Cannes Film Festival line-up announced

Michael Douglas (L) and Matt Damon pair up for “Behind the Candelabra”.

”Only God Forgives”, the second film from “Drive” partnership Ryan Gosling and Nicolas Winding Refn, joins Steven Soderbergh's Liberace biopic in competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

US director Steven Spielberg is the head of this year's jury.

The festival runs from 15-26 May.

Soderbergh, who won Cannes' top prize in 1989 for his film “Sex, Lies and Videotape”, is back in competition with his eagerly-awaited film “Behind the Candelabra”, starring Michael Douglas as the flamboyant entertainer Liberace, who masked his homosexuality from public view. Matt Damon plays his gay lover in the film, made for US cable channel HBO.

James Gray's film The Immigrant, about a young woman tricked into a life of burlesque and vaudeville, stars Jeremy Renner, Joaquin Phoenix and Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard.

“Inside Llewyn Davis” is the upcoming film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Set in the 1960s, the film about a young folk singer, stars British actress Carey Mulligan and Justin Timberlake.

Alexander Payne, who sat on last year's Palme d'Or jury, is in competition this year with his film “Nebraska”, about a father and son trekking from the state of Montana to Nebraska to claim some prize money.

Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, who directed Sean Penn as a faded rock star in “This Must Be The Place”, is in the running with his film “The Great Beauty”.

Controversial Japanese director Takashi Miike's “Straw Shield” is a crime-thriller set in modern day politics while Iranian director, Asghar Farhadi - who won an Oscar for his film A Separation - directs “The Artist” actress Berenice Bejo in his new film “The Past”.

Other films in the running for the coveted Palme d'Or include Roman Polanski's “Venus In Fur”, “Borgman” by Alex Van Warmerdam, “Just 17” by Francois Ozonm “La Vie D'Adele” by Abdellatif Kechiche, “Like Father Like Son”by Kore-Eda Hirokazu, “Tian Zhu Ding” by Zhangke Jia, “Grisgris” by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, “The Immigrant”by James Gray, “Heli” byAmat Escalante, “Jimmy P” by Arnaud Desplechin, “Michael Kohlhaas”by Arnaud des Pallières and “Un Chateau en Italie” by director Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi.

Outside of the films screening in competition are a number of other sections. Harry Potter actress Emma Watson stars in The Bling Ring, the latest film from Sofia Coppola - based on the real-life robberies of celebrity homes in Malibu. It will screen in the “Un Certain Regard” event, as will James Franco's latest directorial effort “As I Lay Dying”. The film is based on William Faulkner's 1930 stream of consciousness novel, which is narrated by 15 different characters.

Baz Luhrmann's anticipated “The Great Gatbsy”, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Amitabh Bachchan, will open the festival and the closing film is “Zulu”, starring Orlando Bloom and Forest Whittaker.

Jerry Lewis, the US comedy star of the 1950s and 60s, who later poured his efforts into raising money for muscular dystrophy research, will get a special tribute at this year's event.

Source: BBC