Mon dieu! The 65th Cannes Film Festival started yesterday. Twenty-two films will be in competition this year, comprising a wide swath of global art-house fare and good-old-fashioned star-driven vehicles. Here are five notable things to know about this year’s fest: 1. Is this Cannes or a ‘Twilight’ convention? Prepare to get your Robsten fix-sans vampires. Officially minted couple Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart will both be at Cannes this year, but they’ll each be shilling for different flicks. Pattinson stars in the David Cronenberg-helmed mind trip ‘Cosmopolis’. Stewart, meanwhile, is part of the star-studded adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s Beat Generation touchstone ‘On the Road’. And what’s a Twilight reunion without Taylor Lautner? The actor doesn’t have a film in competition, but the rights to his new flick, ‘Tracers’, will be put up for sale at this year’s fest. 2. The Americans are coming: This may be France, but Hollywood is coming out in full force. Five American productions will be competing for the Palm d’Or. This year’s slate includes Lee Daniels’ highly anticipated follow-up to ‘Precious’, the Florida-set ‘The Paperboy’; Wes Anderson’s ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ and Andrew Dominik’s ‘Killing Them Softly’, starring Brad Pitt. 3. The star power: The star wattage at this year’s fest will be blinding. Aside from Pitt, Pattinson and Stewart, the 2012 roster features an A-list’s worth of stars. They include Reese Witherspoon (‘Mud’); Kirsten Dunst (‘On the Road’); Bruce Willis, Bill Murray and Edward Norton (‘Moonrise Kingdom’); Marion Cotillard (‘Rust and Bone’); Eva Mendes (‘Holy Motors’); and Shia LaBeouf (‘Lawless’). Two stars will even be pulling double duty at the fest: Nicole Kidman will star in ‘Hemingway and Gellhorn’ and The Paperboy, while ‘Paperboy’ star Matthew McConaughey will also headline ‘Mud’. 4. They’ll be the judge of that: In true eclectic Cannes fashion, this year’s jury represents an eclectic coterie of tastemakers who’ll be putting their heads together to award top prizes to the most deserving films in the pack. You’ve got marquee names like Ewan McGregor and Diane Kruger, along with Oscar winner Alexander Payne (‘The Descendants’). 5. How about some popcorn to go with that pomp? The fest will be pimping out its fair share of populist crowd-pleasers, from the schlocky to the fantastical to the downright family-friendly. This year’s line-up keeps the animated theme going with ‘Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted’ and also includes ‘Dario Argento’s Dracula’.
