With this year's Cannes film festival now in full swing, thought it was worth sharing a Cannes travel story with a difference. In 2012, we dared to dream the impossible dream. From a wet and windy West Yorkshire all the way to the world's most glamorous film festival.

The music video is alive and kicking. There are few art forms that can reach that many people that quickly, and while MTV may no longer be broadcasting wall-to-wall music videos, YouTube has taken its place. The combination of a good track combined with great visuals seems to resonate globally, and the great thing about YouTube is that it's totally democratic.

Our journey with WE WENT TO WAR started on a rainy afternoon in London in December 2007. In between developing project ideas with Michael, I was slowly making my way through his extraordinary five decade back catalogue as one Britain's great documentary filmmakers. Today it was 'I Was a Soldier' (1970), possibly the very first sustained treatment about soldiers coming home from the frontlines of Vietnam.

There is nothing like social media that brings people together from different continents. Being an author about adversity and diversity, I was drawn to the story of indie filmmaker Marcus Markou from the United Kingdom. A man with a similar background to myself in the arts, I loved reading his blog about what he has gone through to get his film "Papadopoulos & Sons" made and into theaters for people to see it.

On 12 February we celebrated the premiere of the first year of films from Collabor8te, the scheme I developed through Rankin Film Productions, which hunts out and develops some of the country's best new filmmakers.

They don't clean up at the Oscars or make the critics swoon, but action movies make big money at the box office and when executed well, can often become a favourite amongst movie fans.

Screenwriters and filmmakers do not get an easy ride when making a name for themselves and when they're trying to break through in the industry.

Almost 13 years ago, the BBC funded my short, I was the Cigarette Girl. It was shot the first week of my Teenager's life. I recall arriving home from hospital to urgent calls from the director, as last minute changes to the script were required.

Award-winning filmmaker Emily James's funny, informative and inspirational documentary Just Do It goes behind the scenes of climate activism in Britain to show a side of the issue largely missing from mainstream media. Initially released in cinemas, the film is now available to download/stream, or as a free Creative Commons version, at the Just Do It website.

In truth I think we have suffered from a degree of "Afghan fatigue" amongst the viewing public. To date there have been some very fine series and films on the war in Afghanistan and a few rather lacklustre ones that, it seemed to me, just wanted to jump on the band wagon.

In the wake of social media playing a large part in worldwide coverage of disasters, newspaper hacking scandals and more - we are evolving and we're beginning to get used to joining in the conversation on a massive scale.

Understandably, the glitz and glamour in front of the camera often eclipses the less sexy technical aspects of movie-making, but in the last couple of weeks I have been asked, several times, what exactly it is I do and how I got into it - and my experiences as a (rare) female camerawoman and stereographer.

Though he hasn't directed a film since Inland Empire in 2006, and rumours abound that he has retired from filmmaking entirely, there are more ways than ever now to celebrate enigmatic director David Lynch here in the UK.