Chief selector Thierry Fremaux's selection is a robust and wide-ranging mixture of familiar art-house names and Cannes favourites (Blier, Sokurov, Techine, Eastwood, Van Sant and Von Trier) mixed with a few newcomers such as Japan's Naomi Kawase and Turkey's Nuri Bilge Ceylan in competition. The Un Certain Regard sidebar as usual takes on a slightly more experimental flavour.

The line-up underlines the ongoing strength in depth of French cinema. An astonishing 85 French films were submitted for the usual four places in competition, prompting the selectors to increase to this to five and berth three more films in Un Certain Regard. A further two get out of competition screenings.

Although there are no Korean pictures this time, Asian cinema is represented by two Japanese films in competition and the spectacular Chinese period piece Purple Butterfly, by Lu Ye. There are a further four in Un Certain Regard and Special Screenings.

The line-up also debunked a couple of myths that have been circulating widely, namely that there are no US or UK films. Fremaux finds room for three American pictures (Brown Bunny, Elephant and Mystic River) and one from British director Peter Greenaway in competition, plus two more UK films in Un Certain Regard.

But if the selectors were indeed screening films until last night as was suggested, they were probably going the extra mile to make up for the unavailability of many of the biggest name auteur directors. Films by Emir Kusturica, Wong Kar Wai, Quentin Tarantino, Theo Angelopoulos, Jane Campion, the Coen brothers, Ingmar Bergman and Bernardo Bertolucci were not completed in time.

Among those hot films which were ready but did not make the Official Selection are Bruno Dumont's 29 Palms, Lee Yoon-taek's Ogu and Kim Ki Duk's Spring Summer Fall Winter Spring.

In Competition

Dogville (Pictured)- Lars Von Trier
Les Invasions Barbares - Denys Arcand
Il Cuore Altrove - Pupi Avati
Carandiru - Hector Babenco
Uzak - Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Mystic River - Clint Eastwood
The Brown Bunny - Vincent Gallo
The Moab Story - The Tulse Luper Suitcases Pt 1 - Peter Greenaway
Tiresia - Bertrand Bonello
Shara - Kawase Naomi
Bright Future (Akarui Mirai) - Kiyoski Kurosawa
A Cinq Heures De L'Apres Midi - Samira Makhmalbaf
Ce Jour La - Raoul Ruiz
Father And Son - Alexander Sokurov
Elephant - Gus Van Sant
Swimming Pool - Francois Ozon
Les Cotelettes - Bertrand Blier
La Petite Lili - Claude Miller
Strayed (Les Egares) - Andre Techine
Purple Butterfly (Pictured) - Liu Ye

Out of competition

Fanfan La Tulipe - Gerard Krawczyk - Opening film
Modern Times - Charlie Chaplin - Closing film
Mansion By The Lake - Lester James Peries
Les Triplettes De Belleville - Sylvain Chomet
Qui A Tue Bambi - Gilles Marchand
Le Temps Du Loup - Michael Haneke
Va Et Vient - Joao Monteiro
The Matrix Reloaded - Wachowski Brothers

Special Screenings

Charlie: The Life & Death Of Charlie Chaplin- Richard Schickel
Il Grido D'Angoscia Dell' Uccello Predatore 20 Tagli D'Aprile - Nanni Moretti
S-21, La Machine De Mort Khmer Rouge - Rithy Panh
The Fog Of War - Errol Morris
The Last Customer - Nanni Moretti
The Soul Of A Man - Wim Wenders

Short Films in competition

A Janela Aberta - Philippe Barcinski
Cracker Bag - Glendyn Ivin
Fast Film - Virgil Widrich
Ik Ontspruit - Esther Rots
L'homme Sans Tete - Juan Solanas
My Blind Brother - Sophie Goodhart
Novembersno - Karolina Jonsson
The Most Beautiful Man In The World - Alicia Duffy
To Tameno - Marsa Makris

Un Certain Regard

En Jouant 'Dans La Compagnie Des Hommes' - Arnaud Desplechin - Opening
A Story That Begins At The End - Murali Nair
A Thousand Months - Faouzi Bensaidi
All Tomorrow's Parties - Yu Lik Wai
American Splendor - Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Crimson Gold - Jaffar Panahi
Drifters - Wang Xiaoshuai
Hoy Y Manana - Alejandro Chomski
Japanese Story - Sue Brooks
Kiss Of Life - Emily Young
Giordana La Meglio Gioventu - Marco Tullio
Les Mains Vides - Marc Recha
Robinson's Crusoe - Lin Cheng-Sheng
September - Max Faerberbock
Stormy Weather - Solveig Anspach
Struggle - Ruth Mader
Young Adam - David Mackenzie