The British writer and Cannes jury member Hanif Kureishi drew attention to the lack of ethnic diversity among the festival’s jury presidents: “I’m not aware that we have had any black or Asian presidents of the jury.”

Speaking to The Times later, he said: “We live in the age of world cinema and we are all perfectly aware that there are actors, directors and writers from all over. It would show commitment to what we call diversity.”

There have, in fact, been two Asian presidents (Wong Kar Wai in 2007 and Tetsuro Furukaki in 1962) since Cannes began. Otherwise 60 of the 62 jury heads were white. This year’s president, the French actress Isabelle Huppert, is only the fourth woman to hold the post.

Animation John Lasseter, head of Pixar and chief creative officer of Disney, made a lyrical but confusing speech about the future of animation. He promised to make all future Pixar films in 3-D but then revealed his excitement about The Princess and the Frog, Disney’s first hand-drawn film in five years.

He said that the film would bring back the glory days of Snow White and Dumbo. Oddly, he made no mention of Home on the Range, Disney’s last traditional animation, unless he was referring to it when he said that hand-drawn animation had been made “a scapegoat” for bad writing.

Sex Sally Hawkins a surprise darling of this year’s awards season for her role in Happy Go-Lucky, has a new film being touted around Cannes this weekend called We Want Sex. It’s a comedy about the female car plant workers in Dagenham who went on strike for equal pay in 1968.

Officially, the title recalls a placard held up at one demonstration that was supposed to read “We Want Sex Equality” but missed the last word out. However, one of the publicity agents involved with the film may have been closer to the mark when she said: “I think it’s more of a playful name to try to attract attention.”

More sex There comes a time in a middle-aged male auteur’s life when he decides to make a sex film, for entirely credible artistic reasons, of course. Michael Winterbottom did it with 9 Songs, Lars von Trier threatened to make a hardcore sequel to Belle de Jour.

Now Gaspar Noé, director of the brutal Irreversible, has announced his plans for “a joyful porn movie — a joyful movie with explicit sex. In life [sex] is the focus of most people. They’re not obsessed with money or social recognition. They are obsessed with sex.”

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