Movies from 13 countries to compete at Cannes

A total of 20 movies from China to Iraq and Canada are to compete for top honour at the Cannes Film Festival in May, organisers announced today.

With four movies selected, US directors held the record for the number of films chosen to go before the jury, headed this year by the Sarajevo-born director Emir Kusturica.

Films hailing from 13 countries are to compete for the Golden Palm award, to be announced on May 21.

Three French films were chosen to compete. The 12-day festival opens on May 11 with one of them – Dominik Moll’s Lemming.

Among those in competition at the 58th festival at Cannes, the world’s most prestigious, is Last Days by American director Gus Van Sant, whose divisive movie Elephant, about teenage gunmen who attack a high school, took Cannes’ top prize in 2003.

A first film by actor Tommy-Lee Jones, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, also was chosen for the competition.

European movies in the festival include Don’t Come Knockin by Germany’s Wim Wenders, Manderlay by Denmark’s Lars Von Trier and L’enfant (The Child) by Belgium’s Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne.

Two Canadian movies are to compete, including History of Violence by David Cronenberg. Free Zone by Israel’s Amos Gitai is in the running, along with a movie by Iraqi Kurd Hiner Saleem, Kilometre Zero.

From Asia, the jury will view films from Japan, China and Taiwan.

Movies by two US directors beloved to the French will be among those presented out of competition: Woody Allen’s Match Point and George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

A British movie, Chromophobia by director Martha Fiennes, will close the night of honours on May 21, although a rerun of the winning movie be shown on the final day, May 22.

Here are the 20 films competing in the 58th Cannes Film Festival, starting on May 11.

Films are shown according to country and in alphabetical order:

Canada

David Cronenberg, A History of Violence

Atom Egoyan, Where the Truth Lies

China

Johnny To, Election

Xiaoshuai Wang, Shanghai Dreams

Belgium

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenner, L’Enfant (The Child)

Denmark

Lars Von Trier, Manderlay

France

Dominik Moll, Lemming (festival opener)

Michael Haneke, Austrian, Cache (Hidden)

Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, Peindre ou Faire l’Amour (Paint Or Make Love)

Germany

Wim Wenders, Don’t Come Knockin’

Israel

Amos Gitai, Free Zone

Iraq (Kurdistan)

Hiner Saleem, “Kilometre Zero

Italy

Marco Tullio Giordana, Quando Sei Nato Non Puoi Piu Nasconderti (Once You Are Born)

Japan

Masahiro Kobayashi, Bashing

Mexico

Carlos Reygadas, Batalla en el Cielo (Battle in Heaven)

Taiwan

Hsiao-Hsien Hou, The Best of our Times

US

Jim Jarmusch, Broken Flowers

Tommy Lee Jones, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, Sin City

Gus Van Sant, Last Days

Out of Competition

Great Britain

Martha Fiennes, Chromophobia (festival closer)