Day 8 of Cannes Film Festival 2011 highlighted Lars Von Trier's Melancholia, a family drama that takes place in the shadow of an imminent apocalypse.

Aki Kaurismaki Le Havre, a tender, lovably campy Normandy-set comedy about a shoeshiner who aids a young north African immigrant en route to London, became the main pretender for a victory in the contest.

In The Beaver, another film featured at Cannes, Mel Gibson plays Walter Black, a severely depressed family man who finds an unusual medium for expressing the thoughts he’s held inside. Director Jodie Foster - who does double duty here as Gibson’s costar - plays Meredith, Walter’s frustrated wife. The film won wide critical accalim.