Cannes Film Festival kicks off

20 films will compete for the Palme d'Or prize The opening day proceedings at Cannes Film Festival are due to begin on Wednesday with the opening ceremony hosted by Amelie star Audrey Tautou. The ceremony will be followed by the screening of Baz Luhrmann’s costumed epic, The Great Gatsby. Tautou said on Tuesday she discovered she had been chosen as the maitresse de ceremonies by text message.
"The offer threw me off balance a bit. I was immediately touched, but torn between wanting to accept and for two or three days wondering if I could do it," the star told AFP.
"In the end I refused to allow myself to be ruled by fear," she added.
Twenty films are in competition in Cannes for the coveted Palme d'Or prize.
This year’s jury features Indian actress Vidya Balan aNd other stars such as Nicole Kidman, Tarantino favourite Christopher Waltz and Oscar-winning director Ang Lee. The jury will be presided over by Steven Speilberg.
Among the most keenly-anticipated films is Steven Soderbergh's Liberace biopic "Behind the Candelabra" which the director has said he had trouble getting made because it was "too gay."
The film will be something of a swansong for the 50-year-old Soderbergh who has announced his retirement.
The hotly anticipated Only God Forgives will also make its debut. Director Nicholas Winding Refn teams up with Hollywood man-of-the-moment Ryan Gosling for their first film together since the 2011 cult hit Drive.
Other big names in competition include the Coen Brothers with Inside Llewyn Davis and Roman Polanski with Venus in Furs.