Death and Loss dominate family-themed Cannes 2010

The mood at the world’s premier cinema showcase was somber, with this edition’s lineup dominated by movies about death and loss. The top prize, the Palme d’Or, went to a trance-like film about the last days of a man suffering from kidney failure. Loss was also at the heart of the 12-day-long festival’s runner-up – French director Xavier Beauvois’ Of Gods and Men tells the true story of seven French monks beheaded in Algeria during the country’s brutal civil war in the 1990s.