The Cannes film festival marks a first today when it opens with the animation comedy Up, but the general atmosphere is likely to be more down this year.
An award-winning film by Dublin playwright Conor McPherson and films starring Colin Farrell and Cillian Murphy head the Irish productions being showcased in the festival.
Directed by Pete Docter and produced by Disney's Pixar studios, the 3-D Uphas already been declared a triumph in advance reviews and was described by trade paper The Hollywood Reporteras "arguably the funniest Pixar effort ever".
Upkicks off 12 days of screenings, interviews, red carpets and revelry in the glamorous Riviera resort, but the tale of a retired balloon salesman and a zealous boy scout will need all the charm it can muster to see off the recessionary gloom overshadowing the palm-lined Croisette waterfront this year.
As ever the big hotels are full and plastered with advertisements for forthcoming blockbusters, party tents still line the beach and there are plenty of yachts in the bay. But many of the boats are unchartered, Vanity Fair's exclusive party has been cancelled and there has already been talk of potential deals falling through and spending cutbacks.
However, Brad Pitt is expected in Cannes with Quentin Tarantino's World War Two drama Inglourious Basterds, one of 20 films showing in the main competition and vying for the coveted Palme d'Or for best picture when Cannes winds up on May 24th.
The competition also includes Ken Loach's Looking for Eric, featuring former French soccer star Eric Cantona; Pedro Almodovar's Broken Embraces, starring Penelope Cruz; and Lars von Trier's horror Antichrist.
Like Tarantino, Loach is aiming to join the select group of double Palme winners, having scooped the award in 2006 for The Wind That Shakes The Barley.
Jane Campion, who won the Palme d'Or with The Pianoin 1993, brings Bright Starm, based on the romance between 19th century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne.
Out of competition, Terry Gilliam has perhaps the biggest movie in Cannes. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassusis the late Australian actor Heath Ledger's final screen role, which had to be completed by Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law.
On the Irish front, McPherson's The Eclipse, which won "best actor" award at New York's Tribeca Film Festival, will be one of 15 Irish movies on the market for distributors at the top event.
Set during a literary festival in the seaside town of Cobh, The Eclipseis the story of a recent widower who is trying to adjust to his role as the sole carer of his two young children, but is increasingly haunted by frighteningly real nightmares.
Other Irish films on show include Wide Open Spaces, starring Ardal O'Hanlon - a new film from the Father Tedwriter Arthur Matthews. Triagestarring Colin Farrell, Perrier's Bountystarring Cillian Murphy and Jim Broadbent, and Brendan Gleeson, Ondinedirected by Neil Jordan, will also feature.
The Irish Pavilion in Cannes will be promoting Irish film and Ireland as a film location.
Hundreds more movies are shown outside the main competition, many of them on the market that runs throughout the festival and reinforces Cannes's importance in the world of cinema.
Agencies