Who is at the Cannes Film Festival this year?

                                                      Cannes.                               Photo by Gilbertus

The Hollywood stars have descended on Cannes again this week for the annual film festival. And with them they have brought the usual gossip, scandal, glitz and glamour.

Films this year include The Tree of Life, starring Brad Pitt, who at a press conference seemed rather worried what his children would think of his portrayal of a very strict father. He hopes they will see him as a good actor. Yes Mr Pitt they will know you were acting and will think you were good. Sean Penn stars alongside Pitt.

La Conquete, (The Conquest) a biopic of French president Nicholas Sarkozy, has gone down fairly well with the critics. Meanwhile his wife, model turned actress Carla Bruni Sarkozy plays a museum guide in Woody Allen's latest film Midnight in Paris, which has not received good reviews.

Then Danish film director Lars Von Trier caused trouble when he said he was a Nazi at a press conference, getting himself banned from the festival. Von Trier has apparantly behaved badly before at Cannes and also got lots of attention then too. His film Melancholia is allowed to still be in the contest.

The contest will be judged by a panel, chaired by none other than the great American actor Robert de Niro.

Other big names in Cannes this week are Jack Black and Angelina Jolie, who do the voices in Kung Fu Panda 2, and Mel Gibson, who stars with a puppet and Jodie Foster in The Beaver.

Others in town are Sean Penn, who plays an aging rock star in This Must Be The Place, and Keifer Sutherland, who appears in Melancholia.

Leonardo di Caprio, John Hurt, Uma Thurman, Ronnie Wood and Naomi Campbell are also in Cannes. Along with Antonio Banderas, who is promoting his film The Skin I Live In, about a plastic surgeon.

Cannes seems to be mainly known for the festival, yachts, cruise ships and wealth. But it is a pleasant town with an upmarket sea front promenade called La Croisette, a thin strip of beach and lots of expensive restaurants and cafes. The famous Carlton Hotel looks out to sea from La Croisette and you'll be sure to spot at least one or two Porsches.

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