It may seem like a contradiction in terms, but Cannes is often a good place to catch good low budget and first films, including shorts.

Despite a high-profile jury, presided over by Martin Scorsese, many of the films selected for prizes were non-commercial, including this year's winner of the Golden Palm, Mia eoniotita ke mia mera (Forever and a Day), by Greek filmmaker, Theo Angelopoulos. Two other relatively low budget films stood out in the competition: Ken Loach's My Name is Joe, and Erick Zonca's first film, La Vie Revée des Anges (The Dreamlife of Angels). Loach shot his film for £2.5 m on and around the council estates in Glasgow; Zonka's film is set in the Northern French town of Lille and cost considerably less. Both films centre on characters who are struggling to make a living and get a life.

Joe (Peter Mullan) is unemployed and fighting alcoholism when he meets Sarah (Louise Goodall), a social worker. A relationship develops between them but it is severely tested by circumstance. There are moments of comedy and romance, but Joe is essentially Loach at his best: utterly convincing and very serious. He shows that people like Joe are stuck in their communities, for better or for worse, and that they find ways of coping, in Joe's case by organising an amateur football team. Peter Mullan gives an excellent performance throughout - starting with the opening scene when he is addressing an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting - and he deservedly won the Festival's prize for best actor. Best actress went jointly to Elodie Bouchez and Natacha Régnier, the central characters in Erick Zonca's debut feature about two young women, Isa and Marie, who get by on a series of temporary jobs. They form a good contrast. Isa is dark-haired, confrontational, open; Marie is blonde, quieter, more closed. Zonca uses a similar technique to Loach: indoor close-ups of faces to convey emotional intensity; outdoor tracking shots to highlight the hostility of the environment. In the end, Isa's open-minded, optimistic personality carries her through whilst Marie's neurotic self-obsession destroys her.

In Laisse un Peu d'Amour (Leave a little Love) screening in the Cinémas en France section, two young women, sisters, are also at the centre of a debut low-budget feature. Zaida Ghorab-Volta's aim was to highlight several moments in the lives of three women: the sisters, Gisèle and Sandra, and their mother Monique. The mother is made redundant at the age of 57 after a lifetime of working in a sewing factory. Her pension will not be enough to survive on so she tries to find work as a cleaner. Andrée Damant is very powerful as the mother, coping alone with sudden unemployment and two difficult daughters. The best scenes are those with the mother and her co-workers, which show how a lifetime of work routine can be eliminated in a day.

A Hungarian film, Szenvedély (Passion) was one of the best films screened in the section Un Certain Regard...

Further information on the "Cinéfondation" can be obtained from the Cannes Film Festival on: www.festival-cannes.fr