From kung-fu pandas to the Hand of God, Cannes 2008 delivers its habitual eclectic mix of film fare.

   Kicking kung-fu pandas and a chilling Brazilian vision of the apocalypse: the Cannes film festival kicks off Wednesday blending fun with philosophy, and Hollywood blockbusters with arthouse fare.

   The world release of the latest long-awaited episode of whip-cracking
"Indiana Jones" is set to be the star act of the 12-day film bonanza,
featuring now-well-over-60 Harrison Ford doing his own stunts.

   But opening night red-carpet glory is for Brazil's two-time Oscar-nominated
director Fernando Meirelles, whose hard-hitting "Blindness", about a world
where people have lost their sight, unrolls the world's biggest filmfest.

   The sombre film starring Julianne Moore, peppered with apocalyptic scenes
of a chaotic world and stray lawless legions of people, is one of 22 competing
for Cannes' prestigious Palme d'Or, to be awarded by a jury headed by Sean
Penn.

   It sombre note is likely to strike a chord with the former Hollywood "bad
boy", who said Wednesday that human disasters such as those unravelling in
China and Myanmar could not be forgotten.

   "The earthquake will influence my judgement with almost every movie," he
said. "This is part of our global shared emotions and life, these things that
are happening. This makes us more raw."

   Based on a book by Nobel winner Jose Saramago of Portugal, the film by the
maker of "City of God" and "The Constant Gardener" recounts an epidemic of
blindness, raising questions about human nature and the fragility of society.

   "It's as if civilisation was built on a thin layer of ice that could crack
at any moment," Meirelles said at a news conference. "It's a metaphor on all
the ills of the 20th century."

   Striking a note of contrast, hours before Cannes' twilight gala opening, Hollywood star Jack Black boated in to be greeted by dozens of giant pandas in a promotional stunt for Dreamworks' "Kung Fu Panda", also being released here.
   Squaring up against the pandas and arthouse directors at this year's Cannes
will be Hollywood heavyweights Clint Eastwood and Steven Soderbergh.

   Eastwood is hoping for the Palme d'Or best film prize with his child-abduction drama "Changeling" starring Angelina Jolie, while Soderbergh
unveils a four-hour two-part epic on "Che" Guevara.

   Other A-list stars due to attend the May 14-25 fest include Angelina Jolie,
Will Smith, Dustin Hoffman, Madonna, Woody Allen, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bruce
Willis, Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem.

   Cannes swells three-fold to 200,000 for the yearly orgy of glitzy movie
promotion, parties and screenings that brings together industry types,
movie-buffs and celebrity-watchers.

   The fest is as much about hard-nosed business as art, with around a billion
dollars worth of movie deals clinched every year, said the head of the Cannes
Film Market Jerome Paillard.

   The 61st edition has a strong Latin American contingent. After Meirelles,
another Brazilian, Walter Salles, presents a football-themed "Line Of
Passage," and two movies from Argentina will also compete for the top prize.

   Soderbergh's epic on the world's best-loved revolutionary stars Benicio Del
Toro as the "Che".

   Among the heavy-duty line-up competing for the Palme are previous winners,
Canada's Atom Egoyan with "Adoration," Germany's Wim Wenders showing "The
Palermo Shooting" and Belgium's Dardenne brothers with "The Silence of Lorna."

   Cinephiles swayed by the seriously arty side of Cannes will be served by new offerings from China's Jia Zhangke, Filipino Brillante Mendoza, Turkey's Nuri Bilge Ceylan and a first-ever feature from Charlie Kaufman, the US screenwriter behind "Being John Malkovich."

   Sporting giants Diego Maradona and Mike Tyson were also set to join the jetset on the Riviera.

   Serbian director Emir Kusturica is showing a documentary about the Argentinian footballer who once knocked England out the World Cup with a little help from his hand, while US heavyweight boxer Tyson is the subject of another documentary.

   Among young directors in competition this year are Israel's Ari Folman,
offering an animated documentary on the Sabra and Shatila massacres in Beirut,
while the two film-makers from Argentina, Pablo Trapero and Lucrecia Martel,
are running for the trophy for the first time ever.

(AFP - expatica May 2008)