"Singing waitress" lands record deal

The British press is covering the story of Victoria Hart, an 18 year-old waitress who was chosen to sing at a George Clooney event at Cannes this year. Until recently, she was working at a London club that employs singing waitresses, but is now apparently looking at a number of record contracts. Hello magazine claims one of the deals is worth £1.5 million - which is surely pure speculation. Hart has a warm, playful voice and specialises in 40's style big band tunes. She will be appearing at the Glastonbury festival on June 24. Her debut album is being released in the UK and Japan.

To catch some of her music, visit Victoria Hart.

Cannes festival archives now online

The Festival de Cannes has just unveiled a video archive of the first 60 years in time for this year's festivities, Tales of a Festival. The site features extensive archives going back to 1946 in French (mostly) and English. The material was made available from France's Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA) and CANAL+. Needless to say, some of this material is priceless, with interviews of Hitchcok, countless people mounting the red carpet and celebrities such as Maurice Chevalier, Picasso and George Simenon. In 1968, the festival was expecting 5 000 people and so hired a total of 8 hostesses to deal with the rush. That year, they showed 29 features and 11 short films! When you think that there are something like 100 000 people in Cannes during the festival these days, you get an idea of how the event has changed.

"Tales of a Festival" also allows you to upload videos. Let us know if you do so. This is definitely the site of the month. Check it out at Tales of a Festival.

Anna Nicole Smith comedy to screen at Cannes

In terms of the art of cinema, it's not the biggest news. But you can safely expect plenty of headlines on this one. Anna Nicole Smith, the society girl that married an aging billionaire and inherited his fortune, starred in a comedy called "Illegal Aliens" before herself recently dying under mysterious circumstances. The fortune now falls to her infant daughter, and a number of men have come forward to claim paternity. The tabloids have also been pillorying her co-star Chyna Lauer for trying to "cash in" on the publicity when she was interviewed on Larry King. This slightly sordid affair has backfired on the movie, which has had to deal with a variety of legal issues before it is even finished post-production. But it will be screening out of competition at Cannes. It's one of those sad cases where the people involved in a movie are causing more interest than the movie itself. Shame.

Source: Hollywood Today

Supermodel Diane Kruger to MC the Cannes festival

In the long tradition of having stunning women host the Cannes ceremonies, it has been announced that German übermodel Diane Kruger ("Troy" and "Joyeux Noël") will be the Master of Ceremonies on the opening and closing nights (anything wrong in calling her a Mistress of Ceremonies?). Kruger, 30, follows Monica Bellucci and Cécile de France on the red carpet. French actor Vincent Cassel doesn't quite qualify as a stunning woman.

As mentioned elsewhere, Britain's Stephen Frears will be the jury president this year.

Icelandic celeb protests own show at MIPCOM

What would Cannes be without a good PR stunt? Icelandic celebrity Silvia Night, whose song was almost banned from the last Eurovision song contest for naughty language, is in town to protest against her own show. Night is a character featured in The Silvia Night Show. But she claims she is deliberately being made to look bad. "The series The Silvia Night Show is total junk. I am a little goodhearted girl who only does things which are good, and the people behind the T.V. series are making me look really bad. They were always making me look like a total bitch and only show the worst bits and never show the parts where I'm really good. So if anybody tries to sell you the show in Cannes do not buy it."

You have been warned.