They’re in full swing in the South of France. The sun is shining, the bubbly is flowing and the stars are a schmoozing but there are also movies. Lots of movies. And with those comes a whole lot of movie news. Here’s a roundup of some of the happenings over the last few days.

Though the economy might be at a downturn, it’s not stopping studios from picking up a few films and not surprisingly, the first few to go all come to us from some big name directors. Michael Haneke’s newest offering The White Ribbon was picked up for North American distribution by Sony Pictures Classics. Canadian’s will have a chance to see Dario Argento’s newest offering Giallo (thanks to E1 Entertainment) and though the film has been picked up for a number of other markets, it doesn’t have a US distributor. As for those looking for something a little more light hearted (I think), IFC Films has picked up rights to Cristian Mungiu’s Tales From The Golden Age. This is one I’m really looking forward to so it’s nice to see it may actually play on this side of the pond.

Jandy will be happy to see that Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank is getting a lot of positive attention thanks in part to the film’s star Katie Jarvis. So much so that Indie Wire has toted Jarvis as the “Discovery of Cannes (so far)”.

My buds at Movie Set have put together a little video of the happenings at Cannes. Check it:

They’re doing regular updates, including red-carpet coverage and interviews so stay tuned to their blog for regular updates (if you’re on Twitter, you may want to follow them too).

I think they need a female correspondent, don’t you agree? I should start a petition for next year: “Movie Set Needs a Female Voice! Send Marina to Cannes!” Yeah…that’ll work…

The image of Penny (looking dashing as usual) and Pedro comes via Anne Thompson.

More to come next week! See, almost as good as being there! If you just close your eyes…Oh who am I kidding?