Far from the limelight of Cannes, Greece's last painter of film posters toils away in a little garden studio to deliver his latest commission.

Vassilis Dimitriou is 80 years old, works alone and knows his days on the job are numbered -- his left hand trembles from the early onset of Parkinson's disease.

A French incest "fairytale" brought a touch of scandal to the Cannes Film Festival Tuesday but even the frisson of illicit sex couldn't save the movie from a critical mauling.

"Marguerite and Julien", one of five French movies among the 19 contenders for the top prize at the world's biggest cinema showcase, tells the true story of aristocratic siblings in 16th century France whose deep love turns into physical passion when they reach adolescence.

Who knew Leonardo DiCaprio had an eye for Chanel bags?

The actor plunked down 10,000 euros ($13,620 for a blue Chanel Neoprene flap bag, embroidered with flowers, on the Croisette on Monday night. But it was all for charity, as part of an auction at the annual Heart Fund Gala, also attended by Paris Hilton, actor Gary Dourdan and featuring a performance by Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def).

Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown on Monday led the nominations for the Black Entertainment Television awards, with each in the running in six categories.

Minaj, one of the most prominent female rappers, was nominated for best woman in hip-hop and five other awards.

The king of late-night American television, David Letterman, broadcasts his final show Wednesday, ending a 33-year run of unpredictable, caustic comedy that set him apart.

The longest-serving nighttime talk show host in US TV with more than 6,000 shows to his name, 68-year-old Letterman has been honored with tributes in US media, and by a host of celebrities.

Maverick New York director Abel Ferrara has turned to Kickstarter to help fund his new project, a nightmarish road movie starring Willem Dafoe, he told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival.

The filmmaker, known for classics such as "Bad Lieutenant" and "King of New York", gave a typically energetic press conference on the sidelines of the festival to describe his new project, dubbed "Siberia".

"Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really! Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account."

With that inaugural Tweet sent from a smartphone in the Oval Office before jumping on Marine One Monday, the President of the United States Barack Obama -- or @POTUS -- cast off security and bureaucratic chains in place since he was elected.

You've seen the movie "Black Swan", but what about "White Swan"? Or "Avengers Grimm"? Or "Darker Shades of Grey"? Or "Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies"?

You won't catch these features at your local movie theatre, but they and other B and C-grade flicks are doing booming business in the Cannes market running in parallel with the film festival.

Chinx, the New York rapper who won a growing following by turning his bleak experiences as a drug-dealer into verse, was shot dead Sunday. He was 31.

The rapper -- whose works included a series of mixtapes with the prophetic title "Hurry Up and Die" -- was driving a Porsche in the early morning in Queens when another motorist opened fire, police said.

Rap mogul Jay Z has quietly used his wealth to post bail for people arrested in protests across the United States against police excesses, an author close to him said Sunday.

Dream Hampton, a writer and activist who worked with Jay Z on his 2010 memoir "Decoded," made the revelations in a series of messages on Twitter that she later deleted but were reproduced by the hip-hop magazine Complex.