Canned Britain

With two British films screening in competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, yesterday's announcement of the Cannes shortlist has been greeted as a minor national triumph. After a fallow year in festival terms, shortlist nominations for Ken Loach's The Wind that Shakes the Barley and Andrea Arnold's Red Road have been greeted by ebullient-sounding statements from, among others, the creative industries minister James Purnell....