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Los Angeles. Superheroes were about to disappear, right? They were too predictable and repetitive, remember? But two years after the arrival of a new syndrome called “superhero fatigue”, those fears seem to have dissipated.

So the curtain finally came down on the 71st Cannes Film Festival with one last glamorous red carpet that had the full jury, led by Cate Blanchett, walk filmdom’s most famous staircase, followed by the cast of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, the closing film which was screened after the ceremony. The Terry Gilliam movie is legendary for the production nightmares which plagued it and the decades-long legal wrangling in which it became entangled, resulting in a 30-year delay in its eventual completion and wrapping it in an aura of ultimate film maudit.

BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee’s instant Cannes hit, walked away with the Grand Prix, holding the second spot to Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters, winner of the 2018 Palme d'Or. The jury led by Cate Blanchett also awarded an unprecedented Special Palme d’Or to Jean-Luc Godard, for his Image Book, and for being, in Blanchett’s words, “a cinematic artist who is continually striving to define and re-define what cinema can be.

Festival guest Truman Capote, still riding high on the success of In Cold Blood, enjoys the luxurious comfort of the Carlton Hotel in the company of his friend, Geraldine Chaplin, who plays the part of a dedicated hotel maid. Chaplin is in Cannes with director Carlos Saura's Peppermint Frappé - a movie that will soon be part of the festival history, not for being shown, but for not being shown.

HFPA Grantee   California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) is a nationally ranked comprehensive university dedicated to affordable higher education and career success after graduation.  With 109 degreed programs and an enrollment of 40,000 diverse students – more than half of whom are the first in their family to pursue a college degree – the university is a major force in the intellectual and cultural life of the region, state and nation, as well as a catalyst for economic and social mobility.

Things have (thankfully) finally been stirring on the Croisette after a rather lukewarm start to the festival here with a couple of high profile movies hitting the big screen of the Grand Theatre Lumière. One is by perennial controversial Danish director Lars Von Trier (Antichrist, Melancholia) just back from a years-long time-out for bad behavior.

Spanish-born German actor and Golden Globe nominee Daniel Brühl told HFPA journalist Jenny Cooney how he played a little trick on Quentin Tarantino in his audition for Inglorious Basterds:  “By the end of the audition, Quentin said ah, that was alright, but it’s a shame that I cannot see you acting in French when you are flirting with the girl.   And I said that’s not a problem, I can translate it right away.

At 77, with a career that started in the early 60s and gave him two Golden Globes for Best Supporting Actor in 1971 and 1973 for his role in Marcus Welby MD, and four other nominations in 1972, 1984, 1985 and 2004, James Brolin could be enjoying the memories of the past instead of thinking on the challenges of the future. But the father of three, including actor Josh Brolin, and husband of Cecil B.

Before the whole festival imploded under the pressure of a growing number of filmmakers and artists, several films were screened to mixed reactions. Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby received mostly glowing reviews, around the theme of 'he's back to the vein of Repulsion'.

The Avengers continue to rule the multiverse and the international box office without much opposition. After a spectacular opening in China to the tune of $ $200 million, Avengers: Infinity War easily sailed into its third week of box office domination with a hero-worthy $324.