French flirtations

Thierry Fremaux, you sneaky devil. We've had too busy a day running around a festival in this country to fully process the news of a big festival soon happening in another one. But obviously it was a big morning for Cannes, which announced its competition and several other lineups Wednesday morning. As THR Paris correspondent Rebecca Lefler reports, movies that people thought wouldn't be there --like Eastwood's "Changeling" and Soderbergh's twin Che pics --will sneak in under the wire.

On the other hand, noticeably absent are a handful of movies that, ahem, certain festwatchers projected could make it, including Fernando Meirelles' "Blindness," Guillermo Ariaga's "The Burning Plain" and Michael Winterbottom's "Genova." The middle one isn't ready, but 2929 and Ariaga could bring it to Venice, we're hearing. The first one keeps with the low Miramax profile at the fest (no "Brideshead Revisited" either). The last one we're still poking around on.

But though the feeling is of a thin field on U.S. and U.K. productions, international and multi-national selections -- with Wim Wenders, Walter Salles, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and the Dardenne Brothers premiering films -- feel more robust. And there's out-of-competition slots to the likes of Spielberg and Woody Allen. And the directors fortnight. So it may not be such a U.S.-light festival after all. And Thierry, you thought you could fool us.