ROME (Reuters) - The International Rome Film Festival will honor American actor Richard Gere with the Marcus Aurelius career award at its next edition, organizers said on Wednesday.

Reclusive US director Terrence Malick clinched the Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival for "The Tree of Life", a fantastical family drama uniting Brad Pitt and Sean Penn on screen.

For Terrence Malick, who won the Palme d'Or Sunday at the Cannes film festival, the triumph comes at a price: the painfully shy film-maker will find it hard to avoid the spotlight for a while.

CANNES, France (Reuters) - The long wait for U.S. director Terrence Malick's return to the screen ended Monday with a mix of loud applause and jeers, as his drama "The Tree of Life" appeared to split critics at the Cannes film festival.

US director Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" finally got to Cannes on Monday, where it divided festival-goers with its spectacular visuals but cerebral, religious and very American storyline.

(Reuters) - The Cannes film festival opened on May 11 and runs until May 22. There are 20 movies in the main competition, but many out-of-competition pictures will generate just as much, if not more, interest.

To hear Robert De Niro tell it, deciding who gets the highly coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival is pretty much an improv job.

COLOGNE (Hollywood Reporter) - Cannes' 2011 slate seems designed to avoid the pitfalls of last year's competition, which failed to produce a single Oscar winner, crossover commercial success or grand cinema scandal -- the three boxes any great film festival worthy of the name needs to tick.

COLOGNE (Hollywood Reporter) - Cannes' 2011 slate seems designed to avoid the pitfalls of last year's competition, which failed to produce a single Oscar winner, crossover commercial success or grand cinema scandal -- the three boxes any great film festival worthy of the name needs to tick.