A record six women directors will compete for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May, the organisers have announced, with the 76th edition promising to be a who's-who of Hollywood A-listers and veteran filmmakers.
Wes Anderson's Asteroid City will alone bring a cavalcade of stars to the red carpet, including Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie and Scarlett Johansson.
It is competing among 19 films for the top prize Palme d'Or when the festival returns to France's Côte d'Azur from 16 to 27 May.
The presence of six women directors, including Italy's Alice Rohrwacher and a debut from Senegalese filmmaker Ramata-Toulaye Sy, beats last year's record of five.
Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore will be present for May December - another impressive double-header from director Todd Haynes, whose lesbian drama Carol won a joint acting award for Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara at the festival in 2015.
They add more stardust to the glitzy Hollywood premieres already announced by the festival, including the new Indiana Jones and Martin Scorsese movies.
A fiery start is also guaranteed thanks to the opening night film, Jeanne du Barry, which sees Johnny Depp play French king Louis XV in his first role since an explosive defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard involving bitter allegations of domestic abuse.
Depp will be joined by his daughter, Lily-Rose Depp, who stars in The Idol, a TV series playing out of competition that was produced by musician Abel 'The Weeknd' Tesfaye. The show has had a tumultuous production with reports of major rewrites and reshoots.
As if that was not enough to inflame social media, the star and director of Jeanne du Barry, Maïwenn, had a criminal complaint lodged against her last week for allegedly assaulting a journalist in a Paris restaurant.
Veteran filmmakers such as two-time Palme winner Ken Loach, 86, and Wim Wenders, 77, are also competing, along with other past winners such as South Korea's Hirokazu Kore-eda.
Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, currently has an out-of-competition slot but may end up in the contest, festival director Thierry Frémaux said, without giving a clear explanation.
Also playing out of competition is a documentary about wartime Amsterdam, Occupied City, by celebrated British director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), which Frémaux described as "a very radical film of several hours".
Arthouse fans are particularly excited about the return of British director Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast, Under the Skin) with a Holocaust-set romance, The Zone of Interest, based on a novel by Martin Amis.
Other past Palme winners Nanni Moretti from Italy and Turkey's Nuri Bilge Ceylan are also back, as well as celebrated auteurs such as Finland's Aki Kaurismäki.
Victory in Cannes can give a major boost to arthouse cinema, such as last year's winner Triangle of Sadness, which went on to pick up several Oscar nominations. Its director, Sweden's Ruben Östlund, heads this year's jury.
Hollywood loves the French Riviera as a launchpad for its glossier fare, with Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis receiving their world premieres at the festival last year.
This year will see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, with Harrison Ford as guest of honour for his fifth and final appearance as the iconic adventuring archaeologist, alongside Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Antonio Banderas.
Source: AFP
