cannes

And then suddenly all the films, all the directors and all the discussions were somehow put aside. Because of a dress.

With Paterson, Jim Jarmusch, the quintessentially indie director--one of the few left in the U. S.

See more on Loving.

The sun is shining on Cannes despite predictions of a soggy first week. While much work is being done, when the stars emerge to promote their movies sophisticatedly crafted bling catches the spotlights.

A visually and musically thrilling picture, American Honey, British director Andrea Arnold's fourth film, is also the first one that is set and shot entirely in America. The US rights to this picture, which premiered at Cannes Festival (in competition) were acquired during the festival by Focus Features.

The pace has picked up - this is the home stretch towards the coveted Palme D'Or and all the other awards. Equally, if not more important, is nabbing a distributor for your film, to ensure that the work will live on beyond the confines of the Croisette.

Cannes begs the question: what to do with your hair when the ocean is a seashell throw away? To add to the challenge, opening day at Cannes produced showers mere hours before the opening gala. For the most part hair was worn in a ‘just up from the beach’ way.

Roald Dahl stories have inspired groundbreaking films, both live action (Witches, Matilda) and animated  (Fantastic Mr. Fox, James and the Giant Peach).

Like the Supreme Court, Cannes juries are composed of nine experts, although by the shroud of secrecy that surrounds their proceedings sometimes they can appear more like a sequestered jury than a festival panel. This years judges are Arnaud Desplechin, Kirsten Dunst, Valeria Golino, Mads Mikkelsen, László Nemes, Vanessa Paradis, Katayoon Shahabi and Donald Sutherland headed by Aussie, Golden Globe nominated director George Miller who was on the Croisette last year with his Mad Max: Fury Road.

By the time the weekend comes along, the transfiguration of Cannes is complete. Hardline cinephiles don't like to hear it, but by then the lovely town has indeed become a mini-Hollywood with even more expensive food; in other words, a place where someone dressed as an enormous, fluffy creature can walk around and nobody would bat an eyelash - but photographers will swarm to take his/her picture.