Cannes Film Festival: Ten films and shows to look out for

The prestigious Cannes Film Festival, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, kicks off today in the French Riviera.

A total of 19 films will compete for the festival's highest award, the Palme d'Or, while other films and new television shows will appear in alternative categories including Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition and special screenings.

Here are ten films and shows everyone will be talking about:

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Happy End

The compelling storyteller Michael Haneke, who has already won the Palme d'Or twice with his films White Ribbon and Amour, is one of the favourites to win again this year. His new film reunites Amour stars Isabelle Huppert and Jean-Louis Trintignant in a story about the European refugee crisis experienced through the eyes of a bourgeois family.

Okja

Snowpiercer director Bong Joon-ho has sparked controversy this year by joining forces with Netflix in this Palme d'Or contender. The streaming service has been criticised in the industry for failing to promise a mainstream cinema release of the film before it's made available online. Controversy aside, Bong's first English-language film is expected to delight viewers with a fantasy story about a little girl's struggle to prevent a multinational company from kidnapping her best friend, a mysterious beast called Okja.

Wonderstruck

Todd Haynes impressed Cannes with Carol in 2015 and returns this year with a very different tale based on a 2011 Brian Selznick illustrated novel of the same name. It tells the story of Ben (Oakes Fegley) and Rose (Millie Simmonds), two deaf children from different time periods who both wish their lives were different. The film co stars Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams.

The Beguiled

Sophia Coppola and her muse Kirsten Dunst reunite in this adaptation of Thomas P Cullinan's eerie novel A Painted Devil. Dunst plays a shy teacher at a girls' school who befriends a wounded Civil War soldier (Colin Farrell) hiding there. But the relationship deteriorates as sexual tensions in the isolated community mount, prompting jealousies and retribution. The film co stars Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning.

You Were Never Really Here

Scottish director Lynn Ramsay won praise for her feature We Need to Talk About Kevin in 2011. Her new film stars Joaquin Phoenix as a war veteran trying to save a young woman from a sex trafficking ring in a plot that calls to mind Martin Scorsese's 1970s neo-noir classic Taxi Driver.

The Florida Project

Sean Baker, the director of the wonderfully inventive Tangerine, returns with a story about childhood freedom and adult responsibility. A precocious six year old (Brooklynn Prince) and her band of friends drift through a summer break filled with childhood wonder and adventure. Meanwhile the adults around them (including Willem Dafoe) struggle with life's harsher realities.

How to Talk to Girls at Parties

Hedwig and the Angry Inch creator John Cameron Mitchell's new sci-fi romantic comedy is in the Out of Competition category at Cannes, but that doesn't make it any less appealing. The film, which is based on a short story by Neil Gaiman, follows an alien touring the galaxy, who meets two teenage boys in 1970s London who are searching for love. Stars Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp and Nicole Kidman.

Come Swim

Actress Kristen Stewart steps behind the camera for this lyrical short film. It follows a surrealist journey through a man's imagination and stars the non-professional actor Josh Kaye. Deadline Hollywood describes the 17-minute piece as "reminiscent of Terrence Malick's cinematic poetry" and full of "metaphorical, visceral images and whispering voiceovers".

Top of the Lake: China Girl

The highly anticipated second season of Jane Campion's mystery Top of the Lake will debut as a continuous six-hour screening at the festival this year. Elizabeth Moss returns as Robin Griffin four years after solving the case of a missing girl in New Zealand. In China Girl, Griffin goes back to Sydney to rebuild her life and reconnect with the child she gave up for adoption. The film co stars Nicole Kidman.

Twin Peaks

Twenty-five years after Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, its director David Lynch has returned with his long-awaited continuation of the Laura Palmer mystery. Fans will see plenty of cast members from the original series including Kyle McClachan. Laura Dern and Naomi Watts also star in the film. The whole affair has been kept tightly under wraps, so little is known about the plot, but the Odyssey-like return of McClachan's FBI agent to Twin Peaks is reportedly at its centre.