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Films like Primary Colors, Blues Brothers 2000 and Dark City may be old news in North America, but they are new to Europe. Buena Vista will likewise be unleashing 40 minutes of its summer tentpole picture, Armageddon, with Bruce Willis. 

And there is the satisfying juxtaposition of Sony's festival-closing megamovie, Godzilla, with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Terry Gilliam's take on the life of a man quite capable of seeing giant lizards without benefit of special effects. 
There are likewise a solid raft of new movies from established festival favourites, many of them prize-winners in previous years: Theo Angelopoulos, Nanni Moretti, Patrice Chereau, Rolf de Heer, Hou Hsaio-Hsien, Hector Babenco, John Boorman, Lars von Trier and Ken Loach. There are, however, no previous Palme d'Or winners in the competition, although Shohei Imamura (Palme d'Or, 1983 and 1997) and Roland Joffe (1986) both have films in the official selection. 

And then there are the rising stars: French first-timer Erick Zonca, with La vie revee des anges; John Turturro, already a Cannes favourite son as an actor, in competition with his second directorial outing, Illuminata; plus Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine) and Lodge Kerrigan (Claire Dolan), both (like Turturro) upgraded from previous outings in other sections. 

In other respects, 1998 looks like a year of rebranding. There is a programme dedicated to film-school graduates. The 'retrospective' section has been rechristened 'introspective' (so it can show new films as well). 'Classic Cinema' has become 'Festival Cinema'. And a particularly naff 'Welcome' sign, complete with a chubby pink heart, has been erected, presumably with official sanction, in a number of high-profile spots. 

Less positive, however, is the banishing of the Critics Week from the Palais, which would seem to have less to do with the reason officially given (logistics) than with big-brother tactics on the part of the festival. 
Nick Roddick 

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Lars von Trier talks dirty 

"I have always wanted to make a porn movie. Unfortunately this is not the one," said Danish director Lars von Trier, defying his phobia of travel to attend the world premiere of his latest feature, Idioterne (The Idiots), screening in competition at Cannes on 20 May. 

However, a 20-second sequence of sexual intercourse, including explicit penetration, is expected to rise the eyebrows of film censors worldwide – except in Denmark, where censorship was abolished as early as 1969. 

The scene, involving professional sex performers, occurs as the group of young people exploring the hidden and less appeciated values of ideocy decides for group sex as the preferred diversion of the day. 

"Probably a bit frank, but only in small parts," said von Trier of his fourth official entry at Cannes. The cast includes Trine Michelsen (pictured below), who prepares for a day in the sun with the aid of mayonnaise from the picnic basket. JRJ 
 
 

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World Sales Christa Saredi attends Cannes with a film in competition, The Celebration, and two films in Un Certain Regard, Divine and Rehearsals for War. 

Produced by Nimbus Film, a company set up by young filmmakers from the National Film School of Denmark, The Celebration follows the event of one evening, a 60th birthday celebration, and the shattering events which ensue. 

The films are awesome," said Saredi. "Ripstein is a director whose handwriting is very distinctive and he delivers the most poignant view of the state of souls and minds come the end of the millennium. Mario Martone portrays the terrible human indifference towards tragedy." NC