By Though you're unlikely to make it behind the red rope to any of the screenings, Cannes Film Festival is worth paying attention to if you want an idea of the films everyone will be talking about in 2018.
This year's festival is yet to begin and already it has been embroiled in controversy after streaming giant Netflix was banned from competing at the festival, as well as a (brilliant-sounding, we think) new rule banning guests from taking selfies.
Despite this - and the news there are just 3 female to 15 male directors competing - Cannes 2018 is aiming to bring things into the 21st Century a little with the appointment of Cate Blanchett as the president of the competition jury.
Blanchett is only the eleventh woman to serve as president in the festival's 70 year history and she has appointed a jury consisting of five women and four men of seven different nationalities - a great sign of progress that makes this year's selection even more interesting than usual.
The jury will announce the winners on Saturday, 19 May during the Closing Ceremony.
Here's eight films to look out for at the festival.
Everybody knows
Opening Cannes this year is a Spanish language film featuring Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Ricardo Darin with the cinematographer who worked on Volver and The Skin I Live In. It is the story of a family who make a trip to their mother's village in Spain where the visit becomes marred by life-changing events. It comes from director Asghar Farhadi who won an Oscar this year for The Salesman - though he refused to attend the ceremony after Trump's controversial Muslim ban proposal.
Under the Silver Lake
Director David Robert Mitchel follows up his acclaimed horror It Follows with a 'neo-noir comedy drama' about Sam (Andrew Garfield) who falls in love with his neighbour (Riley Keough) only for her to disappear. He scrambles to find her with little sympathy from those thinking he's just been ghosted. A definite one to watch, not least as it comes out of a24, the group responsible for recent success stories such as Lady Bird, The Disaster Artist and Good Time.
Fahrenheit 451
Based on the famous dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury, the novel takes place in a world where books are order to be burned with the title referring to the temperature at which paper burns. This HBO film stars Michael B.Jordan and Michael Shannon as leads and is directed by Ramin Bahrani who received excellent reviews for his 2007 film Chop Shop, about an orphan boy living in Queens.
Lazzaro Felice
The third feature film by Italian director Alice Rohrwacher follows the adventures of Lazzaro, a naïve man born into a rural farming hamlet in Italy which has avoided the developments of the modern world. Filmed in a stunning ancient village on the outskirts of Perugia, Lazzaro Felice travels through Italy over the last 30 years and the major changes that have taken place.
Wildlife
Actor Paul Dano's directorial debut has already been receiving favourable reviews for its slow-burning drama and strong performances after premiering at Sundance Film Festival. Through the eyes of their son we see a marriage fall apart when a couple, Jeanette (Carey Mulligan) and Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal), move to Montana and she falls for another man. Based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Richard Ford, the screenplay has been written by Dano and the actor Zoe Kazan who recently appeared in The Big Sick.
Girls of the Sun
Eva Husson impressed audiences at Toronto International Film Festival in 2015 with her twisted coming of age story, Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story). In Girls of the Sun, an all female battalion called Daughter of the Sun fight to retake their hometown after is it captured by ISIS. Once there, their leader (Golshifteh Farahani) meets a French journalist (Emmanuelle Bercot) to whom she tells her story.
Pope Francis - A Man of His Word
This documentary by Paris, Texas and Buena Vista Social Club director Wim Wenders journeys alongside Pope Francis around the world where he conducts interviews with him about his teachings and meets people from all walks of life. Modern and eternal issues such as death, social justice, immigration, ecology and inequality are all debated along the way.
Capernaum
Lebanese director Nadine Labaki mixes fiction and documentary-esque realism in her film about a child who rebels against their life in the Middle East and launches a lawsit. Named after the Isreali village where Jesus is believed to have healed the sick, the film has been shot in Lebanon and the political and social conflict in region the fiery backdrop of the film.
BlacKkKlansman
A lot of buzz has been building for this Spike Lee film in which a black detective in Colorado infiltrates the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan and rises to the top of it. Based on Ron Stallworth's book Black Klansman, the film stars Denzel Washington's son John David Washington as the lead detective and Adam Driver as a Jewish undercover police officer.
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
Another Adam Driver film, this one confirmed to close the festival. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is a fantasy adventure that hops between present day and the 17th Century. It has taken writer and director Terry Gilliam 19 years to get the film off the ground. Jonathan Pryce plays a bonkers old man who is convinced he is Cervantes' character Don Quixote and an advertising executive (Driver) his squire.
Cannes Film Festival runs from 8-19 May
