Official selection berths seem set for Ari Folman's animated documentary Waltz With Bashir from Israel; Wong Kar Wai's revision of his 1994 martial arts classic Ashes Of Time - Redux; and Courtney Hunt's Sundance prizewinner Frozen River.

Also tipped from Sundance are Barry Levinson's What Just Happened' featuring Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis and Cannes jury president Sean Penn, and Marina Zenovich's acclaimed documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired, which would mark the international premiere of the film on Polanski's home turf of France.

Cannes favourites Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are likely to be back in Competition with The Silence Of Lorna; Wim Wenders has his latest, The Palermo Shooting, starring German rock star Campino; Agnes Jaoui will be ready with Let It Rain featuring Jamel Debbouze, as will Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan with Daydreams.

A strong Latin presence is assured if the festival selects Walter Salles' Linha De Passe, Pablo Trapero's Lion's Den, Carlos Cuaron's Rudo Y Cursi, or the latest English-language offering from Brazil's Fernando Meirelles, Blindness, with Julianne Moore and Gael Garcia Bernal.

Guillermo Arriaga's directorial debut The Burning Plain, also in English, is reported to be Croisette-bound. Steven Soderbergh is also likely to have at least one of his Spanish-language Che Guevara films in the line-up.

Cannes veteran Tran Anh Hung should find a slot with his English-language debut I Come With The Rain, starring Josh Hartnett; other Asian directors on course for Cannes are Jia Zhang-ke with 24 City, Kim Jee-woon with The Good, The Bad And The Weird and Kim Ki-duk with Dream.

Japan looks strong with new titles being readied from Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Tokyo Sonata), Hirokazu Kore-eda (Even If You Walk And Walk) and Ryosuke Hashiguchi (Gururi No Koto).

Europe has plenty to offer selectors. British director Michael Winterbottom is a shoo-in with his Italy-shot ghost story Genova, Barbet Schroeder could make the cut with his French thriller Inju, Jaco Van Dormael might return to Competition with his ambitious Mr Nobody, Laurent Cantet could make his Cannes debut with Entre Les Murs and perennial favourite Agnes Varda could have documentary Les Plages d'Agnes there.

Rising directors who could also make the cut include Fabrice du Welz with Vinyan, Duane Hopkins with Better Things and Saul Dibb with The Duchess.

Several US movies will be likely contenders including Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York, Kenneth Lonergan's long-awaited Margaret and Ed Harris' western Appaloosa. And high-profile studio movies that could be au Croisette include the Wachowski brothers' Speed Racer and perhaps Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, which opens in the US on May 23, just two days before the festival finishes.