The final stretch of the world’s premier film festival has seen Cannes roll out the red carpet for a cavalcade of veteran auteurs, including two-time Palme d’Or laureate Ken Loach, past winners Wim Wenders and Nanni Moretti, and fellow Italian Marco Bellocchio, whose magnificent “Kidnapped” joined the list of frontrunners for this year’s top award. Meanwhile, the 1994 laureate Quentin Tarantino delighted his Riviera fans with a lengthy chat about his taste for violence in movies – provided no animals get hurt.

The 76th Cannes Film Festival has witnessed a number of modest breakthroughs for the world’s premier movie gathering, most notably in the abundance of African films on display and the number of women directors competing for the coveted Palme d’Or.

Italy’s Alice Rohrwacher wrapped up that contest on Friday with her latest folk tale “La Chimera”, about Italian tomb raiders who hunt ancient graves to find artefacts to sell. It followed the premiere of French director Catherine Breillat’s new erotic thriller “Last Summer”, centred on the fallout from a woman’s relationship with her stepson.

Tarantino also asserted his preference for edgy and divisive directors, as well as those – like Flynn from “Rolling Thunder” – who never got the credit they deserved.

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