MICHAEL MOORE’S much-awaited new documentary, “Sicko,” earned hearty applause during its press screening this Saturday morning in Cannes. The reaction was one of the most favorable so far in this festival.

At the press con afterward, your blogger asked why the controversial filmmaker chose to enter the film out of competition at Cannes. He replied to us that in the spirit of the film, which questions why the US couldn’t implement universal health coverage for Americans, he did not want to adopt the “American attitude of more, more, more!”

He explained that since he won a Palm d’OR in 2004 for “Fahrenheit 9/11,” he did not want to be greedy.

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“I’M bringing the same barong tagalog I wore when I got the Golden Leopard Award in Locarno (Italy) for my first film ‘Masahista’ in 2005,” e-mailed director Brillante “Dante” Mendoza to us.

We are looking forward to his arrival here in Cannes. Dante’s film, “Foster Child,” will be shown in the Directors’ Fortnight, which honored the late great Lino Brocka, Mike de Leon and Mario O’Hara in the past by showing their films.

“I’m bringing a jacket, a pair of denim pants and a pair of boots, too,” Dante quipped. To clarify, Directors’ Fortnight is not a competition category. But the section prides itself in being among the first to showcase the first works of master filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese.

WE took this photo of a deserted beach in Cannes because this was an unusual situation.

Cannes is a crazy, crowded scene at this time because of the festival. Every nook and cranny of this hot corner of the French Riviera is crawling with people but in this rare serene scene, we arrived early at a party on a hotel’s beachfront restaurant. We were the first to arrive and for a brief second, before the guests arrived, we took a deep breath to savor the scene.

Unfortunately, our quiet moment on the Croisette lasted only a few seconds. But it was enough for us to collect our thoughts and put things from our promdi perspective — how grateful we are that we have packed our bayong for a trip to cover this festival. We’d like to think that we are still the same person who grew up in Calasiao, Pangasinan. And then it was back to our hectic sked of screenings, press cons and walking — lots of walking! The tediousness of walking is sometimes broken by hearing welcome snippets of Tagalog — yes, there are Pinoys strolling on the Croisette.

The Cannes virgin attends his first Cannes press con — Norah Jones, director Wong Kar Wai and Jude Law pose for pictures before the start of the press con for their movie, “My Blueberry Nights,” which opens the 60th edition of the world’s most prestigious film festival.

The event, moderated by Henri Behar (foreground), was the first press con of the festival. On our London stopover en route to Cannes, we bumped into our first FC (Filipino connection): Fil-Am Fritz Friedman, top exec at Sony Pictutes’ video division, was also on the same flight.

(Editor’s Note: Photos by Ruben V. Nepales)

GOOD news to RAL who posted a feedback to our blog post, “Are you a closet Filipino?” RAL bemoaned the lack of Pinoy presence at Cannes in recent years.

Well, this year Brillante “Dante” Mendoza is putting the Philippine flag back on the French Riviera with his film, “Foster Child,” which is featured in the Directors’ Fortnight, the Cannes festival program that presented the works of Lino Brocka, Mike de Leon and Mario O’Hara in the late ’70s and ’80s.

We are glad that on our first trip (making us a Cannes virgin) to experience the most prestigious international film festival in the world, there will be Pinoy presence. We’re writing this at the Los Angeles International Airport as we wait to board our flight to London and then to Nice, France. We’ll try to keep you updated daily on our Cannes experience once we get there. Yes, from a Cannes virgin perspective.

Thank you, by the way, to all those who posted feedback to our blog posts. Keep them coming. Your comments and the ensuing dialogue among the feedback authors are inspiring.