The Cannes Film Festival

Announced yesterday, the official list of films in competition for the Palme d’Or at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival (May 13-24) includes quite a few often-honored directors, but only one American, Quentin Tarantino, with his Inglourious Basterds, starring Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger. Also among the chosen few are Cannes red-carpet regulars Pedro Almodóvar, with Penelope Cruz in Broken Embraces; Jane Campion with Bright Star, about the loves of poet John Keats; Ang Lee with Taking Woodstock; Ken Loach, whose Looking for Eric stars 1990s French soccer hero Eric Cantona playing himself; and Lars Von Trier, whose Antichrist is rumored to be a shocker.

Four French films made the cut: veteran Alain Resnais’s Les Herbes Folles, with Sabine Azema and Mathieu Almaric; Un Prophète, by Jacques Audiard (son of celebrated French screenwriter Michel Audiard); Gaspard Noé’s Soudain le Vide; and Xavier Giannoli’s A l’Origine.

The biggest surprises may be the out-of-competition opening and closing films: the world premiere of Peter Docter’s Up (Disney-Pixar), the first animated film to ever open the festival; and director Jan Kounen’s Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky starring Anna Mouglalis as Chanel-which will offer direct public competion, in fact, for Anne Fontaine’s first-run Coco Before Chanel, with Audrey Tautou, which opened in Paris this week.

The 2009 festival’s official poster, also introduced yesterday, symbolizes “a window open onto the future of the cinema”-a striking black-and-white photo of Monica Vitti, seen from the back looking out a window, taken from Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1960 film L’Avventura.

On this year’s jury, headed by French actress Isabelle Huppert, are Italian actress Asia Argento, Taiwanese actress Shu Qi, American actress Robin Penn Wright, Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, South Korean director Lee Chang Dong, American director James Gray and Anglo-Pakistani author, screenwriter and director Hanif Kureishi.

The full list of films in competition:

Pedro ALMODÓVAR – LOS ABRAZOS ROTOS (Broken Embraces)

Andrea ARNOLD – FISH TANK

Jacques AUDIARD – UN PROPHÈTE

Marco BELLOCCHIO – VINCERE

Jane CAMPION  –  BRIGHT STAR

Isabel COIXET – MAP OF THE SOUNDS OF TOKYO

Xavier GIANNOLI – A L’ORIGINE

Michael HANEKE  – DAS WEISSE BAND (The White Ribbon)

Ang LEE – TAKING WOODSTOCK

Ken LOACH – LOOKING FOR ERIC

LOU Ye – CHUN FENG CHEN ZUI DE YE WAN (Spring Fever)

Brillante MENDOZA – KINATAY

Gaspar NOE – ENTER THE VOID

PARK Chan-Wook – BAK-JWI – (Thirst)

Alain RESNAIS – LES HERBES FOLLES

Elia SULEIMAN – THE TIME THAT REMAINS

Quentin TARANTINO – INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

Johnnie TO – VENGEANCE

TSAI Ming-liang – VISAGE (Face)

Lars VON TRIER – ANTICHRIST

www.festival-cannes.com