Jamyang Lodro, the 13-year-old star of The Cup, is flanked by fellow actor Orgyen Tobgyal (left) and director Khyentse Norbu. The film, which is the first ever Tibetan-language pic, revolves around the 1998 World Cup and follows a group of Tibetan monks who become obsessed with the tournament and hatch a scheme to watch the final. Director Norbu is officially recognised as the incarnation of a nineteenth-century Buddhist saint. The film received a very long round of applause at the end of its Director's Fortnight screening.

Films of the day

Set in a Mexican coastal town, Mexico's confirmed director Arturo Ripstein brought to the screen (and to the Cannes competition) one of Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez' novels: No One Writes to the Colonel. A poor, struggling, elderly couple are in waiting, waiting for a pension check to arrive in this character study of an ex-military man fighting for survival and the love between an elderly couple. The critics did not seem to rate the film as one of Ripstein's major works.

Felicia's Journey, a psychological drama by Atom Egoyan, looks at the encounter between a young and naive girl (played by Elaine Cassidy) and a serial killer (Bob Hoskins). Based on the novel by Irish author William Trevor, the film is being related to a Beauty and the Beast tale. As usual Egoyan's storytelling deals with individuals confronting pain and the power of healing and will certainly send the public back into the streets full of post-screening talk. As for the critics, the film is not as compelling as his 1997 Cannes prize winner The Sweet Hereafter.

The third film in competition, Love Will Tear us Apart, is the first film by Hong Kong director Yu Lik Wai. The film takes place in Hong Kong, mostly during the night, taking a look at the Hong Kong that attracted the new generation to its sites in 1997. Even though the film shows it more as hell than Eldorado, Lik Wai may have a good chance at the Camera d'Or.

In town

The spotlight of the day went to Mel Gibson who showed up on the Palais steps with the cast and crew of Felicia's Journey, he himself one of the co-producers. Otherwise, singer Enrico Macias was spotted going up the steps, Nathalie Baye was in town for the market screening of Venus Beauty, and a few scoccer players were on hand including Renaldo and Leonardo. Elsewhere, much French activity on the Croisette: Circuit A, film advertisers, gave a château luncheon and Arte television station a luncheon at the villa Mogador.