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 Todd Haynes's "Carol", a drama featuring Cate Blanchett about
a lesbian love affair, joins the list.
Matthew McConaughey and Naomi Watts both star in Van Sant's
enigmatic tale of a suicidal American meeting a Japanese in a
forest, while Michael Fassbender plays lead in Kurzel's
adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth", which also stars
Marion Cotillard.
Van Sant won Cannes's highest distinction, the Palme d'Or for
the best movie, in 2003 with "Elephant".
Festival general delegate Thierry Fremeaux told a news
conference that 1,854 films had been submitted for selection for
the May 13-24 extravaganza.
He unveiled 42 - 16 competing for the Palme d'Or - which he said
is "about 90 per cent" of the selection to be completed early
next week.
Following rumors that 'selfies' would be banned on the red
carpet, Fremeaux said they would not, although he called the
practice "ridiculous and grotesque".
Taiwan's Hou Hsiao Hsien, one of the most renowned directors of
the 1990s, is also in competition with "The Assassin" as he
hopes to win the Palme d'Or after being awarded the Jury Prize
for "The Puppetmaster" in 1993.
The director of "The Flowers of Shanghai" is back on the
Croisette for the first time since 2005. Italian director Nani
Moretti, Palme d'Or winner for "The Son's Room" in 2001 and jury
president in 2012, is in competition with "Mia Madre".
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U.S. director Woody Allen is also back with a showing of "An
Irrational Man", which stars Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone,
although as usual he refused to be placed in competition.
"I could not convince him. I called him and all I got was a sneer,"
said Fremeaux of Allen, who also was out of competition with his
last Cannes offering, "Midnight in Paris", in 2011.
Natalie Portman will make her directorial debut with "Sipur Al Ahava
Ve Chosheh" in one of five announced special screenings. One of two
midnight screenings will be "Amy", a documentary on the late
singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse by Asif Kapadia.
"Mad Max : Fury Road by George Miller", as previously announced,
will premiere out of competition one day before its international
release.
The 68th edition of the festival, presided by Joel and Ethan Coen,
will pay tribute to Ingrid Bergman, who would have turned 100 this
year and whose daughter Isabella Rossellini will preside over one of
the juries.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
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