• Howdy all – As you probably know, Cannes is the big story, with the official announcements about the films coming in today. Read all about what we know (as well as a Liz Smith column on the subject) below.

Also, NewsCam is now live and running again after almost a week of downtime. From what I hear, the cam’s still not working properly for Netscape browsers, something I plan to work on as soon as I get some free time.

For those of you wondering about my job situation…Here’s an update. I still have not been laid off although I have officially stated my desire to move on (rather than take a crappy mainframe job), so I expect the layoff to occur sometime next week (before the next pay period starts). This isn’t definite, but more than likely will happen. I’ve gotten some great leads from many of you so far, and I sincerely appreciate that! Once the layoff happens, I will have more time to schedule phone interviews and possibly travel to sites, which should make the search easier. I’m still searching as well, so if you know of something that might fit the bill, please drop me a line! Thanks again for your help, everyone. I’ll rest at ease once I know I’m employed again — It’s going to seem odd when this layoff happens and I’m not working every day!

And now, on with the news…

• World famous gossip columnist Liz Smith has even gotten on board the Dogma press bandwagon. In her column today, she comments on the film’s newly found fame now that it’s gonna hit Cannes:

Speaking of who’ll be there, a few NA readers have also checked in to let us know they’ll be in town to scoop up all the Dogma dish that they can…Anyone wanna smuggle us in a suitcase?

• Many of you are baffled as to Dogma’s exact status at Cannes. Will it compete and be up for awards, or will it just be showcased as one of the special features in the festival? From what we and our scoopers can uncover, we see that the film currently appears in the “special events” list. Still another link shows the film listed, but as “Out of Competition”. Defining this, it says:

The site also says the actual schedule will be posted after today’s press conference. We’re sure Dogma will get a nice slot, though. So, our source yesterday told us that Dogma was indeed an official selection, though whether this meant actual competition, we are unsure (though we assumed so). There’s no question about it, though, Cannes WANTS Dogma. And the film will get its world premiere at the festival, just as originally hoped. We’ll try and dig up some more info about which awards, if any, the film might be eligible for.

Either way, competition or no, it’s quite an honor to have a film selected for premiere at Cannes, and we know Dogma’s going to be the talk of the festival, just as we predicted ever since we saw the thing! Congratulations are definitely in order for Kevin & The Weinsteins, who will undoubetedly have a blast watching all the studios line up for distribution rights after they feast their eyes upon the flick.