Today marked the announcement of the films slated to screen at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.  This year eighteen films will compete for the prestigious Palme D’Or, the top prize, amassing an eclectic roster of some of the most acclaimed international filmmakers currently working.  Noteworthy is that most of the top drawer talents are longtime favorites of the festival.

Among the few new members of the group found in competition is Bennett Miller, who will premiere Foxcatcher (a title we reported a few weeks back seemed certain for a Cannes berth), a bizarre true-life drama starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo.  The film, being distributed stateside by Sony Pictures Classics, was originally slated for an awards qualifying release last fall was shifted last minute– a similar fate occurred for the Cannes opening night film– the Grace Kelly biopic Grace of Monaco with Nicole Kidman, which will kick off the festival with an out of competition screening.  The only other American title in competition this year is The Homesman, a western directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones.  Jones premiered his debut feature– 2005’s The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada in competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival and the film won both an acting prize for Jones as well as the Screenplay Prize.  His latest features an all-star cast including Hilary Swank, Meryl Streep and Hailee Steinfeld.

While American filmmakers have but a slight visibility in competition this year, some of the most acclaimed international directors are taking their latest to the Croisette, including Canadian mainstays David Croenberg (who is premiering Map to the Stars, an in-Hollywood tale with Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska and Robert Pattinson), Atom Egoyan (who is debuting The Captive, a thriller starring Ryan Reynolds) and Xavier Dolan (whose Mommy marks the 25-year-old filmmaker first slot in competition after premiering his past films I Killed My Mother, Heartbeats and Laurence Anyways in the festival’s Un Certain Regard sidebar.)

Other returning favorites to the festival include past Palme D’Or winners Mike Leigh (who brings Mr. Turner), the Dardenne Brothers (who will premiere Two Days, One Night starring Marion Cotillard) and Ken Loach (who debuts Jimmy’s Hall) as well as French favorites including Michel Hazanvicious (Oscar winner for directing The Artist), who returns with The Search, a remake of the classic Fred Zinnemann film starring his wife Berenice Bejo and Annette Bening, and French New Wave legend Jean-Luc Godard, who will premiere Goodbye to Language— surprisingly, Godard, a Cannes favorite who last played in competition in 2001, has never won the top prize at the film festival.  Expectantly, there were some notable shut-outs.  Some likely hoped that Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice, or Terence Malick’s Knight of Cups or Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman had been included on the line-up, however none of the which came to pass.

The 2014 Cannes Film Festival runs May 14th-25th.  Academy Award and Palme D’Or winning filmmaker Jane Campion (The Piano) heads the 2014 jury.  The full line-up below:

OPENING NIGHT FILM: Grace of Monaco (directed by Olivier Dahan)- out of competition

IN COMPETITION:

• The Captive (directed by Atom Egoyan)
• Clouds of Sils Maria (directed by Olivier Assayas)
• Foxcatcher (directed by Bennett Miller)
• Goodbye to Language (directed by Jean-Luc Godard)
• The Homesman (directed by Tommy Lee Jones)
• Jimmy’s Hall (directed by Ken Loach)
• Leviafan (directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev)
• Map to the Stars (directed by David Cronenberg)
• The Marvel (directed by Alice Rohrwacher)
• Mommy (directed by Xavier Dolan)
• Mr. Turner (directed by Mike Leigh)
• Saint Laurent (directed by Bertrand Bonello)
• The Search (directed by Michel Hazanavicius)
• Steal the Water (directed by Naomi Kawase)
• Timbuktu (directed by Adberramahne Sissako)
• Two Days, One Night (directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
• Wild Tales (directed by Damien Szifron)
• Winter Sleep (directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

OUT OF COMPETITION

• Coming Home (directed by Zhang Yimou)
• How to Train Your Dragon 2 (directed by Dean Deblois)
• Les Gens du Monde (directed by Yves Jeuland)

UN CERTAIN REGARD

• Party Girl (directed by Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger & Samuel Theis)- Un Certain Regard opening film
• Jauja (directed by Lisando Alonso)
• The Blue Room (directed by Mathieu Amalric)
• Misunderstood (directed by Asia Argento)
• Titli (directed by Kanu Behl)
• Eleanor Rigby (directed by Ned Benson)
• Bird People (directed by Pascale Ferran)
• Lost River (directed by Ryan Gosling)
  
• Amour fou (directed by Jessica Hausner)
  
• Charlie’s Country (directed by Rolf de Heer)
• Snow in Paradise (directed by Andrew Hulme)
• A Girl at My Door (directed by July Jung)
• Xenia (directed by Panos Koutras)
• Run (directed by Philppe Lacôte)
• Turist (directed by Ruben Östlund)
• Beautiful Youth (directed by Jaime Rosales)
• Fantasia (directed by Wang Chao)
• The Salt of the Earth (directed by Wim Wenders & Juliano Ribeiro Salgado)
• Away from His Absence (directed by Keren Yedaya)

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS

• The Rover (directed by David Michod)
• Salvation (directed by Kristian Levring)
• The Target (directed by Chang)