Cannes, Cannes - festival line-up full of usual suspects

So, the Cannes line-up is out and it is the usual lack of imagination list of the same old Palme d'Or contenders. Lars von Trier, Ang Lee, Ken Loach, Pedro Almodovar, Johnnie To, Andrea Arnold, Michael Haneke, Jane Campion and Park Chan-wook are amongst those filmmakers who need only sneeze to get a automatic slot at Cannes.

And frankly the inclusion of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds should not only serve as a distinct sign of the corrupt publicity grab that Cannes is but also as a massive insult to other filmmakers. The film has never for a moment, from script through to trailers, looked to have even vague promise and after the embarrassment of including Death Proof in competition 2 years ago it is shocking that Cannes have once again bent over for the massively over-rated QT. But what really smarts about his inclusion is the arrogant way he announced off the back of a poor script last year, before he had even sold it, that any studio coming on board had to be behind it going to Cannes because he was planning to premiere it there. From that moment i hoped, prayed that Cannes would call him on this arrogant assumption of his greatness and not allow it in. That they not only took it but put it in competition is the biggest studio blow job the festival has done since putting Shrek 2 in the competition line-up.

And as if that's not bad enough, there are hardly any US films in the competition this year so QT could be taking a valuable slot away from a more deserved title.

Still, i'm sure the attention will be on the out of competition screening of Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium Of Dr Parnassus. A new Gilliam film is always a reason to be excited and no doubt French favourite Johnny Depp along with co-stars Colin Farrell and Jude Law will be in attendance to get the croisette in an uproar. But of course it will be the star that isn't there, Heath Ledger whose final role was here, that will generate most interest.

Personally were i going this year that would be my hot ticket and i'm sure it will be for many people. I'd also be interested in the midnight screening of Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell - a film that seems perfect for a slot that included George A Romero's Land Of The Dead and Shane Black's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in year's i last attended. I would also be interested in Alejandro Amenabar's English-language historical drama Agora - although i was not a fan of his last English-language film The Others - which is his first film since 2004's The Sea Inside.

The line-up is:

In Competition:
· Pedro Almodovar - Broken Embraces
· Andrea Arnold - Fish Tank
· Jacques Audiard - Un Prophete
· Marco Bellocchio – Vicenre
· Jane Campion - Bright Star
· Xavier Giannoli – A L'Origine
· Isabel Coixet – Map of the Sounds of Tokyo
· Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon
· Ang Lee – Taking Woodstock
· Ken Loach – Looking for Eric
· Lou Ye - Spring Fever
· Brillante Mendoza – Kinatay
· Gaspar Noe – Enter The Void
· Park Chan-Wook – Thirst
· Alain Resnais – Les Herbes Folles
· Elia Suleiman – The Time That Remains
· Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds
· Johnnie To – Vengeance
· Tsai Ming-liang – Face
· Lars Von Trier – Antichrist

Un Certain Regard:
· Bong Joon Ho - Mother
· Alain Cavalier - Irene
· Lee Daniels - Precious
· Denis Dercourt- Demain Des L'Aube
· Heitor Dhalia - Adrift
· Bahman Ghobadi - Nobody Knows About The Persian Cats
· Ciro Guerra - The Wind Journeys
· Mia Hansen-Love - Le Pere De Mes Enfants
· Hanno Hofer, Razvan Marculescu, Cristian Mungiu, Constantin Propescu and Ioanna Uricaru - Tales From The Golden Age
· Nikolay Khomeriki - Tale In The Darkness
· Yorgos Lanthimos - Dogtooth
· Pavel Lounguine - Tzar
· Raya Martin - Independencia
· Corneliu Porumboiu - Police, Adjective
· Pen-Ek Ratanaruang - Nymph
· Joao Pedro Rodrigues - To Die Like A Man
· Haim Tabakman - Eyes Wide Open
· Warwick Thornton - Samson & Delilah
· Jean Van De Velde - The Silent Army
· Hirokazu Kore-Eda - Air Doll

Opening Film
· Pete Docter and Bob Petersen - Up

Closing Film:
· Jan Kounen – Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky

Out of Competition:
· Robert Guediguian - L'Armee Du Crime
· Alejandro Amenabar - Agora
· Terry Gilliam - The Imaginarium Of Dr Parnassus

Midnight Screenings:
· Stephane Aubier and Vincent Patar - A Town Called Panic
· Sam Raimi - Drag Me To Hell
· Marina De Van – Ne Te Retourne Pas

Special Screenings:
· Anne Aghion - My Neighbor, My Killer
· Adolfo Alix Jr and Raya Martin - Manila
· Souleymane Cisse - Min Ye
· Michel Gondry - L'Epine Dans Le Coeur
· Zhao Liang - Petition
· Keren Yedaya - Jaffa

Competition Jury:
· Isabelle Huppert, president (actress, France)
· Asia Argento (acress, director, screenwriter, Italy)
· Nuri Bilge Ceylan (director, screenwriter, actor,Turkey)
· Lee Chang-Dong (director, author, screenwriter, Korea)
· James Gray (director, screenwriter, US)
· Hanif Kureishi (author, screenwriter, UK)
· Shu Qi (actress, Taiwan)
· Robin Wright Penn (actress, US)