2016 Cannes International Film Festival

The dominant trend was embroidered, embossed and beaded gowns in neutrals and black that stunned. Models appeared in hoards – they stood out in a crowd for being barely clothed and not smiling.

A wunderkind? Self-aggrandizing filmmaker? Ambitious careerist?  All of these labels have been applied, with varying degrees of accuracy or truth, to the Quebecois director-writer-actor Xavier Dolan.  Only 27, the Montreal-based director has been nothing if not prolific, already claiming six features to his credit.

Something new happened at the 69th Cannes Film Festival – for the first time in its history the festival offered a selection of virtual reality shorts and a pavilion dedicated exclusively to the new technology. Included in the VR slate were Invasion! , an animated six-minute short by Madagascar co-director Eric Darnell ; San Francisco’s Penrose Studios’ Allumette, based on Andersen’s “The Little Match Girl”; the “first person reality short film” The Doghouse by Denmark’s VR studio Makropol; and Giant, a “virtual reality experience of war”  by Milica Zec and Winslow Tuner Porter III that had already raised quite the buzz at Sundance.

Just when you thought you had finally figured out all the different options to viewing media, a more recent technological advance rises up demonstrating how to incorporate advances into the viewing experience. Virtual reality director Milica Zec, Winslow Turner Porter III and HP are intent on bringing the viewer into the movie itself: Giant is a short and intense film  inspired by Milica’s youth during the Serbian war.

Ken Loach, one of the greatest living British filmmakers – alongside Mike Leigh and Terence Davies – may become the oldest working director in the UK.  At 80, with a solid body of work that consists of 19 films, he still shows his strong, unfailing commitment to social issues cinema – slanted toward left-wing politics.

We met Danish director and writer Nicolas Winding Refn on the set of his new film, the horror-thriller The Neon Demon, starring Elle Fanning and Keanu Reeves. It's the story of an aspiring model Jesse (Fanning) who moves to Los Angeles, when her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has.

The jury has convened, the Marché has wrapped up, and most celebrities have hopped on their yachts and private jets. Awards have been trickling in: Un Certain Regard chose a Finnish boxing drama and an actor-turned-director; the International Federation of Film Critics awarded the prize for competition films to Toni Erdmann – already a favorite for the Palme D’Or –and the nod for non-competition entries to the Romanian Dogs, shown in Un Certain Regard; and last but certainly not least, the Palm Dog for best canine performance went to Nellie, the English bulldog who played opposite Adam Driver in Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson (sadly, Nellie passed away a few weeks back, making her Palm Dog the first to be awarded posthumously).

The winners of the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival were announced -in a mix of languages: French, English and even Japanese-- in a short ceremony at the Debussy Theater on Saturday evening, the penultimate night of the festival. The members of the jury presented the awards to an eclectic range of international films.

Cannes – the film festival is so French, so cool. They have shoe requirements for women: you have to wear heels.

A new batch of awards was announced, the last films in competition were screened and the jury was honored with a lunch offered by the Cannes mayor. But everyone wanted to talk about the 23rd amfAR gala held at the exclusive, secluded and luxurious Hotel du Cap, to raise funds for AIDS research.