[Cannes Dispatch by Eugene Hernandez, photo by Brian Brooks]

In Cannes for the eighth time, his fourth festival in competition. French filmmaker Michael Haneke unveiled his latest, "Caché" (Hidden) on Saturday morning. The film is the story of a French family (Daniel Auteuil, Juliette Binoche, and Lester Makedonsky) terrorized by a stalker who delivers secretly shot video tapes and bloody caricature drawings that become increasing personal, ultimately leading to the revelation of secrets from the past. At the press conference following this morning's screening, Haneke pleaded with journalists to avoid giving away too much of the plot.

"If you write criticisms of this film, good or bad, please don't tell the story of the film," he begged. Likening the movie to his previous work "Funny Games," Haneke added, "That was a film which depended on tension, if you know the storyline in advance, then it is not very interesting to watch the film."

Asked by one journalist about the film's connection to theme of guilt, specifically related to past issues between France and Algeria. "This theme is present in the film, (but) I would not like this film to be taken as a film about this subject, for me it is a very personal film about guilt, about how one deals with the problem of one's own guilt -- is he story of a man (who) has this problem, he faces up to this problem."

Continuing he added that it’s a story that could be applied to other countries past, besides France and that it reflects and overall avoidance of third world issues. Haneke said, "I think the film has a broader theme and I would be happy if it were not reduced to the Algerian and the colonial question."