Cannes Film Festival gets under way

Baku. 14 May. REPORT.AZ/ The Cannes Film Festival is getting under way in the south of France, with Michael Fassbender and Natalie Portman among the notables due to attend.

Other stars, among them Cate Blanchett and Matthew McConaughey, are expected to appear during the 12-day event.

Sienna Miller and Jake Gyllenhaal will sit on a competition jury headed by sibling duo Joel and Ethan Coen.

Report informs referring the information given by the BBC, the festival officially kicks off later with a gala screening of French drama La Tete Haute (Standing Tall).

France is well-represented in the race for the festival's top prize, making up five of the 19 Palme d'Or entries.

Yet this year's line-up has been criticised for including a number of films by European film-makers that feature both Hollywood stars and English-language dialogue.

They include Youth, from Italy's Paolo Sorrentino, which stars Sir Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel as old friends vacationing in the Alps.