Hong Kong doesn't have much of a presence at this year's Cannes Film Festival, which starts on May 14, other than one intriguing special screening. The French will debut Wong Kar-wai's Ashes of Time Redux. The title suffix normally means the director has recut his movie. In this case, Wong has gone back and fidgeted with his 1994 martial arts epic, which most likely means it's now even longer.

In other European film festival happenings, the Udine Far East festival in Italy wrapped up last Saturday giving kudos to Hong Kong's Johnnie To Kei-fung and Wai Ka-fai for the film Mad Detective. The thriller, starring Lau Ching-wan, received the top Black Dragon prize, which is decided by festival audiences and VIP guests. It was the only non-Japanese movie to win an accolade this year. Congrats.