Undressing under the Cannes spotlight

Reel news from Cannes: The sole bearers of the Irish flag in any official section at Cannes this year are director Ken Wardrop and producer Andrew Freedman with their short documentary, Undressing My Mother, which has been selected for the International Critics Week. They made the film, which is already laden with awards, while studying at the National Film School in Dún Laoghaire.

And they arrive in Cannes fresh from the prestigious Oberhausen Short Film Festival in Germany, where their new film, Useless Dog, received a special mention from the jury.

As ever, there are many Irish movies screening in the Cannes market this year, among them Trouble With Sex, Adam & Paul, Omagh, The Mighty Celt and Dead Meat, along with the first screenings of Stephen Bradley's Dublin zombie movie, Boy Eats Girl, and Gilles MacKinnon's film of Maeve Binchy's Tara Road, which, its sales agent insists, is showing solely for potential buyers.

More than 200 delegates have registered with the Irish Pavilion, the focal point for Irish activities at Cannes. Located on the Croisette conveniently close to the Festival Palais, it's open daily from 9am to 8pm and provides a bar, an information desk, a screening booth and internet connections. Arts minister John O'Donoghue will perform the official opening at a reception on Sunday evening. Once again, the pavilion is a joint venture between the Irish Film Board and the Northern Ireland Film and Television Commission.

And once again, for the second time in three years, the pavilion is awash with speculation as to who will be the next chief executive of the Irish Film Board, now that Mark Woods is set to vacate the post in July. Perhaps an enterprising bookmaker will open a stall in the pavilion and take bets on the outcome.

Arthouse on the shelf

Having taken over €200,000 in Ireland and reaching second place at the UK box-office, Downfall proves how successful arthouse movies can be in this territory. However, distributors in the UK/Ireland market appear more cautious than ever about acquiring arthouse movies, given that the majority of the films in competition at Cannes remain unsold in that territory. Lars von Trier's Manderlay, for example, has been acquired by distributors in more than two dozen countries, from Brazil to Poland to Thailand, but even though it's in English and features Bryce Dallas Howard and Willem Dafoe, it has yet to secure a UK/Ireland distributor. Then again, the same is true of British director Mark Dornford-May's U-Carmen Khayelitsha, even though it took top prize at the Berlin festival three months ago.

Lucas sails away with prize

Cannes will present George Lucas with a special award, the Trophy of the 58th Festival, on Sunday, the day Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith has its world premiere at Cannes. The presentation will be made at a reception on board the Queen Mary II, the world's largest ocean liner, which will be anchored in the bay off Cannes. The festival will also screen an homage to Lucas, directed by Cannes president Gilles Jacob.

Guys will be dolls

Musicals are as thin on the ground as westerns these days, but buzz is building on a Spanish musical in the Cannes market this year. Pitched by its sales agents as "The Rocky Horror Show meets Doris Day with gender problems", 20 Centimetres features Monica Cervera as a young narcoleptic transvestite who yearns to turn transsexual (hence the title) - and who dreams up elaborate musical numbers in which she's the star, among them Madonna's True Blue and Queen's I Want to Break Free. The cast includes Pilar Bardem, mother of Cannes jury member Javier.

Making a pile

Quote of the week, from Italian producer Riccardo Tozzi on all the attention accorded US actors at Cannes: "Americans can afford to make a totally crap film and it will still make tons of money, if the right stars are in it. We can't do that."

Michael Dwyer reports from Cannes in tomorrow's Weekend Review and on next Tuesday's Arts page.