The Cannes Film Festival is perhaps the most prestigious film festival in the world, and today’s announcement of the line-up of films selected to play the 2015 festival will surely catch the eye of cinephiles across the globe. So far, seventeen films have been selected to play in competition at the festival and will vie for the top prize, the Palme d’Or—a prize that in the past has been awarded to such distinguished filmmakers as Orson Welles, William Wyler, Federico Fellini, Robert Altman, and Francis Ford Coppola. The 2015 festival runs from May 13-24, and the opening title will be the French film La Tête Haute, which will screen out of competition.

Among the hot-ticket items premiering in competition are Todd Haynes’ Carol, a period drama starring Cate Blanchett (who earned an Oscar nomination for Haynes’ unconventional Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There) as an unhappy 1950s housewife who falls for a younger department store clerk (played by Rooney Mara, Her). The film is adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s novel and will be released later this year courtesy of The Weinstein Company. Carol marks a return visit to Cannes for Haynes (Far From Heaven), who previously brought his 1998 glam rock melodrama Velvet Goldmine to the festival. Another film premiering in competition that will get a theatrical life from The Weinstein Company later this year is Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth, the latest cinematic adaptation of the Shakespeare classic, starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard.

‘Carol,’ starring Cate Blanchett

Other buzzy in-competition titles include Gus Van Sant’s The Sea of Trees, starring Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey and Naomi Watts (Van Sant won the Palme d’Or for his 2003 feature Elephant); Youth, from director Pablo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty), starring Rachel Weisz, Michael Caine, Paul Dano, and Jane Fonda; Joachim Trier’s Louder Than Bombs, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Isabelle Huppert, and Amy Ryan; The Lobster, from Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth), starring Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz; and Sicario, from director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners), starring Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, and Josh Brolin.

Outside of the main competition, Inside Out, the latest animated feature from Pixar, and Irrational Man, the latest from Woody Allen, will make their premieres at Cannes. Also outside of the competition, Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman (Black Swan) will premiere her feature directorial debut A Tale of Love and Darkness, showing at the festival as a special screening. The full line-up is below.

OPENING NIGHT FILM: La Tête Haute, directed by Emmanuelle Bercot (out of competition)

IN COMPETITION

• The Assassin, directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien
• Carol, directed by Todd Haynes
• Dheepan (working title), directed by Jacques Audiard
• The Lobster, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
• Louder Than Bombs, directed by Joachim Trier
• Macbeth, directed by Justin Kurzel
• Marguerite and Julien, directed by Valérie Donzelli
• Mia Madre, directed by Nanni Moretti
• Mon Roi, directed by Maïwenn
• Mountains May Depart, directed by Jia Zhang-Ke
• Our Little Sister, directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
• The Sea of Trees, directed by Gus Van Sant
• Sicario, directed by Denis Velleneuve
• A Simple Man, directed by Stéphane Brizé
• Son of Saul, directed by László Nemes
• Tale of Tales, directed by Matteo Garrone
• Youth, directed by Paolo Sorrentino

UN CERTAIN REGARD

• The Chosen Ones, directed by David Pablos
• Masaan, directed by Neeraj Ghaywan
• The Fourth Direction, directed by Gurvinder Singh
• The High Sun, directed by Dalibor Matanic
• I Am a Soldier, directed by Laurent Larivière
• Journey to the Shore, directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
• Madonna, directed by Shin Suwon
• Maryland, directed by Alice Winocour
• Nahid, directed by Ida Panahandeh
• One Floor Below, directed by Radu Muntean
• The Other Side, directed by Roberto Minervini
• Rams, directed by Grímur Hákonarson
• The Shameless, directed by Oh Seung-Uk
• The Treasure, directed by Corneliu Porumboiu

OUT OF COMPETITION

• Inside Out, directed by Pete Docter
• Irrational Man, directed by Woody Allen
• The Little Prince, directed by Mark Osborne
• Mad Max: Fury Road, directed by George Miller

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS

• Amy, directed by Asif Kapadia
• Office, directed by Hong Won-Chan

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

• Amnesia, directed by Barbet Schroeder
• Asphalte, directed by Samuel Benchetrit
• Hayored Lema’ala, directed by Elad Keidan
• Oka, directed by Souleymane Cisse
• Panama, directed by Pavle Vuckovic
• A Tale of Love and Darkness, directed by Natalie Portman