FILM festivals are all about timing, and not just for those poor harassed journalists who must endeavour to incorporate five films, three interviews, two press conferences and the maximum possible number of drinks receptions into each day.

The attention-grabbing potential of a festival line-up is down to the programmers' choices, of course, but it also depends to a large extent upon what's ready to be screened. Cannes has struck gold on the big-hitters' front this year. The festival's main competition strand, which opened on Wednesday night with Dominic Moll's film Lemming, welcomes new work from the illustrious likes of Atom Egoyan, Jim Jarmusch, Lars von Trier, Gus Van Sant, Robert Rodriguez and Wim Wenders. Other hotly-anticipated competition titles include Battle in Heaven, the second film by the acclaimed Mexican director, Carlos Reygados; Hidden, from the German director of The Piano Teacher, Michael Haneke; The Child, from the Belgian Dardenne Brothers; and Election, from Hong Kong action master Johnnie To.

It's an attention-grabbing line-up, but also a comforting one for those who have criticised the festival's wayward programming policy in the past couple of years. Ten of the 20 featured directors have had films in competition before, and four of them are previous Palme D'Or laureates. If the American presence at last year's festival was dominated by Michael Moore's explosive polemic Fahrenheit 9/11, this year's programme is weighted in favour of North American names.

Van Sant, who took the Palme D'Or in 2003 for his Columbinebased drama Elephant, tackles another recent American trauma in The Last Days, based upon the demise of Kurt Cobain. Michael Pitt and Asia Argento play the thinly-veiled rock'n'roll couple sliding into disaster; music is by Sonic Youth. Jim Jarmusch makes a welcome return to features, after the playful stopgap that was Coffee and Cigarettes, with Broken Flowers, featuring Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Julie Delpy and Sharon Stone. Murray plays a man tracking down his former lovers in search of an alleged illegitimate son.

Further star glitz is ensured by the inclusion of Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez's remarkable Sin City, a flamboyant and visually stunning noir horror extravaganza based on Miller's graphic novels.

With a cast that includes Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Rosario Dawson, Brittany Murphy, Benicio de Toro and Clive Owen, and the added gimmick of a section helmed by "special guest director" Quentin Tarantino, Sin City promises to create a stir - and British audiences won't have to wait for their share of the action, since the film is released in the UK in three weeks. While Rodriguez and Miller revel in bloodletting, meanwhile, David Cronenberg, somewhat typically, chronicles A History of Violence, with Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen in the lead. Cronenberg's fellow Canadian Atom Egoyan also has stars to offer: his Where The Truth Lies features Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth.

Though lingering accusations of anti-Americanism may be quelled, politics is never far from the Croisette. Nestled among the famous US names is the first Iraqi film to screen in competition, Hiner Saleem's Kilometre Zero, which examines Kurdish/Arab relations in Iraq. The evercontroversial Lars von Trier, meanwhile, will follow up his 2003 talking point, Dogville, with sequel Manderlay, which continues his irreverent exploration of American values. Starring Bryce Dallas Howard, who takes on the role played by Nicole Kidman in Dogville, Manderlay forms the second part of a trilogy entitled USA: Land of Opportunities, and takes slavery as its theme. Hackles are likely to be raised, even if one potential source of conf lict has been removed. The film looked set to incite the anger of animal rights activists when it emerged that a scene would be included of a donkey being shot. But after star

John C Reilly pulled out in protest, von Trier cut the scene, wishing to avoid a scandal that would overshadow the film.

The jury that will select the Palme D'Or winner is chaired by Serbian director Emir Kusturica, and includes American author Toni Morrison, Mexican actress Salma Hayek, Spanish actor Javier Bardem and veteran French director Agnes Varda.

In keeping with recent trends, Hollywood films not selected for competition will also have their day in the Riviera sun. The unstoppable juggernaut that is the StarWars franchise will lumber into town tomorrow for an out-ofcompetition screening of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. And French favourite Woody Allen has already served up his new offering, Match Point, starring Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer and Brian Cox.

Notice anything missing? Yes, it's a damn quiet year for the Brits, with not a single UK film selected for the main competition. Hotlyanticipated new works by the likes of Terry Gilliam and Michael Winterbottom weren't finished in time to qualify. First-time British director James Marsh will screen his film, The King, starring Gael Garcia Bernal in his first Englishspeaking role, in the festival's Un Certain Regard section, and Thomas Clay's The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael appears in the Critics'Week strand. Women directors are also few and far between this year, although Martha Fiennes will tie up the proceedings with closing film Chromophobia, starring her brothers, Ralph and Joseph.