**PAN'S LABYRINTH WINS PALM SPRINGS FILM FESTIVAL
**Guillermo Del Toro's masterpiece has taken the top prize at the Californian event. This is significant, because it's the festival which screens a vast majority of the foreign language films that are submitted to the Academy – in 2007, that was 55 movies – and can be seen as something of an indicator come Oscar night for the Best Foreign Film category. The other big winner on the night was Brit filmmaker Lucy Walker, who to Best Documentary for Blindsight.
**RAINDANCE NOW OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS
**Now in its 15th year, the Raindance Film Festival is readier than ever to bring the talents of new filmmakers from around the world to the… world. The final deadline for submitting your masterwork (short or feature length) is June 1 2007. However, there's an early deadline of May 1 which if met, will save entrants a few bob. The festival itself will run from September 26 – October 7.
**MCGREGOR & GRIFFITHS IN JACKBOOTS
**You may have heard rumblings of a new WWII comedy called Jackboots On Whitehall. Not ringing any bells? It's technically an animated film, given that it's 'acted' entirely by action figures, and it's amassing an impressive cast. It's now been announced that Ewan McGregor and Richard Griffiths have now signed up, with McGregor voicing the hero, and Griffiths filling out the vocals of Hermann Goering. Already onboard are Richard E. Grant, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Spall (as Winston Churchill), and Alan Cumming (as Adolf Hitler).
**PRESIDENT FREARS
**Empire award winner and director of The Queen, Stephen Frears, has received even more good news on the back of his latest film's landslide of awards nominations. The Brit has been selected / elected president of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival jury, which will take place in May. Apparently in all the excitement, he managed a crucial punctuation error in his subsequent press release: "It's an honour, but also a treat to be able to watch terrific films from all over the world in such heady surroundings. God save Cannes! (as well as the queen)."