Cannes rolls out the red carpet for opening

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

CANNES, France (AFP) — The Cannes film festival on Wednesday officially unrolled its red carpet with a star-studded ceremony kicking off the 12-day frenzy of movies, parties and deals.

But as the curtain went up, real world disasters taking place on the other side of the globe peeked in.

Opening night red-carpet glory was for Brazil's two-time Oscar-nominated director Fernando Meirelles, whose hard-hitting "Blindness" about a world where people have lost their sight highlights a near-apocalypse and a government unable to deal with a human disaster.

Its sombre note struck a chord with Sean Penn, who heads this year's Cannes jury and who said human disasters such as those unravelling in China and Myanmar could not be forgotten.

Penn and his co-jurors...