Cannes turns 60 with U2 show, pouting Polanski

Angry French director Roman Polanski leaves a press conference for the collective film 'Chacun Son Cinema' (To Each His Own Cinema) at the 60th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.[AFP]

A U2 concert, a Roman Polanski tantrum and a shipwreck injected surprise and drama into the Cannes film festival Sunday as the world's paramount cinema event celebrated its 60th edition.

"Bon anniversaire (happy birthday), Cannes!" shouted U2 frontman Bono as his Irish supergroup put on a middle-of-the-night impromptu concert on the red carpet for the festival's thousands of film-goers.

Their belted-out "Vertigo" and "Where the Streets Have No Name" gave a rock edge to proceedings, ratcheting up the celebrity dial on an event already overflowing with A-list names.

But with the U2 euphoria barely over, Polanski grabbed the limelight himself when he stormed out of the festival's biggest media conference and insulted the press.

The award-winning Polish-French filmmaker abruptly marched off a stage where he had been sitting with 31 equally renowned peers, such as the Coen brothers, Takeshi Kitano and Wong Kar Wai, saying journalists' questions about an anthology of short films they had all worked on were pathetic.

"This is a rare and unique opportunity to see a gathering of such important directors and it's a shame to have such poor questions," he thundered, after reporters queried the lack of women among them.

"You're not interested in cinema -- you don't even type. You just transfer things from your computer," he said, getting up. "I suggest we go for lunch."

Their joint movie was to have its red-carpet premiere late Sunday, as fireworks light up the Riviera resort to celebrate the festival's pre-eminence in film history.

But first, authorities were hard at work cleaning the Cannes beach area after a billionaire Saudi's yacht ran aground Saturday on a submerged rocky outcrop near the port.

The vessel, owned by billionaire Nasser Al-Rashid, was pulled off the obstacle by a tug, revealing two gashes in its expensive hull that were hastily patched.

The dramas gave a rush of adrenalin to the 15,000 film and media types in town as they went about their festival duties, covering the event, watching innumerable movies and getting caught up in the billion-dollar market section where thousands of films are bought and sold.

Over all of that hung the suspense about which of the 22 films in competition would walk away with Cannes's coveted top prize, the Palme d'Or, on May 27.

Favourites so far range from an agonisingly raw Romanian film on back-street abortion -- "Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days" by Cristian Mungiu -- to a wry Wild West thriller set in modern times by Joel and Ethan Coen, "No Country For Old Men".

Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai's "My Blueberry Nights", which opened the festival and marks US singer Norah Jones' acting debut, was also well received.

Yet to be screened are highly-awaited films by Gus Van Sant, Quentin Tarantino, Emir Kusturica, Alexander Sokurov and Lee Chang-Dong.

As is canon at Cannes, politics had a privileged place in the official line-up.

Michael Moore -- a past Palme winner -- again bashed US President George W. Bush as he unveiled his new film "Sicko", which skewers the US health system.

"This is an administration that flaunts the law, flaunts the constitution," Moore said, blasting a US government probe into a trip he made to Cuba for the film.

A-list star Leonardo DiCaprio presented his eco-documentary "The 11th Hour" in defensive fashion after reporters queried how he could reconcile his green commitment with his jet-setting lifestyle.

Asked whether he took a fuel-guzzling flight to the French Riviera, the "Titanic" actor quipped: "No, I took a train across the Atlantic."

"We're all trying the best we can, truly, we really are," he added.

Stars due to make their appearance at Cannes in coming days include Hollywood's golden couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, though it was unclear whether they would appear together.

Others expected are George Clooney, Matt Damon, Al Pacino, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr, Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, Jane Fonda and Martin Scorsese.