Cannes Film Festival 2016

The Cannes film festival opens today, an event that sets the international standard for events that could be described as 'glittering; or 'star-studded.'

Hundreds of A-list stars and directors will be at the event, and while 21 films are  competing for the Palme d'Or , the Un Certain Regard category, Out of Competition and special screenings are packed with interesting work from France, the USA and beyond.

Needless to say many of France's leading names are on the bill, with movies featuring the likes of Juliette Binoche, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Isabelle Huppert, Léa Seydoux and Vincent Cassel.

There are no fewer than two films featuring Marion Cotillard in competion for the Palme d'Or, From the Land of the Moon and It's Only the End of the World.

Vanessa Paradis is on the jury for the Feature Films category and while better known as a singer in the UK, it's worth remembering she's had a lengthy film career and won a César award for her appearance in the film Noce Blanche.

Jim Jarmusch will screen his documentary about Iggy Pop Gimme Danger as well as his movie Paterson, one of the 21 contenders for this year's Palme d'or.

French director  Olivier Assayas has his film Personal Shopper in competition for the Palme d'or, a film featuring Twilight star Kristen Stewart. Assayas will forever be held in a high regard by this blog for his early work making the video for the track Rectangle by Jacno.

While careers will be made, deals done, reputations established and cinema and its stars celebrated, Cannes above all presents an international showcase for France as a world-leading arts producing nation.

Scott Walker: Pola X

With the release of the new album Bish Bosch by Scott Walker this week, another excuse to reflect on his involvement with French culture.

Walker was involved in the soundtrack for the 1999 Leos Carax movie Pola X, later releasing a CD of his work, along with additional tracks by other artists featured, including Sonic Youth and Smog.

The film starred Guillaume Depardieu, Yekaterina Golubeva and Catherine Deneuve. It was based on a novel by Herman Melville entitled Pierre: or, The Ambiguities, the acronym of which gives the film its title.

It explores the relationship between a man played by Depardieu and his mother, his fiancée and a woman he finds out is his sister.

A longer version of the film, made into three parts and entitled Pierre ou les ambiguïtés was shown on Arte in 2001.

Carax had already established his reputation as one of France's most significant directors with his 1991 film Les Amants du Pont-Neuf. He had already made the films Boy Meets Girl in '84 and bad Blood in '86. His most recent film was 2012's Holy Motors.