PARIS • Oscar winners Julia Roberts and Jodie Foster will grace the red carpet at next month's Cannes Film Festival, but it is actress Kristen Stewart who grabbed the early spotlight after being dubbed "Queen of Cannes" by organisers on Thursday.

Organisers announced Woody Allen's Cafe Society, featuring Stewart, will open the 69th edition of the festival, which will run from May 11 to 22.

The American actress also stars in French director Olivier Assayas' Personal Shopper, a film that will be vying for the Palme d'Or.

"She is, in some ways, the Queen of Cannes," festival director Thierry Fremaux said as he unveiled the list of movies that will be screened.

Two films expected to gain a lot of attention, to be screened out of competition, will be Steven Spielberg's The BFG, based on the novel by Roald Dahl, and the American thriller, Money Monster, directed by Foster and starring George Clooney and Roberts.

While Roberts has never featured in a Cannes film, Foster will be at the festival for the first time as a director.

Twenty films are in the main competition, whose jury will be presided by Mad Max director George Miller.

Among them is The Last Face, Sean Penn's love story set among aid workers in Africa starring his former girlfriend, Charlize Theron.

The competition line-up also includes thriller Elle by Paul Verhoeven, who is back in competition since 1992's Basic Instinct, and Ma' Rosa from Brillante Mendoza of the Philippines.

For the first time, the winner of the Palme d'Or will be screened at the closing ceremony. The main competition will feature former Palme d'Or winners the Dardenne brothers (L'Enfant, 2005) and Ken Loach (The Wind That Shakes The Barley, 2006).

REUTERS