Cannes Film Festival 2024 to kick start next week. Here’s everything you need to know

The curtain rises on the Cannes Film Festival on May 14th with "The Second Act," a French comedy directed by Quentin Dupieux and featuring Léa Seydoux and Vincent London. The festival runs until May 25th.

The 77th edition of Cannes Film Festival will bring together the industry's biggest luminaries in southern France next week to celebrate cinema, with Hollywood stars including George Lucas and Demi Moore expected to grace the red carpet.

Last gracing Cannes with her presence in 1989 for "Evil Angels", Meryl Streep prepares for a long-awaited comeback to the Croisette, where she'll also lift the Festival’s Honorary Palme d’Or.

Award-winning filmmaker Greta Gerwig along with luminaries like Turkish screenwriter Ebru Ceylan, American actress Lily Gladstone, French actress Eva Green, and Lebanese director Nadine Labaki will have the honor of selecting the winner of the Palme d'Or. Rounding out the esteemed panel are Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona, Italian actor Pierfrancisco Favino, Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu, and French actor-producer Omar Sy.

What is the Cannes Film Festival and why is it celebrated?

• Cannes is the world's biggest film festival, first conceived in 1939 as an alternative to the then-fascist-influenced Venice Film Festival.
• It has been held annually since 1946 except in 1948 and 1950, when it was cancelled due to lack of funds.
• Cannes boasts a meticulously curated program, showcasing films that often become Oscar contenders and launch the careers of future filmmaking legends like Quentin Tarantino.
• Running alongside it is the world's biggest film market, drawing more than 14,000 film industry professionals annually.

Film lineup

'IN COMPETITION'

• "The Apprentice" by Ali Abbasi
• "Motel Destino" by Karim Ainouz
• "Bird" by Andrea Arnold
• "Emilia Perez" by Jacques Audiard
• "Anora" by Sean Baker
• "Megalopolis" by Francis Ford Coppola
• "The Shrouds" by David Cronenberg
• "The Substance" by Coralie Fargeat
• "Grand Tour" by Miguel Gomes
• "La Plus Precieuse Des Marchandises" ("The Most Precious of Cargoes") by Michel Hazanavicius
• "Marcello Mio" by Christophe Honore
• "Feng Liu Yi Dai" ("Caught By The Tides") by Jia Zhang-Ke
• "All We Imagine As Light" by Payal Kapadia
• "Kinds Of Kindness" by Yorgos Lanthimos
• "L'amour Ouf" ("Beating Hearts") by Gilles Lellouche
• "Trei Kilometri Pana La Capatul Lumii" ("Three Kilometres to the End of the World") by Emanuel Parvu
• "The Seed Of The Sacred Fig" by Mohammad Rasoulof
• "Diamant Brut" ("Wild Diamond") by Agathe Riedinger
• "Oh Canada" by Paul Schrader
• "Limonov - The Ballad" by Kirill Serebrennikov
• "Parthenope" by Paolo Sorrentino
• "Pigen Med Nalen" ("The Girl With The Needle") by Magnus Von Horn

Films screening out of competition include George Miller's "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, and Kevin Costner's "Horizon, An American Saga."

There are also categories for short films and the art-house film-focused "Un Certain Regard" sidebar section.

The Past Winners

Cannes' top prize is the Palme d'Or, or Golden Palm, whose past winners include "Taxi Driver", "Apocalypse Now", "Pulp Fiction", "The Pianist" and "Parasite".

Jane Campion became the first female director to win in 1993 with "The Piano," followed by a nearly three-decade gap until Julia Ducournau received the award for "Titane" in 2021.

Justine Triet became only the third female director to take the prize last year with "Anatomy of a Fall".

There is also an honorary Palme d'Or, which is awarded in recognition of notable bodies of work, with past recipients including Harrison Ford, Jane Fonda and Clint Eastwood.

There are two honorary winners this year: George Lucas of "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" fame, and Japanese animation legend Studio Ghibli, the first group to receive the prize.

Other awards include the Grand Prix, jury prize, best director, best actor, best actress, best screenplay and best short film.