CANNES - The Cannes film festival, the world's top showcase of cinema, started Wednesday with a slew of veteran auteurs lining up for the prestigious Palme d'Or prize, and Hollywood muscling in to promote this year's blockbusters.
The 12-day event was to be declared officially open late Wednesday after a red-carpet parade of celebrities followed by the screening of the first film in competition, "Lemming", a disturbing French drama.
But a crammed schedule of press screenings, exclusive lunches and the bustling activity in the Cannes film market -- where 35,000 movie industry types meet to buy, sell and plan celluloid releases -- meant the 58th festival was essentially up and running.
The splashy billboards spread along the French Riviera waterfront signalled that Hollywood was determined to make its dominance of world commercial cinema felt.
Among them was "Sin City", an ultra-violent flick starring Bruce Willis, and "Star Wars III: The Revenge of the Sith", was the hottest ticket in the official line-up.
The first film, an adaption of a graphic novel, is in the running for the Palme d'Or, while the second was being shown out of competition but was keenly awaited to round out a six-part saga George Lucas started back in 1977.
In contrast with the uneven 2004 edition, in which Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" emerged victorious from a lacklustre field, this year will see tried-and-tested Cannes directors at the helm of many of the 21 films in competition.
Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, Gus Van Sant, Michael Haneke, David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan will all be present, leaving a few wild cards in the pack -- although they include the film directorial debut by the US actor Tommy Lee Jones, and a strong selection of Asian titles.
An online betting website, www.bodog.com, has already placed "Lemming" as the favourite to pick up the top prize. It currently has 2/1 odds, but that was likely to change as the festival progressed.
An early topical jolt to the often-controversial event will be "Kilometre Zero", an Iraqi feature about a young man conscripted during the Iraq-Iran war.
The movie, directed by Hiner Saleem, will get its media showing late Wednesday and its international premiere on Thursday.
Films that are not in Cannes and will not be seen for weeks or months were also being heavily promoted at the festival, particularly major US releases. The presence of 4,000 accredited journalists guaranteed a publicity bonanza.
Among them is "War of the Worlds", a remake of the H.G. Wells classic directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise due for worldwide release on June 29.
Others included "Ice Age 2" and Disney's "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".
Each night will see a plethora of parties. The scene starts on beachside pavillions and yachts and migrates to exclusive villas and chateaux as the hours tick by.
For the 250,000 tourists and star-gazers drawn to Cannes, the event will offer a wealth of opportunities to see idols in the flesh, witness more than a few eye-catching publicity stunts -- and for a short while be part of the heady craziness that is Cannes.
05/11/2005 09:13 GMT