Safely back in the UK it’s time to bid farewell to another Cannes film festival. It’s the kind of event that you get excited about before, are fed up with while it is happening, never want to experience again by the end, and then long for a few months down the line. Does that make it like many marriages?

Unlike some of the miserable, grim and ultra-serious movies that Cannes likes to showcase, this year’s festival had a more Hollywood-style ending. After a competition of 22 films that started well, then deteriorated markedly, the 12-day festival was saved at the death by “Entre les Murs”, a stirring drama set in the classrooms of a tough Parisian high school.

It was the last competition film to screen to reporters, many of them long-faced, exhausted and slightly depressed about the string of duds they had sat through. Then, all of a sudden, as if from nowhere, they had something to get excited about. Called The Class in English, the film was remarkable for the realism that the teacher and untrained teenage actors brought to the screen as well as for its exploration of hot political issues like immigration, ethnic integration and violence.

It also underlined the power of language, pitting the street talk of the children against the classical French taught by the school and asking whether one is more valid than the other. When the teacher oversteps the mark in a heated argument and calls two of the girls a French word translated as “skanks”, it is a shocking moment of high tension.

The fact that the film went on to win the top Palme d’Or prize, a prestigious award in world cinema, made us all feel much better about life. Sean Penn and his jury made a popular choice. The only thing that baffled many critics, was why “Waltz With Bashir” won nothing. The Israeli animated documentary was hailed as a ground-breaking way of looking at one of the darkest passages of recent history in the Middle East.

As a mere reporter, it is not often I get to mix with the rich and famous on the red carpet. But I got a rare chance this week when the organisers of the annual amfAR AIDS charity bash asked me and a few other reporters along to cover their star-studded event just outside Cannes.

After waiting an hour in a traffic jam just outside Mougins, where the giant marquee for 700 dinner guests is put up, the short walk along the packed red carpet to the entrance felt almost as long. Rows of reporters, including several colleagues, shouted out to just about everyone except me, or so it seemed. When one cameraman I know did finally acknowledge my presence, it was not to take a picture of me but to ask if I would take a picture of him. With a sigh and a smile, I did.

Treading on the back of elaborate and doubtless expensive dresses was a major concern, as was getting hold of a cocktail or two before the dinner and charity auction began. No surprises for guessing that the organisers put me in the far corner from the stage and we even had different crockery from the rest of the tables. But that’s not a complaint. Most of the guests paid for their places at the charity event to see Sharon Stone, Madonna, Dennis Hopper, Sean Combs and others on stage. The food and wine was the same, at least.

Heading into the final weekend at the Cannes film festival, Sean “Diddy” Combs hits town, and writer Charlie Kaufman (”Adaptation”) has made his directorial debut with “Synechdoche, New York.” That’s prounounced sin-ek-duh-kee.

What exactly makes a Cannes film? If you scroll down the Fan Fare blog, you may see a comment on our “‘Indiana Jones’ avoids critical mauling, but…” posting that ponders why such a big event Hollywood movie would play at a festival like Cannes that is known for more art-oriented cinema.

I cannot tell you what Cannes festival programmers think, but I can tell you that in 15 years of writing about movies and 10 years of covering festivals, that type of comment generally has several answers. Festival directors often say big Hollywood movies bring big Hollywood stars, which can draw attention both to the festival and the art films that may not otherwise be seen. Moreover, what’s a festival for, if not to bring a wide variety of movies to the people who are attending.

That brings us to zombies. One of the more fun adventures every year at Cannes is to take an hour or so and stroll around the booths at the film market here, and look at the hundreds of movies that are being bought and sold daily.

Titles range from Maxim Media’s “Zombies Anonymous” and “Fist of the Vampire” to Eros International’s Bollywood title “Dhoom Dadakka.” (I have no idea what that means). Vision Films has ”Natasha,” featuring a sexy blond girl in a leather bikini with the subtitle “Revenge is Sweet” (I’m kind of afraid to think what that means)  and “Private Moments,” which promises ”the humor of ’Sex and the City’ meets the fantasy of ‘Red Shoe Diaries.’”

And there are old stars you rarely see anymore? One can check out Lee Majors, formerly “The Six Million Dollar Man,” and Philip Michael Thomas, once a major U.S. TV star in “Miami Vice,” in a psychological thriller called ”Fate.” Or, there are Bruce Dern, David Carradine, Rip Torn and Mariel Hemingway in “The Goldenboys,” which is promoted as ”Three salty dogs chase one spicy kitten” on its movie poster. Most of the movies like these will never be seen in U.S. theaters. On DVD, yes. Downloads, sure.

To be certain the Cannes film market and the Cannes film festival are two different arenas for movies. But the point is: movies come in many shapes and sizes and are made for all different reasons, worldwide regions and audiences. “Indiana Jones” may not be my favorite type of movie, but it brought me to Cannes. And if not here, I might never have been exposed to ”Waltz with Bashir,” an animated drama about young men fighting in Lebanon in the early 1980s that is truly lighting up the stage here.

We’re out by the harbor to offer some Cannes glitz, movie buzz and Clint Eastwood.

Highlights from day 5 of the Cannes film festival: “Indiana Jones” reviews and a little about the film market.

Highlights from day 3 of the Cannes film festival. 

Spoiler alert: We give away one detail of Woody Allen’s new movie, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” so if you don’t want to know, don’t read on. But it’s too irresistible to keep hidden, and soon somebody will spill it.

For months, ”Vicky Cristina Barcelona” has been shrouded in mystery. What it is about? Woody, shooting in Spain and not New York? Were co-stars Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz romantically involved during the shoot? Are they still?

We still don’t know — for certain — about Penelope and Javier, but if the beautiful Spanish actress and her Oscar-winning co-star were in fact locking lips during filming in Barcelona, then he wasn’t the only one she was kissing. Her other co-star, Scarlett Johansson, felt the touch of those pouty lips herself.

That’s right. In ”Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” which had its first press screenings on Friday night at the Cannes film festival, Cruz portrays a high-spirited painter and Bardem is her former husband, also a painter. The pair have split up when Johansson’s character, a young American tourist, enters into a relationship with Bardem. When Penelope returns, well, things happen. And in one brief scene, Cruz and Johansson engage in a sensual kiss — or two. Where it leads and what happens after that, we won’t tell. But one thing is for certain, that Javier, he’s a lucky guy.

UPDATE - At Saturday’s Cannes news conference for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” Penelope was asked if she had any qualms or enjoyed the kiss scene and she completely dodged it. “I got that question four times today already, and I didn’t give any answer because I didn’t have a good answer,” she said. “And I was thinking every time, ‘what would Woody say if he was me in that situation.’” She looked at the director, and he didn’t answer, either.

“And I’m still not inspired to give a good answer,” she said.