The Stars in Cannes' Dark Skies news

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The 62^nd Cannes Film Festival braces itself for what is being touted as its "bloodiest year" with the economic crisis casting a gloom over it. Hotel bookings are down and so is the number of boat parties that were a mad hit with the toe-tapping visitors to the French Riviera. Worse, the much sought-after Variety black tie ball has been cancelled. One is told that Champagne is already off the party list, and is being replaced by wine. The Festival Director, Gilles Jacob, predicts that the number of visitors will be fewer this time than what was seen in earlier years. It remains to be seen how the Market would fare this May. Usually, millions of dollars worth of business is conducted in the swanky Market with buyers and sellers literally going in for the kill.

However, in the prevailing dark skies what appears like a bright star is the selection with an impressive lineup of masters ranging from Pedro Almodovar, Ken Loach, Lars Von Trier, Michael Haneke, Ang Lee, Jane Campion and Quentin Tarantino. These auteurs will literally help dress the Cannes window with, one presumes, some great cinema that may well be a good substitute for merrymaking on yachts or drowning in Champagne.

Also, celebrities may well add to the sparkle. Brad Pitt, who along with Angelina Jolie became the darling of Pune and Mumbai when she was shooting "A Mighty Heart" in 2007, will be at Cannes this year along with the director of his movie, "Inglorious Basterds". Pitt has become a kind of staple diet at Cannes. Last year, he came with Jolie to help her promote "A Mighty Heart".

Some of Pitt's Inglorious co-stars like Diane Kruger, Samuel L. Jackson, and Mike Myers will be adding to the star power as well. Myers made a big splash at Cannes years back when an Austin Powers film was screened and guests at the party that followed the screening were gifted with fake patches of stick-on chest hair.

Jude Law and Johnny Depp too will be at the Festival as part of the out-of-competition screening of "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus", helmed by Terry Gilliam. The film was Heath Ledger's last before he died in 2008 of an overdose of prescription drugs. Depp along with Jude Law and Colin Farrell stepped in to complete the late actor's unfinished role.

The Cannes Film Festival runs from May 13 to 24.