Cannes film festival gets under way, stars arriving

PanARMENIAN.Net - The 64th edition of the Cannes film festival gets under way on Wednesday, May 11, with up-and-coming directors and Hollywood A-listers rubbing shoulders at the world's biggest cinema gathering.

Woody Allen's latest romantic comedy "Midnight in Paris" opens the 11-day event on the French Riviera at a black-tie evening screening that already has tongues wagging.

A rich galaxy of film stars is converging on Cannes, with the likes of Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz - appearing in the 3-D adventure caper "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" - expected on the red carpet, AFP reports.

Twenty pictures, including fresh work from Spain's Pedro Almodovar, Denmark's Lars Von Trier and Belgium's Dardenne brothers, are up for the highly coveted Palme d'Or this year.

Oscar-winner Robert De Niro, who starred in past Palme d'Or winners "Taxi Driver" and "The Mission", is steering the jury that includes Hollywood stars Uma Thurman and Jude Law, Hong Kong director Johnny To and film producer Shi Nansun, and French director Olivier Assayas.

Seven hundred police officers have been detailed to the festival.

Films by convicted Iranian directors Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof, made in "semi-clandestine conditions", will meanwhile be screened in the official and Un Certain Regard sections respectively.

In competition, Spanish heavyweight Almodovar will present "La Piel Que Habito" (The Skin I Live In) with Antonio Banderas starring.

Von Trier, a Palme d'Or winner in 2000 with "Dancer in the Dark", returns with "Melancholia," while the Dardennes will be gunning for their third Palme d'Or with "Le Gamin au Velo" (The Kid With A Bike).

U.S. director Terrence Malick will present "The Tree of Life", uniting Brad Pitt and Sean Penn on screen, and Israeli director Joseph Cedar will unspool "Hearat Shulayim" (Footnote).

From Japan will be "Ishimei" (Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai) by Takashi Miike, and "Hanezu no Tsuki" by Naomi Kawase.

The lone British contender is Lynne Ramsay with "We Need to Talk About Kevin", while from Australia, Julia Leigh's "Sleeping Beauty" is one of two first-time films in competition, the other being "Michael" by Austrian film-maker Markus Schleinzer.