The 63rd Cannes Film Festival kicked off yesterday, and the Internet has been a sea of news and goodies:

Our Coverage: A big welcome to new Cinematical writer Joe Utichi, who will single-handedly cover Cannes for us this year. He's already offered up 10 Hot Flicks screening at the festival this year, plus tips for surviving the Cannes experience.

Celeb Sightings: When it comes to Cannes, there are no shortage of celebrities. Above, you can check out Cate Blanchett rocking a dress by Alexander McQueen. Salma Hayek also showed off a new frock, as Cannes isn't just about the sightings, you see, but the fashion. Aishwarya Rai, meanwhile, blew a kiss to cameras on the carpet for the opening of the fest. Eva Longoria shared a picture from the Robin Hood party of her with Gael Garcia Bernal. For his film Tournee (On Tour), director Mathieu Amalric showed up with some sassy burlesque dancers. Also, check out this video from the Washington Post for more celeb footage, and this video of ET talking to the peeps behind Wall Street. If that's not enough, AOL India has whipped up a gallery of the 10 Most Beautiful Women to ever hit Cannes.

News from Cannes: As the cameras turn onto a slew of international directors, they're also turning attention to Roman Polanski. There's a new petition making the rounds, that asks the Swiss government to refuse an extradition request. Only signed by filmmakers, the petition includes Jean-Luc Godard, Mathieu Amalric, and Bernard Tavernier.

Tim Burton, meanwhile, has joined calls for the release of Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, while the fest has screened a three-minute clip of Panahi describing an interrogation he underwent three years ago. The filmmaker had been invited to sit on the jury for the Palme d'Or.

To add even more drama to the plate, Italy's culture minister is boycotting Cannes because Draquila: Italy Trembles is screening. The film criticizes the Prime Minister's relief efforts after the L'Aquila earthquake last year.

In brighter news, 102-year-old Portugeuese filmmaker Maoel de Oliveira received a standing ovation as he screened his new film, The Strange Case of Angelica. South Korea has offered up a remake of a 1960s erotic shocker, The Housemaid. While in France, Shia LaBeouf is telling people that the third installment of Transformers will be the best yet, bringing the "heart" back to the franchise. He also swears: "It's going to be the craziest action movie ever made, or we failed." Crazy good, or crazy bad?

While there may be a distinct lack of female directors at this year's Cannes, Kate Beckinsale is a festival juror and speaks out about the trials and tribulations of seeing --gasp-- two movies a day. So far, there's been no further word about Cannes protests.

The Huffington Post is raving about the wonder of Cannes, and how it raises "the level of film consciousness" world-wide. The piece notes the many restoration projects the fest undergoes. This year, titles include Psycho, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and Tristana. On the flip side, Macleans wonders if the festival is losing ground to TIFF.

SlashFilm rounded up the slew of Cannes banners that are littering building sides and streets from Bruce Willis' Kane & Lynch to Jack Black's Gulliver's Travels.

Deals and Buzz: Sir Ian McKellen is heading for a British black comedy about zombies called E'gad Zombies! 22 minutes have been whipped up, it's being shopped around, and best of all: You can check out a clip below.



Robin Hood opened the festival, "to be greeted with shrugs, although there was none of the jeering and overt hostility that slapped around the likes of The Da Vinci Code and Marie Antoinette." This has spurred the Telegraph to describe the fest as "tentative" right now, with the possibility that Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps sparking new life this Friday.

And Deadline offers up Handicapping 2010 Movie Sales.

indieWIRE Love: They've got a slew of great content to sift through. Here's a brief rundown: