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Séamas McSwiney has decades of experience in film journalism, and work published in top international publications. As our guest film correspondent he will be sending us special reports from the Cannes 2014 film festival.

More than halfway through and it's time to look back and forward to see if we can spot winners and thematic trends among the films in competition. The kick-off topic was the perennial Woman in Film debate; both in front of the camera and behind it, what is made of women's identity and if women get enough opportunity to give their vision.

Italy's Alice Rohrwacher's The Wonders and Japan's Naomi Kawase's Still The Water both employ the mysteries of mother nature as a sounding board for human nature. The former does so in a hippie-ish pastoral Tuscan environment involving beekeeping, the latter on a storm lashed island in Japan as it explores fishing, death and the depths of human fidelity. Both films contrast the intelligence of boys and girls. Guess who come out best? Both are free flowing, individualistic and stylistically ambitious; audience patience is rewarded ...or not.

If you've just arrived in the Big Smoke ready to get studying in September, why not make the most of your summer with these wonderful events going on throughout the capital?

Wimbledon

Great British traditions don't come much bigger than Wimbledon, the fourth annual grand slam tennis event that's been going on since 1877. While you're watching some of our most famous tennis players such as Andy Murray battle it out for that all important championship prize, why not hedge your bets to make the games even more exciting?

Another tradition that you can't miss out on while you're at Wimbledon is strawberries and cream. It's estimated that approximately 28,000 kg of strawberries are sold over the Wimbledon fortnight, with over 7,000 litres of cream, so make sure you're one of the lucky ones who gets to indulge.

Wimbledon is also a hotspot for celebrity visitors, including our very own Royal Family - indeed, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge attend without fail every year. If you're a royals fan, make sure you take your camera to this prestigious event, which takes place this year from Monday 23rd June until Sunday 6th July.

Séamas McSwiney has decades of experience in film journalism, and work published in top international publications. As our guest film correspondent he will be sending us special reports from the Cannes 2014 film festival.

‘GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FILM! What place for women in today's film industry?' This was the catchy title of the European Audiovisual Industry's annual workshop conference at Cannes this year. The UKFilm pavilion held a similar debate a day before. And these are but two of many expressions of discontent regarding the presence and the place of women in the film industry. Such rumblings are neither new nor unjustified in the face of the statistics and tendencies.

A favourite among film feminists (of both sexes) is the one regarding the depiction of women or the famous Bechdel Test (Google it). Basically, for a film to pass this test, "it has to have at least two women in it, who talk to each other, about something besides a man." It is surprising the number of films that don't pass.

Still Cannes does its best to redress the imbalance in its own way. Thierry Fremaux (the Festival's director) insists that he favours films from women when the quality justifies it, claiming that a higher proportion of female directed films are selected than are proposed to him.

The percentage of graduates in the UK population is going up every year according to the Office for National Statistics. A record 38% of people in the UK possessed a degree in 2013 compared to 17% in 1992. The recession has had an obvious effect on the job market and an increasing number of graduates are entering jobs in Scotland and throughout the rest of the UK that don't require a degree. There are still plenty of graduate opportunities out there, though, and a number of ways that you can get ahead of the game when job hunting. Here are some tips to help you on your way.

Work Experience Pays Off

Since so many people now have degrees, employers are often looking for people who have practical as well as academic experience. While you're still at university, search for work experience within a relevant sector. If you're undecided between two different career paths it won't hurt to gain experience in both. Not only will it look great on your CV, but the work will help you decide whether that career path really is for you.

Imagine going to Paris to watch television! For some, such a impious prospect will make perfect sense over the coming week.

Nowadays, most of us know that TV drama is the new cinema; actors love it because they can get their thespian teeth into meatier roles, writers have a broader and more diverse canvas to write great TV novels, and audiences can go episode by episode or binge watch as their fancy takes them. Top-notch directors from Martin Scorsese, to David Fincher, to Danny Boyle are prime movers in the revived game.

Scandinavians are having a field day; Israelis are innovating. Cable and Internet technology has played its role: HBO was the original champion of this renewal, now joined by Netflix, Orange, Microsoft and hosts of others. Everybody is winning and the quality just gets better by the year.

So it's perfectly normal that Paris, the capital of world cinema, from 22nd - 30th April should be presenting the 5th edition of Series Mania at the Forum des Images in the centre of the city. It is a unique event where we get to see previews of first and second episodes of top drawer TV series from around the world as well as meet their creators, the famous show runners of legend.