Producer Joel Silver is aiming for a global day, date and hour release for the third Matrix installment, Revolutions, on November 5.

"We're still working it out logistically, but the audience is ready," he said - no matter what way it is structured, a simultaneous global release would see one territory holding its premiere at around 4am. Added Silver: "The story will end in the next movie."

At a packed press conference in the Palais attended by 15 Matrix Reloaded cast and crew from costume designer to sound editor - plus Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and a pregnant Carrie-Anne Moss - the film's directors, the Wachowski brothers, were a no-show, "buried deep in editing Revolutions," according to Silver.

Meanwhile, Palais press conference tensions came to a head over moderator Henri Behar's impatience with questions about Franco-US relations. The lack of entente cordiale between Behar and mainly US reporters first surfaced at the jury press conference, but attempts yesterday to repeatedly quiz Reeves and his colleagues about their decision to visit the Riviera were met with "they're here, aren't they'" and were finally cut off completely.

It still left enough time for Reeves to say that "I hope there isn't tension - film festivals are a place to come together and celebrate art and humanity," before Monica Belucci denied that Reloaded was a blue-screen techno-fest for the actors. "This isn't about blue screen and special effects," she said, plaintively. "This is about acting! Acting!"