- Title: Queen Kristen steals Cannes spotlight from Oscar winners Roberts and Foster
- Date: 14th April 2016
- Summary: ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** STEWART ON CARPET
- Embargoed: 28th April 2016 14:57
- Keywords: Jodie Foster Julia Roberts festival film Cannes
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE / VARIOUS
- City: PARIS, FRANCE / VARIOUS
- Country: France
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA0054DCCG25
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Oscar winners Julia Roberts and Jodie Foster will be gracing the red carpet at next month's Cannes Film Festival but it is actress Kristen Stewart who grabbed the early spotlight after being dubbed "Queen of Cannes" by organizers on Thursday.
Organizers announced Woody Allen's "Cafe Society", featuring Stewart, will open the 69th edition of the festival which will run from May 11 to 22. The American actress also stars in French director Olivier Assayas' "Personal Shopper", a film that will be vying for the Palme d'Or.
Fremaux and his team watched 1,869 films before shortlisting 49, 20 of them included in the main competition, whose jury will be presided by Mad Max director George Miller.
Two films expected to gain a lot of attention despite being screened 'out of competition' will be American thriller "Money Monster" which is directed by Jodie Foster and stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts and Steven Spielberg's "The BFG", based on the novel by Roald Dahl.
"Because when you mention Cannes big names, it's not Cannes big names only, it's world cinema big names and Cannes is the greatest film festival in the world and it's an honour for us to welcome all those great artists and for me I'm very proud to have Woody Allen to open the festival, to have Steven Spielberg," said festival director Thierry Fremaux.
While Roberts has never previously featured in a Cannes film, Foster will be at the festival for the first time as a director.
Canadian rising director Xavier Dolan, who won the Jury Prize with "Mommy" in 2014, is back with "It's Only the End of the World".
Jim Jarmusch will have a double presence on the Riviera with a documentary on Iggy Pop, "Gimme Danger" and "Paterson", which will be screened in the main competition.
For the first time the winner of the of the Palme d'Or will be screened at the closing ceremony.
The main competition will feature former Palme d'Or winners Jean-Pierre, Luc Dardenne and Ken Loach.
Pedro Almodovar, whose name appeared in the Panama Papers scandal, is also in the main competition alongside Paul Verhoeven.
Thursday's launch ceremony started following a demonstration by showbusiness workers, who demanded an improvement of their working conditions. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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