Cannes '08: Pete Hammond's Notes on a Season: Michael Moore's back in Cannes!

Michael Moore returned today for what appears to be his annual visit to the Croisette, where he met with buyers and reporters to discuss his latest project.

Related: Cannes '08: Michael Moore plots sequel to 'Fahrenheit 9/11'

As a roomful of journalists waited patiently at the Carlton, the star of the hour (just that hour -- this is Cannes after all) arrived to downplay reports that his next film would be a "sequel" to "Fahrenheit 9/11" when, in fact, it will be an expose -- Moore or less -- on the "downward spiral" the Oscar-winning director thinks the U.S. has taken while the Bush administration has been busy in Iraq. 

Overture Films and Paramount Vantage are teaming to produce the film, which will probably be targeting a few well-known corporations along with other subjects (Moore doesn't want to give anything away, as he's just starting production and he's not exactly invisible to these companies).

Everyone seemed to agree it would be nice to have it done in time for next year's Cannes, a fest where Moore has already won a couple of awards, including the coveted Palme d'Or for "Fahrenheit 9/11." Last year he was here for "Sicko."

Meanwhile, Moore has another project he hopes to have ready a lot sooner, sometime shortly after the Democratic National Convention in late August.

This is a docu chronicling his 62-college tour accompanied by some top rockers on behalf of John Kerry's presidential campaign four years ago.

Moore says that turned out to be the key group that voted overwhelmingly for Kerry, a sort of "Obama preview," he says.

Moore is not necessarily looking to put this film into theaters, though, saying there are probably better ways to reach the target college-age audience, pre-election, including iTunes and maybe DVD. He doesn't have a title yet, but two he has considered are "Bush-Be-Gone" and "WeWereThisClose."

-- Pete Hammond