The 58th Cannes Festival's grand opening

Cannes 2005 gathers most important figures in film industry, directors, actors, over 4000 journalists and many movie fans for this special event, announced to be a mix of spectacular international films and Hollywood blockbusters.

The fancy town in the South of France is ready for its grand opening tonight with Lemming, a French Thriller, directed by Dominik Moll ("With a friend like Harry") featuring Charlotte Rampling and Laurent Lucas.


Canne's latest attraction is the world premiere of the final episode in George Lucas's epic sci-fi saga - Star Wars, started 28 years ago.
"Star Wars III - Revenge of the Sith" expected blockbuster will screen a few days before its official debut set on May 19th.

International jury led by Sarajevo-born director Emir Kusturica includes Spanish Actor Javier Bardem, Mexican actress Salma Hayek, U.S. author Toni Morrison and famous action director John Woo.

For the first time one of the 21 competition films is an Iraqi production. "Kilometre Zero" directed by Iraqi Kurd Hiner Saleem talks about Kurdish-Arab relations in 1998 Iraq, during ithe country's war with Iran.

This year's competition gathers veteran cult directors come-backs like David Cronenberg with A history of Violence, Lars Von Trier with Manderlay, Wim Wenders with Don't Come Knockin', Gus Van Sant with "Last Days", Jim Jarmusch and Atom Egoyan.

Latest Woody Allen movie will play out of competition. "Match Point" was shot in London and features famous actors like Scarlett Johannson, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Emily Mortimer.

The closing night film set for May 21 is a British production called "Chromophobia" directed by Martha Fiennes, featuring Penelope Cruz and Ralph Fiennes.

Competition movies in alphabetical order:

Belgium: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenner, "L'Enfant" (The Child)
Canada: David Cronenberg, "A History of Violence"; Atom Egoyan, "Where the Truth Lies"
China: Johnny To, "Election"; Xiaoshuai Wang, "Shanghai Dreams"
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' "
Iraq: Hiner Saleem, "Kilometer Zero"
Israel: Amos Gitai, "Free Zone"
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"
United States: 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"