Katie Jarvis, the darling of Cannes | "Fish Tank" review

A model for DIY film-making is on show, albeit one that may be practical only if you have on your CV The Godfather and Apocaplypse Now.

Francis Ford Coppola directed Tetro without studios or financiers and is releasing it himself. “I don’t want to spend six months doing PR,” he said. “I’m anxious to be writing again. By the film coming out in the first half of the year, I’m free to go on to new work.”

Spring Fever, by the Chinese director Lou Ye, is not the biggest crowd-pleaser at the festival, consisting of two hours of grainy wistfulness punctuated by bouts of explicit gay sex.

It is, however, the most politically charged. It was filmed in secret in Nanjing because Lou Ye is banned from making films in China. He said yesterday: “It should not be possible any more to ban film directors from making films.”

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale of split personality, is to undergo a potentially harrowing transformation of its own.

Abel Ferrara, a cult film-maker who is extremely fond of seediness and gore, is to direct Jekyll & Hyde with Forest Whitaker and Curtis Jackson, better known as the rapper 50 Cent, pictured centre, in the lead roles. It is not expected to be subtle.

As a footballer Vinnie Jones monstered Gazza (among many others) and then moved into film, sending the X-Men flying as Juggernaut. Now faces his toughest challenge yet, taking on Jean-Claude Van Damme in Weapon, the story of rival assassins who team up to bring down a drug cartel.

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of 2009
• The 100 Worst Movies of 2009
• The 100 Best Films of the Decade