It’s good to finally have some proper news on Natalie, isn’t it? It’s been awful quiet since May.

Anyway, here’s today’s update. Starting off with a Project Runway reminder. Natalie will be a guest judge in episode 5.02 of the show, a special “green” episode apty titled “Grass Is Always Greener”. The episode will air today at 9-10 PM ET/PT pm Bravo — check your local listings. Don’t forget to visit Portman Source for coverage!

We also finally have some medium-res screen captures of Natalie as Princess Carmensita Saplingita in Devendra Banhart’s positively hilarous, Bollywood-inspired music video for “Carmensita”, from Banhart’s latest album, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. Non-U.S. residents who’ve once again been snubbed of viewing the video will find it available for viewing on YouTube. Go check it out while you can!

New Photo Albums:

• Devendra Banhart “Carmensita” (2008) Music Video Screen Captures

Finally, some news! The music video for Devendra Banhart’s quite evidently Bollywood-inspired “Carmensita”, featuring Natalie in an absolutely hilarious cameo appearance, has finally premiered online, and is available for viewing at Spinner.com. Do check it out (if you can — non-US residents will have to bitterly bite their tongue for the moment), Natalie is absolutely priceless and looks like she had a ton of fun filming it. Screen caps later today!

In other news, according to the Project Runway official site, Natalie will “guest judge” in the green, second episode of Season 5, which airs on Wednesday July 23 2008 (that’s tomorrow!) at 9-10 PM ET/PT on Bravo — check your local listings. Don’t forget to visit Portman Source for coverage! From Bravo.tv:

Episode 2: Grass Is Always Greener
The designers are forced to think green in the second episode of Project Runway — with the help of their trusted model. Guest Judge: Natalie Portman.

Finally(!) some news, and some good (albeit a tad surprising) news at that. NewsDay.com reports Natalie will be a guest judge in the 5th season of Bravo TV’s fashion designer reality series, Project Runway. From NewsDay.com:

The season is bittersweet for Bravo — it’s auf wiedersehen at the end, as next time around it moves to Lifetime. But the powers behind the show assure that they are pulling out all the stops. Fashion fabulous guest judges range from Diane von Furstenberg to Brooke Shields, and even a few notable LIers will weigh in, including LL Cool J of Manhasset for a music-centric challenge and Natalie Portman, a Syosset high school grad, who will render judgement during a “green” episode.

The 5th season of the hit TV series will air on Wednesday night in its new time slot of 9 pm.

Saying things have been quiet with Natalie of late does not do justice to the utter lack of Nat news we’ve been experiencing. However, Ecorazzi reports Natalie will be appearing in an anti-fur Public Service Announcement à la PETA. From Ecorazzi.com:

But for [award-winning Brazilian actress Elissa] Sursara, a guest appearance is not the last of her eco-friendly projects in her stand against animal exploitation. Reportedly joining forces with a super-secret shoe design house to release her own range of vegan-friendly footwear and teaming up with fellow actress Natalie Portman for an anti-fur PETA PSA, it’s the starlet’s own highly-graphic animal rights documentary Rights Revoked for Animal Planet that is said to have tongues wagging.

This is interesting news. According to AFP, Natalie is currently in Rwanda shooting a clip “to promote a Jewish-funded youth village for children orphaned by the 1994 genocide.”

Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman is in Rwanda shooting a clip to promote a Jewish-funded youth village for children orphaned by the 1994 genocide, officials said. “The American film star is currently in Rwanda shooting a film on the genocide,” an official close to the ministry of culture told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The young Hollywood star arrived quietly in the genocide-scarred central African country earlier this week. Israeli media has reported that the clip she is shooting about the new village will be aired in a few weeks on the Oprah Winfrey Show, America’s best-rated television programme.

As most of you will already know, the 2008 Cannes Film Festival wrapped up on May 25; hopefully, for my sake, this update will wrap up the photo coverage, which has been quite extensive throughout the festival. I’ve just finished uploading nearly 450 site-exclusive hi-res photos of Natalie’s various Cannes appearances. It’s nearing 4 a.m. for me, however, so without further ado, enjoy the new photos.

New & Updated Photo Albums:

• 2008 Cannes Film Festival ‘Che’ Premiere on May 21
• 2008 Cannes Film Festival ‘Indiana Jones 4′ Premiere on May 18
• 2008 Cannes Film Festival ‘Le Silence de Lorna’ Premiere on May 19
• 2008 Cannes Film Festival amfAR Gala Benefit and After Party on May 22
• 2008 Cannes Film Festival Closing Ceremony on May 25
• 2008 Cannes Film Festival Dolce & Gabbana Party on May 23
• 2008 Cannes Film Festival Opening Ceremony and ‘Blindness’ Screening on May 14
• 2008 Cannes Film Festival Photocall and Press Conference on May 14

My apologies for the few days’ delay in updates - I don’t have access to internet on weekends. At any rate, the 2008 Cannes Film Festival is finally over, as the festival closing ceremony was held yesterday — but the media coverage isn’t. Here’s our 5th big batch of medium- and hi-res photos — however, I have so many photos yet to add you can expect more Cannes photo updates throughout the week. Anyway, I’m running out of power here (for a change), so without further ado, here are today’s updated photo albums.

New & Updated Photo Albums:

• 2008 Cannes Film Festival ‘Che’ Premiere on May 21
• 2008 Cannes Film Festival amfAR Gala Benefit on May 22
• 2008 Cannes Film Festival Closing Ceremony on May 25
• 2008 Cannes Film Festival Dolce & Gabbana Party on May 23

More photos! On May 19, Natalie attended the Cannes Film Festival premiere of Le Silence de Lorna, looking absolutely amazing, as usual, while yesterday she was spotted at the festival premiere of Che, as gorgeous as ever. 100+ medium- and hi-res photos of Nat at the events have been added to the gallery, alongside some other Cannes hi-res photo additions. Still more to come!

Please note that I am constantly adding new medium- and hi-res Cannes additions to the gallery, even though I’m not necessarily posting updates about them (mainly due to online time restrictions). Do check back for daily new additions!

New & Updated Photo Albums:

• 2008 Cannes Film Festival ‘Che’ Premiere on May 21
• 2008 Cannes Film Festival ‘Indiana Jones 4′ Premiere on May 18
• 2008 Cannes Film Festival ‘Le Silence de Lorna’ Premiere on May 19