The officialCannes press screening for Wong Kar-wai's competition entry 2046tomorrow morning at 8.30 am has been cancelled, Palais officials have confirmed.

While WongKar-wai has always had a close-to-the-wire relationship with Cannes deadlines,"only a miracle will save the 8.30am screening now," said a source close to theproduction yesterday. The problem has arisen over the final reel, which was notprinted in time to get to Paris for subtitling.

It's not as ifthe director hasn't had plenty of time: he's been shooting 2046 film onand off for the last five years. Now the reel is set to arrive in Paris at 5amtomorrow morning from Bangkok, go for subtitling, and get down to Cannes intime for the 2.30pm show - but doubt has been cast over whether that will evengo ahead.

However, Palaisofficials have confirmed that 2046will definitely be ready in time for the 7pm red carpet screening with WongKar-wai and his cast including Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung and Gong Li scheduledto attend.

A Palais spokesmansaid: "I don't think this has happened before - it's definitely not usual." Thepress conference for 2046 will nowtake place on Friday afternoon at 3.30pm, while festival officials intend toset up two extra press screenings for the title on Friday. "We will put upnotices all over the Palais as soon as we know when they will happen," shesaid.