Blindness to Open Cannes 08

The 61th Annual Cannes Film Festival kicks off tomorrow on the French Riviera with Blindess by Fernando Meirelles' (City Of God, The Constant Gardener). Based on a novel by Nobel Prize-winning Portuguese writer José Saramago, the science fiction fable stars Julianne Moore as an ophthalmologist's wife who ends up as the last survivor with sight in a city racked by an onset of mass vision loss. The international cast also includes Mark Ruffalo, Sandra Oh, Gael Garcia Bernal, Don McKellar and Alice Braga. (An exclusive clip can be viewed on the LA Times website.)

This year's festival showcases 57 feature lengths films from 31 countries. As expected, their will be big Hollywood premieres, bringing a parade of celebrities to the red carpet. Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull makes its premiere at Cannes, as well as Woody Allen's latest, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, starring Javier Bardem, Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz, a romantic comedy that is rumored to be the director's most erotic film to date.

Twenty-two films have been selected to screen in this year's competition. The highlights are many: two-time Palme d'Or winners Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are back with The Silence of Lorna; Steven Soderbergh's Che, a two-part double feature starring Benicio Del Toro as revolutionary icon Che Guevara; A Christmas Tale by French filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin (Kings and Queen), starring the legendary Catherine Deneuve and Mathieu Amalric; screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut Synecdoche, New York with Philip Seymour Hoffman as a theater director; Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan's Adoration, a tale of the relationship between teens and new technology starring Scott Speedman of Felicity fame; Wim Wender's thriller/romanceThe Palermo Shooting, starring Milla Jovovich, Dennis Hopper and Italian actress Giovanna Mezzogiono; from China, Jia Zhangke's 24 City; and Clint Eastwood's prohibition drama Changeling, starring Angelina Jolie as a mother whose child vanishes in Los Angeles.

Oscar-winning actor and director Sean Penn is leading the luminous nine-member jury that will select this year's Palme D'or winner. The jury also includes Natalie Portman, Alfonso Cuaron,  Sergio Castellitto, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and Alexandra Maria Lara. German director Fatih Akin will award the best film in the Cannes film festival's Un Certain Regard, which focuses on the works of emerging filmmakers.

The festival runs from May 14-25.