It's filling up. The picture postcard playground of the ridiculously rich, Cannes is crawling with wannabes, star-spotters and cine-industry Del Boys, eyeing the next opportunity to make a killing. Figuratively, that is. The distinction's worth making given the heightened security status at the 57th Festival de Cannes, taken in response to the so-called terrorist threat. Coppers abound - largely large, grim-faced and gun-toting: yearning to step on the sunglasses of some wheezy English hack. Without taking them off first. I've so far resisted the temptation, suggested by The Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw, to approach a gendarme on camera and ask who they think will win the Palme d'Or. But it's early days. Give it a week of 20-hour shifts and I'll be dying for a joke.

Peter is one of the people I'll be catching up with throughout the next 12 days, as Cannes Canned explores the characters who make the festival tick. Upbeat and "loving Cannes" at present, he admits next week may be a different story, as ogling acres of celluloid and guzzling vats of Rosé takes its toll.

For Ben Trebilcook, a young writer-producer, Cannes is already getting "madder and madder" as he seeks financing for Daisy Scarlett: Semper Occultus, a Bond-style female spy caper he's hoping Kate Beckinsale will star in.

Top PR pro Charles McDonald, meanwhile, is in "auteur heaven", representing Pedro Almodóvar's festival opener Bad Education; Life Is A Miracle, by two-time Palme winner Emir Kusturica; and The Motorcycle Diaries, Walter Salles' early awards favourite (which stars Y Tu Mamá También's Gael García Bernal as the pre-revolutionary Ché Guevara). Plus, he's promoting the most keenly anticipated film of the festival: Fahrenheit 911, the Bush/Bin Laden documentary from Bowling For Columbine's Michael Moore.

What with the political controversy, rough weather forecast, and protests promised from disgruntled French media types, there should be plenty to keep me busy and you entertained. One thing is certain: everyone, already, wants a drink. And it's only just begun.

You can see Nev's first video here:
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