Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s VR Film Carne y Arena Stuns Cannes

It comes as no surprise that Oscar-winning director Alejandro G. Iñárritu has brought a technical marvel to Cannes. The Birdman and The Revenant director loves a challenge, and his ambitions have crossed into film’s most cutting edge technology; virtual reality. Carne y Arena (“Flesh and Sand”) is his groundbreaking addition to this year’s Cannes Film Festival, a hybrid of VR, art exhibition and historical re-enactment. 

Jane Campion, Cannes, & the Power of the Short Film

Short films have figured prominently in the Cannes official selection from the Festival’s earliest days, with a jury awarding a Palme d’Or (and occasionally, Jury and Grand Prix prizes) to that year’s most successful short. Famous past winners include Jim Jarmusch’s 1993 Palme d’Or for Coffee and Cigarettes (Somewhere in California), which was later expanded into a feature-length portmanteau comprising 11 interlinked stories, and British director Lynne Ramsay’s 1996 and 1998 Jury Prize wins for her shorts Small Deaths and Gasman (Ramsay sits on the jury of the main competition this year).

Film Festivals Decoder: A Look At The World’s Top Film Fests

Sure, Sundance and Cannes have become household names, but did you know that there are nearly 4,000 film festivals held around the world every year? (There’s even a Moustache Film Festival in Portland, Maine.) The top-tier festivals have a glamorous reputation, but even at the ritziest ones, you’ll find up-and-coming independent filmmakers, film school students and everyday cinema enthusiasts rubbing elbows with A-list actors, producers and directors.

Last week marked the start of the 2012 Venice Film Festival and The Telluride Film Festival–and that's  just the beginning of what will likely be the most dynamic film fest season to date.