With  a  godmother  like  Audrey Tatou,  an  opening  on  May 15th  with  Baz  Luhrmann’s
“The  Great  Gatsby”,  a  Jury chaired  by  Stephen  Spielberg,  plus  Roman  Polanski  (“La  Vénus  a  la  Fourrure”),  Steven  Soderbergh  (“Beyond  the  Candelabra”), the  Coen  brothers  (“Inside  Llewyn  Davis”) and  Paolo  Sorrentino  (“The  Great  Beauty”) striving for the Palme d’Or, the Cannes Film Festival  has,  as  usual,  reserved  the  place  of
honor  for  its  ‘veterans’.    There  will  also  be, amongst  others,  Jim  Jarmush  (“Only  Lovers Left  Alive”),  Nicolas  Winding  Refn  (“Only God  Forgives”),  Alexander  Payne  (“Nebraska”), James Gray (“The Immigrant”), Abdel-
latif  Kechiche  (“La  Vie  D’adele  –  Chapitre 1  &  2”),  Asghar  Farhadi  (“Le  Passé”)  and Valeria  Bruni  Tedeschi  (the  only  woman  in competition)  with  “Un  Château  en  Italie”.
“Cannes must be open to new ideas whilst remaining faithful to its past.  Diversity can only enrich us” says the Festival director Thierry Fremaux.  And it is true that a quick look at the schedule for the “Un Certain Regarde” section throws up a lot of debut works (including “Miele” from our own Valeria Golino): “Fruitvale Station” by Ryan Coogler, “Tore
Tanzt” by Katrin Gebbe, “Bends” by Flora Lau, “La Jaula De Oro” by Diego Quemada-Diez and “Sarah Préfère La Course” by Chloé Robichaud.  The well-known faces in this section include Sofia Coppola, who will open with “The Blind Ring”, James Franco with “As I lay dying”, Claire Denis with “Les Salauds” and Lucia Puenzo with “Wakolada”.  The jury of
“Un Certain Regarde” will be headed by the Danish director Thomas Vinterberg, whilst Jane Campion will preside over the jury for the shorts and Cinéfondation.