By Murat Unlu
CANNES, France (AA) – The 69th Cannes Film Festival begins Wednesday in the city of Cannes in France.
The festival, which will run until May 22 , opens with American director Woody Allen’s latest movie Cafe Society.
The Mad Max saga director, George Miller, will be the president of the jury, which will evaluate the movies competing for the top prize, the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm).
The other members of the jury are Hungarian Director Laszlo Nemes, French director Arnaud Desplechin, Italian actress and director Valeria Golino, American actress Kirsten Dunst, Danish artist Mads Mikkelsen, Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis and Iranian producer Katayoon Shahabi.
In total, 21 films are in competition including offerings from renowned directors, Pedro Almodovar (Spain), Ken Loach (U.K.), Sean Penn (U.S.), Xavier Dolan (Canada), Paul Verhoeven (Netherlands) and the Dardenne brothers.
Last year, French director Jacques Audiard won the Palme d’Or for the movie Dheepan.
In 2014, it was won by Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan for his movie Winter Sleep.
Steven Spielberg’s The BFG and Jodie Foster’s Money Monster will be screened out of competition.
French actor Jean-Pierre Leaud will receive the Honorary Palme d’Or. He is best know for playing Antoine Doinel, a recurrent role in a number of films directed by Francois Truffaut.
Security has been tightened in Cannes for the festival.
The films and their directors, which compete for the Palme d’Or are the following:
– American Honey, Andrea Arnold
– Aquarius, Kleber Mendonca Filho
– Bacalaureat (Graduation), Cristian Mungiu
– Elle, Paul Verhoeven
– Forushande (The Salesman), Asghar Farhadi
– Moi, Daniel Blake (I, Daniel Blake), Ken Loach
– Julieta, Pedro Almodovar
– Juste La Fin Du Monde (It’s Only the End of the World), Xavier Dolan
– La Fille Inconnue (The Unknown Girl), Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne
– Loving, Jeff Nichols
– Ma Loute (Slack Bay), Bruno Dumont
– Ma’ Rosa, Brillante Mendoza
– Mademoiselle (The Handmaiden), Park Chan-Wook
– Mal De Pierres (From The Land Of The Moon), Nicole Garcia
– Paterson, Jim Jarmusch
– Personal Shopper, Olivier Assayas
– Rester Vertical (Staying Vertical), Alain Guiraudie
– Sieranevada, Cristi Puiu
– The Last Face, Sean Penn
– The Neon Demon, Nicolas Winding Refn
– Toni Erdmann, Maren Ade
.*Anadolu Agency Correspondent Emin Avundukluoglu contributed to this story from Ankara.
