Paris – Oscar winners, Julia Roberts and Jodie Foster, will be gracing the red carpet at next month’s Cannes Film Festival.
But it was actress Kristen Stewart that grabbed the early spotlight after being dubbed “Queen of Cannes’’.
The organisers announced Woody Allen’s “Café Society’’, featuring Stewart would open the 69th edition of the festival which would run from May 11 to May 22.
The American actress also stars in French director Olivier Assayas’ “Personal Shopper’’, a film that will be vying for the Palme d’Or.
“She’s in some ways the Queen of Cannes,’’ festival director, Thierry Fremaux said during a ceremony in a Champs Elysees cinema as he unveiled the list of movies that would be screened.
Fremaux and his team watched 1,869 films before short listing 49, 20 of them included in the main competition, whose jury would be presided by Mad Max director George Miller.
Two films are expected to gain a lot of attention in spite being screened out of the competition, this include “Steven Spielberg’s” and “Money Monster” directed by Jodie Foster and stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts.
Roberts had never featured in a Cannes film festival, Foster would be at the festival for the first time as a director.
Canadian rising Director, Xavier Dolan, who won the Jury Prize with “Mommy’’ in 2014, is back with “It’s Only the End of the World’’.
Jim Jarmusch would have a double presence on the Riviera with a documentary on Iggy Pop, “Gimme Danger’’ and “Paterson,’’ which would be screened in the main competition.
For the first time, the winner of the Palme d’Or would be screened at the closing ceremony.
The main competition would feature former Palme d’Or winners Jean-Pierre, Luc Dardenne and Ken Loach.
Pedro Almodovar, whose name appeared in the Panama Papers scandal, is also in the main competition alongside Paul Verhoeven.
The launching ceremony started, following a demonstration by business workers, who demanded an improvement of their working conditions. (Reuters/NAN)
