Recession casts shadow over Cannes

The stars will still turn up and the movie line-up looks good but the tone of the Cannes film festival will be more black and white than technicolor in 2009.

The credit crunch means Hollywood studios are tightening their belts and conspicuous consumption is temporarily out of fashion. Deal-making will go on but is likely to be more circumspect.

"You can feel people are more conservative, more selective," said Helen Lee Kim, president of Mandate International. "They are being more careful and not taking those big jumps as they might have last year."