Catch up with indieWIRE's coverage of the 2006 Festival de Cannes in a special section at indieWIRE.com.

As the Festival de Cannes closed, jury president (and filmmaker) Emir Kusturica was quoted as saying that the films were not as good as he anticipated they would be. As reported by Reuters, he said:

"We had a selection where I think the average wasn't very high," he told a final news conference. "I felt that most of the films were a little bit less good than I expected." He said three movies could have won the coveted Palme d'Or, which eventually went to Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for "L'Enfant," a powerful, documentary-style film about a young thief who sells his own child.

Among the prizes awarded in Cannes this weekend...a prize for the top canine in a Cannes film -- The Palm Dog. Reuters reports:

The winner, who appeared in Mongolian film "The Cave of the Yellow Dog," was not in Cannes to receive the award, but Wolfram Skowronnek Schaer, a German involved in selling the film, picked it up on its behalf. "I hope the dog is still alive," he said. "He is in Mongolia and we will do our best to bring this to him."

Harry, a small dog and president of the jury, posed for the paparazzi on the beach, digging the Palm Dog from the sand. "There were a lot of dogs at Cannes this year," said Derek Malcolm, another jury member. "I stepped on one on my way back to the hotel last night."

The Associated Press weigns in with a look at the competition titles vying for prizes, writing that the press seemed underwhelmed, it singles out a few contenders:

In the leading pack are Canadian director David Cronenberg's "A History of Violence" and Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke's "Cache." Based on the "clapometer," or audience reactions at the press and official screenings, Germany's Wim Wenders and "Don't Come Knocking" could steal it at the last, shown as it was late on Thursday. American Jim Jarmusch is a contender with his "Broken Flowers," starring Bill Murray, as are Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne with their gritty "L'Enfant."

Writing in her Cannes journal, NY Times critic Manohla compares the festival to high school:

True but embarrassing: Cannes is, in some major respects, a replay of high school. So many of the same issues and agonies apply here. Just as in high school, a lot of people sit together at the screenings in cliques. There are posses of Austrian and British critics here, and of course various Americans, many of whom either sit right next to one another or in close proximity. (I have repeated my old high school habit of floating clique to clique, though last year I also started intentionally sitting apart from everyone I know, mostly because I don't want to listen to my friends sigh and whisper their way through films that I like.)

The main competition at this festival might be compared to an exclusive club with a significant number of permanent members. (A gentleman's club, mainly, since shockingly few women - none this year - are invited to join.) Some filmmakers pass through an initiation period in satellite programs like Un Certain Regard and the Directors' Fortnight, while others vault right onto the main stage, but it is remarkable how many of them, once they are voted in, keep showing up year after year. A.O. Scott reports for the New York Times (free subscription required to view).

Concerned by an industry person's comment to her that the new Michael Haneke film would be tough to market to an older art-house crowd, in her NY Times journal, Manohla Darghis wrote:

Well, I think it's time to kill off that audience — and grow a new audience — if the only films we are going to get from abroad are nice, nauseatingly polite works about characters who simply hold up a mirror to that audience, who wear nice clothes, live in nice houses and have discreet but finally resolvable crises. If someone doesn't buy "Caché," and give it a seriously funded push, then the state of film distribution in the United States is far worse than I thought.

In The New York Times, critic A.O. Scott weighs in with a look at the first half of Cannes 2005. But first he reminds readers that Cannes, this year in particular, has the feel of an old boys' club, with the regulars in competition and on the jury:

Does this festival still matter? Can Cannes retain its cachet in a world glutted with festivals? These questions are sure to be posed and pondered over the next 10 days. They are every year at this time, as journalists, movie stars and film industry players from around the world swell the population of this small French city and wonder, sometimes aloud, just what they are doing here. A.O. Scott reports in the New York Times.

The movers and shakers of the film world are on the French Riviera for the 58th Cannes film festival. The BBC's Caroline Briggs reports from Cannes on the atmosphere of the world's most prestigious film event.

The New York Times calls it a journal and the rest of the world might call it a blog...but whatever its name, NYT critics Manhola Dargis and A.O. Scott are offering daily dispatches from Cannes in a nicely done special online section covering the festival. We spotted the dynamic duo at the "Last Days" party last night and proposed an iPOP shot, Dargis declined admitting that she is shy and reminded that she doesn't even have her photo posted on the Times own site, next to those of her fellow film critics.

Dargis and Scott seem to be struggling slightly with their role as bloggers (or journal keepers), but at least they are honest about it. "Tony Scott" (as many insiders refer to him) mentions that he reserves the right to revise his opinions of films, outside of the fest frenzy, while in a post today Dargis resists giving too much of an opinion on Atom Egoyan's latest, for fear of hurting its distribution chances:

Writing his third diary from the Cannes Film Festival for TIME Online, critic Richard Corliss didn't find much to cheer about yesterday, dissing Cannes entries "Last Days", "Where the Truth Lies" and "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang." The subheadline to his story reads, "Showbiz legends are fodder for failed art film".

One of the distinctive aspects of a walk down the Croisette in Cannes is the giant movie ads and billboards erected throughout the city, many affixed to the sides of classy hotels for the 2 week run of the festival. Posters for Hollywood studio flicks dominate, according to the Hollywood Reporter, with ads this year for such non-Cannes fare as "Herbie: Fully Loaded" and "War of the Worlds."

While perhaps not as glamorous as it was "back in the day," Cannes still packs star power. CNN calls the Festival de Cannes an "Orgy of Glitz" in a report on the opening of the 2005 edition of the festival:

In an article entited, "Sun, Sea and Sin," published Friday in The Guardian, Peter Bradsaw offered a few tips on his must-see films for Cannes 2005, previewing the "12 films people will be talking about all year." Not surprisingly topping the list is Lars von Trier's latest, "Manderlay."