Generally speaking, Cannes is considered the grand-mère of all film festivals. For 11 days every spring, the cinematic world descends on this beach town in the south of France to celebrate everything film, from the lowest-budget student shorts to the summer's biggest blockbusters.

Starting today and for the next 11 days, we'll be featuring a diverse selection of content from the French Riviera in our Film & Animation section, including industry panels from the Short Film Corner and the 2008 Real Ideas Studio Community Documentary Challenge, which consists of short works from the best student documentarians.

Finally, what would the world's most glamorous festival be without coverage from the red carpet, courtesy of IFC? With Clint Eastwood, Charlie Kaufman and Steven Soderbergh in the running for the prestigious Palme d'Or prize, and world premieres from Stephen Spielberg and Woody Allen, there should be plenty to talk about.

So tune in to YouTube throughout the festival and get those cameras rolling. Whether you were there or not, we want to hear your perspectives on Cannes -- the films, the fashions, the French fabulousness!

Happy Festival-going,
Sara P.
YouTube Film

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Over the past couple years, more internally-powered, easily-mounted micro video cameras have come on the market for consumers, and the result has been a ton more first-person point-of-view sports footage available on the net. Sports enthusiasts now use these lipstick-sized helmet-, wrist- or foot- mounted cameras to capture the essence of the sports they love. Besides being fun to watch and re-live, these videos can also be extremely useful to athletes, riders and drivers for improving technique, selecting a better line on a track or off-road course, or adjusting speed for the sake of maximum efficiency or safety.

From a viewer's perspective, these videos put you right in the action. You can get a sense of the speed at which the athlete is moving, the angle of the slope, the sheer force of wind, and the total concentration required to pull off a tricky maneuver:



We hope these inspire you to get out on the course, run, slope or track, shoot some videos and share 'em with everyone you know. (And, of course, please be safe while you're at it…)

In the meantime, let us know if there's a trend we should be covering. (You already told us about a few, which we're currently exploring.) Leave a comment below or leave a note on the Trendspotting Tuesday channel, where you can also find previous trendspotting playlists.

Cheers,
The YouTube Team

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Today is Pangea Day, a global event dedicated to bringing people together through film. With its eclectic mix of movies, live music and passionate speakers, Pangea Day aims to help us see life through the eyes of others. There are live events taking place right now in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro.

But don't worry if you live far from any of these cities or couldn't make the actual festivities: On today's YouTube homepage, you'll find a sampling of the 24 short films being featured in the Pangea Day program. Selected by Pangea Day's international competition from over 2,500 submissions from over 100 countries - many of which came from YouTubers heeding last year's call for entries - these films inform and inspire, and provide a taste of what this event is all about.



Pangea Day has also set up an official YouTube group for you to share your thoughts about the videos on the homepage. And if you were able to make it to one of the live broadcasts, then go on and tell us about that, too.

Be inspired,

Sara P.
YouTube Film

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The Short Film Corner at Cannes is one of the world's premier destinations for shorts. But you don't need to make the trip to France to see the best of what the festival has to offer, thanks to the National Film Board of Canada's Online Film Competition Cannes 2008.

In its fourth year, the contest features ten shorts, selected from among 650 films from over 40 countries. Representing an eclectic mix of languages and genres, the finalists are all available for viewing on the NFB's YouTube channel. The prize? In addition to bragging rights, the director of the winning short film will receive a professional DV camera and a portable computer with post-production software.

Ready for the best part? You determine the winner. That's right -- the winning film will be chosen by audience voting, based on the one-to-five-star rating scale you know and love.



Film jurors, it's time to cast your votes.

Sara P.
YouTube Film

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Last Saturday's devastating cyclone in Myanmar has so far claimed the lives of over 22,000 people and that toll continues to rise. Yet in what has become the largest natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami that ravaged Sri Lanka, aid to Myanmar has had trouble reaching those in need. The military government that runs the small Southeast Asian country has let in little aid from agencies and is not granting visas to aid workers to enter the country.

On YouTube, the effort to raise awareness around the need to help Myanmar has grown in the last 48 hours. Reporters are uploading videos of footage from the devastated region, such as this video from NoCommentTV, whose simple approach of showing news images "without any opinion or bias" paints a compelling portrait of the disaster. Al Jazeera posted this clip to give viewers an overview of what's taken place in the region since Saturday. And YouTube users such as relex109 are posting picture slideshows from Myanmar.

Others are using YouTube to raise money for the effort. World Vision's Executive Director uploaded a call for donations via his organization's YouTube channel, and U Uttara, the Secretary General of the International Burmese Monks Organization, made an appeal for funds on Avaaz.org's YouTube channel. (You can donate directly here.)

But perhaps the most unique call for donations came from YouTube user Nightwatcher1982 of the Netherlands. In the video below, he makes a personal pledge to the YouTube community: between now and May 25, for every video response to his video, he'll donate $5 to the Red Cross. And if your video is "really good," he'll donate $10:



Let's hope more and more money is raised to provide relief to the stricken region -- and that Myanmar's government lets it in.

Yours,
Steve G.
YouTube News & Politics

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Welcome to another edition of Trendspotting Tuesday. It's week five, which is certainly time to celebrate and make some noise, courtesy of an orchestra of YouTubers who perform using an array of unique and unusual instruments.

From one-of-a-kind cucumber trumpets to drum beats triggered by ball bearings, it's a whole new approach to making music. Some of these instruments are from ancient traditions and were created by nature -- like the termites who bore through tree bark to create a perfectly sized and shaped mouthpiece on a Australian didgeridoo. Others were constructed with empty soda bottles or PVC piping:



We hope you enjoy these new directions in sound. Perhaps it will inspire you to follow in the lead of folks like OddMusic, a master of musical invention, or to start taking lessons on stringed instruments like the hurdy-gurdy (also known as the "wheel fiddle") or the Tuvan igil.

Stay tuned next Tuesday for yet another take on the trends that are part of our video community. Have a trend you'd like to recommend? Leave a comment below or leave a note on the Trendspotting Tuesday channel, where you can find previous trendspotting playlists.

Cheers,
The YouTube Team

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Global poverty is an issue that seems to have only one side: it's bad, and we should end it. According to one statistic, the GDP of the 48 poorest nations is still less than the wealth of the three richest people…and most economists agree the gap between the rich and poor grows wider every year. Though the problem is vast, it often feels far away for many Americans. Moreover, global poverty is rarely an issue that drives voters to the polls.

In the face of these challenges, more and more groups and everyday citizens have taken to YouTube to advocate for an end to global poverty, raising awareness for an issue that doesn't get a lot of mainstream media coverage. One of them is Shawn Ahmed. Deciding to take some time off from his graduate studies at Notre Dame, Ahmed moved to Bangladesh, where he's been making videos for the last several months in an effort to give the statistics we often hear about global poverty a human face. His YouTube channel, UnCultured Project, provides a window into these efforts and documents the challenges, frustrations, and triumphs of one person's attempts to help end extreme poverty.



This video from GlobalDevMatters makes the case that U.S. farm subsidies, which mainly benefit large agri-businesses, negatively impact poor farmers around the world. In this clip from IRTAGMedia, Sri Lanka's Central Bank Governor talks about the potential consequences of rising food prices and what world leaders must do to address them.

And even Nobel laureates have used YouTube to spread their message. One of the leading voices in the campaign against global poverty is Muhammad Yunnis, founder of the Grameen Bank and the 2006 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Yunnis is credited with developing the practice of "micro-lending," an innovative form of loan allocation that has transformed the lives of millions of enterprising individuals in some of the world's poorest countries. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently met with Yunnis to discuss efforts to combat poverty and create micro-lending programs in Africa -– and posted the video to his YouTube channel.

And of course, you can't talk about global poverty advocacy without mentioning The ONE Campaign, which was one of the first organizations to bring attention to the issue on YouTube. Their videos aim to show that the fight against poverty isn't about politics — it's a problem that should concern us all. Their efforts seem to be working: with the help of a celebrity-ridden cast, ONE got every major presidential candidate to make a video for their YouTube channel, committing to making global poverty history.



Yours,
Steve G.
YouTube News & Politics

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Updates made to the Inbox and My Contacts features are now live for all YouTube users. After announcing the beta launch for these features a couple of weeks ago, we made some changes to the Inbox based on your feedback. Now mini-thumbnails appear on the list of messages for video responses and videos users have shared with you. Also, the link to view all comments has been restored in email notifications for comments made to your videos and responses to comments of your own.

We'd really like to hear what you think about the newest versions of Inbox and My Contacts, so please share your feedback with us via video, email or leave a comment on this blog.

The YouTube Team

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In case you hadn't noticed the athletes sprinting, crawling and vaulting all over our homepage today: we're happy to present videos of the growing sport of parkour, selected by Julie Angel aka SlamCamSpam. Julie is a London-based filmmaker who has been documenting the sport for the past four years, mainly with an organization called Parkour Generations -- a team of incredible athletes based in London, including some first- and second-generation parkour practitioners, dedicated to teaching and displaying the sport.

So, what is parkour? Dan Edwardes, a member of Parkour Generations describes it this way:

"Parkour is the art of moving through your environment using only your body and the surroundings to propel yourself. It can include running, jumping, climbing, even crawling, if that is the most suitable movement for the situation. Parkour could be grasped by imagining a race through an obstacle course, the goal is to overcome obstacles quickly and efficiently, without using extraneous movement."

Parkour traces its origins to Lisses, France, and a soldier named Raymond Belle, who worked to develop efficient methods "to reach or escape." He handed down these lessons to his son David Belle, who has spent a majority of his young (34) life working on these principles, and is featured in one of Julie's 12 selections. The sport, or discipline, has drawn on myriad sources, been inspired by a number of notable individuals and evolved through several traditions to arrive at the modern iteration known as parkour. The sport's beauty and broad appeal may lie in the fact that it's not that different from what we all did as children: run, jump, roll. Parkour turns our confining concrete landscapes into a big playground.

We couldn't help notice the rising profile of parkour on our site and are proud to play a role in spreading it worldwide. The sport's bounding popularity is growing, in part, thanks to the spread of online video sharing, and, well, YouTube. Parkour may be the first such sport in history to have this symbiotic relationship with online video.

We hope this inspires you to learn more. Before you go running into the street, though, please understand that parkour can be dangerous if not practiced correctly, please seek experienced trainers and practice diligently!

Allez!
Andrew B.
YouTube Sports

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Back in March, we announced an exciting partnership between The Vancouver Film School and YouTube to award full-tuition scholarships to three YouTubers from around the world. The May 9 deadline for the competition is now 10 days away, so consider this your final (gentle) reminder to enter.

The Vancouver Film School's motto is "Results Matter," so we challenged you to create a short film, animation or creative pitch addressing the theme "What Matters To You" and to name the Vancouver Film School program you wished to attend. The competition is open to filmmakers, directors, actors, writers, animators – anyone who can seem themselves benefiting from programs like Acting Essentials, Classical Animation, Digital Design, Film Production and Writing for Film and Television (to see the full list, visit www.vfs.com).

For those of you who still haven't entered, here are some thoughts to consider. First, this competition is about finding students with creativity and drive, not with a perfect set of skills. If you already knew how to make a film, write a screenplay or design a game, why would you be going to school? So don't be intimidated by the competition - if you have a great idea, express it!

Second, this competition isn't about why you want to go to Vancouver Film School. It's about what matters to you in the world. Is it family? Is it peace? Is it the environment? Is it love? Is it travel? Tell us a story through your film, animation or pitch, and let this question inspire you. If your work shows you have creativity and drive, you could find yourself in the top 10. The YouTube community will then vote for three winners.

It's not often you get a chance to go to a prestigious, international film school for free, so stop reading this blog and start creating. You have 10 days left!

Good luck!

Sara P.
YouTube Film

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