MUMBAI: The 60th Cannes Film Festival will begin from 16 May.

The competition jury this year is headed by British director Stephen Frears. During his career he had filmed scripts like Hanif Kureishi’s My Beautiful Laundrette (starring Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth and others), Sammy And Rosie Get Laid (starring Shashi Kapoor). Frears’ latest offering is The Queen, which is about the British royal family following the death of Princess Diana.

The competition section will only take 20 entries. French writer-director Pascale Ferran will head the Women’s section’s jury. In the Atelier section, initiated two years ago, film projects of selected young directors will find a platform to attract funding from prospective producers. Last year Dev Benegal’s English August was one of the 15 choices.

This year the festival management has invited 33 frontline directors from all over the world to make three-minute shorts and then combine it to make a long feature called To Each His Own Cinema. It will be premiered at the fest.

INDIA FOCUS

Indian companies that are expected to participate at the Cannes Film Festival this year are: Adlabs, UTV Motion Pictures, Studio 18, Shemaroo Entertainment and Eros International amongst others.

Additionally, the 60th year of the Cannes Film Festival also coincides with the 60th anniversary of Indian freedom this year. As a result of this, some Indian films depicting the freedom struggle will also be showcased at the festival this year.