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By the time Heaven's Gate landed on the Croisette, a trail of rumors, allegations and serious problems was following it like a hound from hell. Hot from the success of 1978's The Deer Hunter - which received six Golden Globe nominations, with Michael Cimino winning as Best Director -  Cimino stirred a bidding war for his next project, the period drama, Heaven's Gate.

David Lynch met the HFPA just before leaving for the Cannes Film Festival where he will present the first two hours of his new TV series Twin Peaks: The Return. When he was asked how important is his connection between visual and music, he answered:“I love music and I say music is a film.

After catching the attention of the international film circuit with a trio of powerful pictures firmly rooted in Taiwanese culture - Pushing Hands in 1991, The Wedding Banquet in 1992 and Eat Drink Man Woman in 1993 - director Ang Lee quickly did a turnaround and launched himself into a series of varied projects. First came his adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, and then, in 1997, another literary adaptation - the family drama The Ice Storm, writen by James Schamus from Rick Moody's eponymous novel and an official selection, in competition, at Cannes that year.

“Strange” (sounds better in French: bizarre) is the first label that comes to mind after watching How to Talk to Girls at Parties, from John Cameron Mitchell, which is an official selection (out of competition) of the 2017 Cannes Film Fest. This romantic tale, which tries to mix the subcultures of punk and aliens in a sci-fi milieu, was one of the toughest press screening to get into (It took place at a small venue, Salle Bazin).

It was a somber start for day seven in Cannes as the Festival, like the rest of the world, awoke to the tragic news coming from Manchester. An official statement from the Festival read: “This is yet another attack on culture, youth and joyfulness, on our freedom, generosity and tolerance, all things that the Festival and those who make it possible –the artists, professionals and spectators– hold dear.

The opening of The Rider - winner, with A Ciambra, of the Directors Fortnight-  focuses on a horse’s mane, spreading and floating in slow motion as the animal bucks and whinnies. It’s an indication that this cowboy story is going to be told differently and hints at the visuals to come that capture the vast open spaces and rugged isolation of South Dakota.

“The P in HFPA stands for press, but it could also stand for philanthropy”, said HFPA president Lorenzo Soria in his opening remarks on Sunday, May 21, at the Association’s annual Cannes party. This year the event served as a benefit for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a nonprofit organization that responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people who have been devastated by conflict and disaster, to which the HFPA donated $500,000.

In its US landing Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant had the honor of a $36. 5 million first place debut.

Kristen Stewart is in Cannes making her directorial debut with her short film Come Swim. Stewart, 27, is not new to Cannes - she was here as an actress with Twilight and Café Society and again last year in Personal Shopper -  but this is the first time she's here as a director and screenwriter.

Day four of the festival was dominated, at least briefly, by the “security scare” at the Palais des Festivals. As if journalists were not frayed enough by the interminable lines for screenings and the extra security, the several hundred who had lined up for over an hour to see Michel Hazanavicius’ Le Redoutable were suddenly ordered to move back by surging security officers.