A star fades out at Cannes

[CANNES] Each year, as stars ascend the red-carpeted steps here, a reserved gentleman in a bespoke Agnès B tuxedo is there to receive them. He is Gilles Jacob, and after more than 35 years at the Cannes Film Festival, the last 15 as president, he is alighting from those steps and retiring.

To Jacob, it is the steps that make the difference at Cannes. "There's almost a religious aspect to it, as if you were going up to heaven," Jacob, 83, said in an interview on Tuesday in his office here. "The Oscars, c'est magnifique, but it's flat."

That mix of Hollywood glamour and European respect for cinema has kept Cannes the queen of festivals; Jacob has long been part of the formula.