MUMBAI: Academy Award winning director Martin Scorsese will announce the launch of the World Cinema Foundation, devoted to the preservation and restoration of the masterpieces of world cinema, during the forthcoming Festival de Cannes.

Scorsese will give an outstanding Cinema Masterclass for the 60th Festival, following Oliver Stone, Nanni Moretti and Sydney Pollack, he will evoke his work as a director and his passion for the cinema.

On 27 May 2007, during the closing ceremony, Scorsese will present the Caméra d’or prize to the director of the best first film shown at the Festival de Cannes.

Winner of the Palme d’or in 1976 with Taxi Driver and President of the Jury in 1998, this year Scorsese won Best Director and Best Film Oscars for The Departed (Les Infiltrés).