CANNES ��" British director Mike Leigh will return to this year's Cannes Film Festival to compete for the event's top prize with his latest offering, Another Year. US director Doug Liman makes his Cannes debut with Fair Game, alongside Abbas Kiarostami and Takeshi Kitano. Woody Allen and Oliver Stone's latest movies will be premiered at the May event, out of competition. Benicio Del Toro and Kate Beckinsale are joining the festival jury, which is headed by Tim Burton. Between them, they will decide the film which will take home the prestigious Palme d'Or prize. Leigh won the prize for Secrets and Lies in 1996, three years after picking up the festival's best director award for Naked. The Oscar-nominated director's latest movie stars Jim Broadbent and Imelda Staunton. Last year, The White Ribbon by Austrian director Michael Haneke was announced as the winner. A total of 16 directors will compete for this year's honour, including South Korea's Lee Chang-dong and France's Bertrand Tavernier and Xavier Beauvois. Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, known for sprawling dramas Amores Perros and Babel, is also putting his latest ��" Biutiful ��" in front of the judges. Out-of-competition, Oliver Stone will showcase Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. The sequel to his 1987 hit reunites Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen, alongside younger stars Shia LaBeouf and Carey Mulligan. Woody Allen's British-set film “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger”, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins and Naomi Watts, will also receive its premiere. And British director Stephen Frears follows up his Oscar-winner “The Queen” with Tamara Drewe ��" starring Gemma Arterton and based on Posy Simmonds' comic strip and graphic novel of the same name. Kate Beckinsale will help decide the winner of the Palme d'Or. Both Leigh and Frears' movies received funding from the UK Film Council, as did Nakata's Chatroom, which has been nominated to take part in the Uncertain Regard section of the festival. “This is a sign that right now British films, filmmakers and talent are delivering great work that the rest of the world wants to see,” John Woodward, chief executive of the UK Film Council told BBC. Cannes is the most prestigious event in the film calendar after the Oscars, and attracts more than 33,000 people to the French town each year.The 63rd annual Festival de Cannes runs from 12-23 May and the opening film will be “Robin Hood”, starring Russell Crowe.
