The Cannes Film Festival's 60th year was notable - or is that typical? - for a lack of British names in competition, but there was no shortage of Brits at the world's premier movie event. BBC Film Network went to Cannes to follow some of the UK talent on show, and also to find out what really goes on along the Croisette. Watch the eight videos below to get a candid look at Cannes...

VIDEO: STRAIGHT 8 AT CANNES The Straight 8 competition always premieres at Cannes. See what happened this year...

When it comes to rules, the only thing rivalling Straight 8 for simplicity is Fight Club. There are three basic rules in the popular competition for young filmmakers: shoot everything on one single cartridge of Super 8; edit everything in the camera; and record a unique soundtrack separately. Basically, what you shoot is what you get.

To compound matters, the filmmakers who enter Straight 8 see their completed films for the very first time at the premiere, meaning Cannes was 'squeaky-bum' time for the 10 selected filmmakers (there were 131 entries this year).

In the video we meet some of the filmmakers who rose to the Straight 8 challenge, and hear from the event's founder, Ed Sayers.

VIDEO: A HARD SELL What's it like trying to sell a low budget British feature in Cannes? Find out here...

Cannes is synonymous with heavyweight arthouse movies and headline-grabbing Hollywood stars - this year's competition saw the likes of David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino vying with Emir Kusturica and Kim Ki-Duk for the Palme d'Or (eventually won by Romanian director Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days). No Brits there, of course, but plenty in the Marché du Film, the world's most important movie market place. Here low budget British movies rubbed shoulders with, well, no budget British movies in the quest for worldwide distribution deals.

In the above video we meet the people responsible for selling British movies as diverse as thriller Ten Dead Men, romantic comedy The Baker, Donal MacIntyre's uncompromising A Very British Gangster, and South Coast, a self-financed documentary about Sussex's hip-hop scene.

VIDEO: SHORTS STORIES Cannes is becoming home to a thriving shorts scene. See why...

Clermont-Ferrand may be the most famous short film festival in France, but Cannes is increasingly becoming an important destination for short filmmakers* (*people who make short movies, that is, not the vertically-challenged). Away from the competition shorts there's the Short Film Corner, which is a lively part of the market place which houses a vast videotheque and daily lectures for aspiring filmmakers. But the Palais des Festival isn't the only place to see shorts in Cannes...

In the video we meet some of the people putting shorts on the Cannes map.

VIDEO: UNDER THE MUD Watch the director and co-writers of Liverpool community pic Under The Mud take their minnow to Cannes...

Made for the type of budget that wouldn't pay the annual moorage fees for a yacht in Cannes marina, Under The Mud is a triumphant community film written by a group of Liverpool teenagers. Called "the best film you'll never see" by The Guardian, it's as if Bill Forsyth had directed a feature-length episode of Shameless.

The film's director, Sol Papadopoulos, came out to Cannes with two of Under The Mud's 15 writers - Lenny Wood and Mick Colligan - to try and raise the film's profile and land a distribution deal. Sol was also making a documentary for ITV charting the boys' progress.

Watch the video to see how Sol, Lenny and Mick fared, and how they ended up rubbing shoulders with Martin Scorsese and Dolph Lundgren...

VIDEO: JOE TUCKER: THE BRIT IN COMPETITION Watch the progress of animation director Joe Tucker, whose For The Love Of God was the only UK film in competition...

You could count the British directors in competition at Cannes in 2007 on the fingers of one hand. Actually, you could count them on one finger. Joe Tucker recently graduated from the National Film and Television School, and his 11-minute stop-motion animation film For The Love Of God was selected to appear in the Cinéfondation strand (for student filmmakers from around the world).

For The Love Of God is an irreverent comedy about a lonely man with an unholy desire to get intimate with God. As well as featuring stunning animation sequences and a laugh-out-loud ending, the short also features the vocal talents of Sir Ian McKellen and Steve Coogan.

In the video we follow Joe's progress as he arrives in Cannes and then waits to see if he'll triumph in the competition.

VIDEO: A WORKING TITLE LUNCH Following their recent successes, Working Title's Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner talk about the state of the British film biz...

Working Title Grands Fromages Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner have enjoyed a phenomenal 2007. Hot Fuzz and Mr Bean's Holiday both grossed over £20million in the UK alone, and the company (the No.1 production house in Britain) was in Cannes to unveil an impressive new slate for 2007/8 - including new movies from the Coen Brothers (the spy thriller Burn After Reading, with George Clooney and Brad Pitt); Julia Roberts (an untitled project about wildlife conservationist Joan Root); Kevin Macdonald (a large-screen adaptation of State Of Play, again starring Brad Pitt); Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon; Beeban Kidron's Oz Trials pic Hippie Hippie Shake; and Paul Greengrass' Iraq drama Imperial Life In The Emerald City.

Bevan and Fellner are ideally placed to talk about the state of the UK film industry. See their views in the video and find out why they're veering away from low budget movies in the future.

VIDEO: TOM SHANKLAND - CANNES VIRGIN Director Tom Shankland took his debut feature Waz to the Cannes market. Here's how he fared...

Tom Shankland is, by his own admission, a Cannes virgin. The National Film School graduate first won acclaim for his award-winning shorts - Bait (1999) and Going Down (2000) - and now he's brought his debut feature, Waz (pronounced 'was'), to the Cannes Market.

Set in New York, the £2.5million serial killer thriller stars Stellan Skarsgård (pictured below), Melissa George and Selma Blair. Buyers saw it for the first time at Cannes, with The Weinstein Company getting its chequebook out for US distribution rights. In the video Tom talks about his Cannes experience and the culture shock of bringing a film to the marketplace.

Waz will be released in the UK by Vertigo Films in Autumn 2007.

VIDEO: ANTON CORBIJN ON CONTROL The director of Ian Curtis biopic Control on "the hardest thing he's ever done"...

Having established himself as one of the rock world's leading photographers, Dutch-born Anton Corbijn makes his feature debut with Control. The film - which opened the Quinzaine des Réaliteurs (Directors' Fortnight) at Cannes - is about a subject with whom Corbijn himself is closely linked: Joy Division and, in particular, the life and death of lead singer Ian Curtis. Newcomer Sam Riley plays the tortured frontman, while Samantha Morton plays his wife Deborah Curtis.

Anton addressed an audience at the UK Film Centre in Cannes to talk about Control. Watch the video to find out why he had to put his money where his mouth was, and how he handled the transition from music videos to features.

Control is released in the UK by Momentum Pictures in September 2007.

Adrian Hennigan | Updated 31 May 07

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