William Friedkin, the director of the horror classic "The Exorcist", has revealed that he was allowed to film a real exorcism at the Vatican earlier this month.

The 80-year-old American filmmaker told a masterclass at the Cannes film festival late Thursday that he was invited by the chief exorcist in Rome to record the event.

Canadian director Xavier Dolan, a freakishly successful 27-year-old presenting his fifth film at Cannes, shrugged off a critical mauling for his new all-star drama Thursday.

"It's Only the End of the World" features an A-list French cast including Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, Bond girl Lea Seydoux, Vincent Cassel of "Black Swan", and Gaspard Ulliel, who starred in "Saint Laurent" about the legendary designer.

The EU wants to force U.S. web streaming giants such as Netflix and Amazon to devote 20 percent of their content in Europe to European movies and TV programs, according to a draft proposal seen by AFP on Thursday.

The proposals are part of proposed overhaul of EU broadcasting rules to fight off the might of Hollywood that will be made public next week by the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.

Brazilian director Kleber Mendonca Filho and the team of his new movie staged a protest at the Cannes film festival Tuesday in support of unseated Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff.

A new film shows a rarely examined side of Nelson Mandela's life training as a fighter across Africa where he dodged at least one assassination attempt before a tip from a CIA spy led to his arrest in 1962.

A German comedy has emerged as the favourite to win Cannes' Palme d'Or, with critics also lauding a U.S. indie movie featuring "Star Wars" villain Adam Driver and a stirring U.S. drama on an interracial couple's battle for equal rights.

Irish singer Sinead O'Connor was found safe Monday in the Chicago suburbs, a day after her disappearance on a bicycle ride raised fears for her safety, police said.

O'Connor "has been located safe and is no longer listed as a missing/endangered person," said Eric Peterson, a spokesman for police in Wilmette, Illinois.

Barbra Streisand, one of the most enduring US entertainers, on Monday announced a new album featuring duets of Broadway musical numbers with Hollywood stars.

Streisand revealed the album, entitled "Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway," as she scheduled a tour of North American arenas throughout August in which she will perform some of the songs.

U.N. special envoy Angelina Jolie Pitt urged the international community on Monday to respond to Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II with generosity and not the "politics of fear."

Robert De Niro lit up the red carpet in Cannes on Monday where the world's top film festival was to give a special screening of his new boxing movie in the evening.