earned $US3.5 billion ($4.85 billion) in ticket sales since 1977.

Also appearing out of competition is Woody Allen's Match Point, set not in the veteran director's beloved Manhattan but in London, and starring Scarlett Johansson.

Competing for the main prize are 21 films, and the selection of so many established directors is seen as an attempt to put film back in the limelight ahead of heated political debate.

Last year the surprise winner of the Palme d'Or was Michael Moore's controversial Fahrenheit 9/11, which took an angry swipe at US President George W. Bush.

Jury president Emir Kusturica said the festival's value lay in protecting cinema from the "huge pressure of the commercial world".

Among previous winners of the Palme d'Or competing this year are Germany's Wim Wenders, whose Don't Come Knocking features a down-and-out Western hero looking for redemption, and American Gus Van Sant, back with Last Days.

America's Jim Jarmusch brings together an all-star cast including Bill Murray, Sharon Stone and Jessica Lange in Broken Flowers, which follows a man in search of a son he didn't know he had.

Other heavy-hitters are Canada's David Cronenberg (A History of Violence) and Denmark's Lars von Trier (Manderlay).

One New Zealand film, Nothing Special, a black comedy about a boy whose mother decides he is Jesus Christ reincarnate, has been selected for competition in the short film section.

Five Asian films are in competition, by directors from China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

And Iraqi Kurd Hiner Saleem is bound to get tongues wagging with Kilometre Zero, about tensions between Arabs and Kurds in Iraq.

Such gritty reality seems a million miles from Cannes.

""For 12 days and 12 nights it's a dream," said Sylvain Ercoli, manager of the plush Martinez Hotel.

"You walk into the most famous people. They are not look-alikes, they are the real ones."

- REUTERS