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 ,

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,

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,

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,

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,

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.

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,

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.

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,

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,

Welcome to Trendspotting Tuesday , week four, in which we take a not-so-straight-faced look at the genre known as "mockumentary." From quirky pseudo-sports to rock bands that go all the way to eleven, countless subjects have been given the mockumentary treatment. Filmmaker Christopher Guest is arguably the master mockumentarian, having perfected many of the genre's conventions in films like Spinal Tap and Best in Show ,

Energy independence has been one of the most talked-about issues of this election " and if you've filled up your gas tank lately, you know why. With oil exceeding $115 a barrel, and gas prices expected to reach a national average of $4.00 a gallon by the summer, the need to reform our current energy policy is no longer just an environmental issue, it's becoming an economic necessity. Most Americans agree that we should decrease our dependence on foreign oil,

Last month, we posted about our efforts to make YouTube as open as possible and shared a few examples of partners who were integrating YouTube content into their applications. Today, we'd like to point out another example. Google Docs is a free, web-based word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation application that allows you to share and collaborate with others in real-time.

We are constantly amazed by the YouTube community's creativity and skill, so we wanted to create something special that showcases all of the crafters, chefs, artists, techies and other masters that fearlessly share their genius on the site. Enter the Guru Challenge, in which a variety of experts ask you to show off your creative instincts )and do a little showing off of their own(. Take them up on the challenge,

Today, the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival kicked off its seventh year in lower Manhattan. Like YouTube, the festival is known for its eclectic mix of content, with a little bit of something for everybody. Which is why we're excited to let you know that IFC , a long time member of the YouTube community, will be bringing you red carpet coverage, celebrity interviews, Q&As and more. Another reason to pay attention to this year's fest? YouTube's own ArtieTSMITW , aka Brandon Hardesty,

If you spent any time watching YouTube recently, you might have seen a slew of videos uploaded by voters, news organizations, and the candidates surrounding the Pennsylvania primaries. A lot has happened on the campaign trail since the last primary in Mississippi over a month ago, and so we partnered with C-SPAN to see what issues are on voters' minds right now. During the last three weeks,

It's Earth Day today, and as part of our ongoing Trendspotting Tuesday series, we're marking the occasion with a round-up of videos that reflect grassroots environmental action in the YouTube community. Whether it's by showing you how to update your home in a more sustainable way , talking about "must-have" green items , or sharing tips on how you can be more ecologically responsible ,

Few issues in the public dialogue inspire as much passion as the issue of immigration. While most Americans recognize the importance of protecting the country's borders, there is still enormous debate about how we should treat the roughly 12 million undocumented workers currently living in the United States. The questions around immigration cut to the core of American identity, and the debate often finds itself at the nexus of politics, culture, geography, and security.

We just launched beta versions of three new feature updates to improve overall management of your messages, contacts and videos. These tests are already being served to a small percentage of randomly selected users, but anyone can choose to opt in and test them out. Once logged in to your account, click the following links to start using the beta versions of the new Inbox , My Contacts and My Videos features. NEW INBOX Along with a slick new interface,

The votes have been counted, the community has spoken, and a heavily armed truck containing $40,000 in cash and prizes is on its way to WaverlyFlams . Congratulations to the 'Flams, who took home Toyota's loot with their own unique take on "living the dream", "Sherlockbot & The Case of the Purloined Piggybank" . They win $25,000 in cash, a further $15,000 in production equipment, and the opportunity to meet with UTA Online talent agents.