Director Wong Kar Wai's My Blueberry Nights will open this year's 60th anniversary Cannes Film Festival. The film, the director's first in English, stars Jude Law, Natalie Portman and jazz musician Norah Jones.

American cinema mavericks will figure prominently on the Croisette, with new films from Quentin Tarantino, Gus Van Sant and the Coen Brothers competing for main prize the Palme d'Or, won last year by Ken Loach's Wind That Shakes The Barley.

British films are conspicuous by their absence, with only Michael Winterbottom waving the flag for Britain with A Mighty Heart, based on the story of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl, which shows out of competition.

There are no British films in the main competition, a blow for the industry after a very successful 12 months.

British director Stephen Frears (The Queen) serves as president of the jury.

Michael Moore will be back in the south of France with his new documentary Sicko, a typically controversial assessment of the US health care system showing out of competition.

Moore won the Palme d'Or in 2004 for his anti-Bush polemic Fahrenheit 911.

This year's competition mixes veteran directors with new faces. Of the 22 films In Competition, 13 are from directors who have never previously competed for the Palme d'Or.

The Coen brothers, whose previous hits include O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Barton Fink, are in competition for their film No Country For Old Men.

Quentin Tarantino, who won the prize in 1994 with Pulp Fiction, will be hoping the inclusion of his new film Death Proof gives it a new lease of life in Europe after a disastrous US opening.

Gus Van Sant, a previous winner with Elephant, is in competition with Paranoid Park.

Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Thirteen, shows out of competition, featuring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Al Pacino and Matt Damon.

Several little-known film-makers have been nominated for the top prize this year, including South Korean Lee Chang-Dong, Iranian Marjane Satrapi, and Fatih Akin, who is from Germany and of Turkish heritage.

The Queen director Stephen Frears is chairing the Cannes jury.

The festival runs from May 16 to May 27.

Opening night

My Blueberry Nights Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong

In Competition

An Old Mistress (Une Vieille Maitresse), Catherine Breillat, France

The Love Songs (Les Chansons d'amour), Christophe Honore, France

The Diving Bell And The Butterfly Julian Schnabel, France

Auf der anderen Seite des Lebens Fatih Akin, Turkey

Breath Kim Ki-duk, South Korea

No Country For Old Men The Coen Brothers, US

Zodiac David Fincher, US

We Own The Night James Gray, US

Mogari No Mori Naomi Kawase, Japan

Promise Me This Emir Kusturica, Serbia

Secret Sunshine Lee Chang-Dong, South Korea

4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days Cristian Mungiu, Romania

Tehilim Raphael Nadjari, France

Silent Light Carlos Reygada, Mexico

Persepolis Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, France

Import/Export Ulrich Seid, Austrial

Alexandra Alexander Sokurov, Russia

Death Proof Quentin Tarantino, US

The Man From London Bela Tarr, Hungary

Paranoid Park Gus Van Sant, US

The Banishment Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russia

Out of competition

Sicko Michael Moore, U.S.

Oceans Thirteen Steven Soderbergh, US

A Mighty Heart Michael Winterbottom, UK

Closing night

The Age Of Darkness Denis Arcand, Canada

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