It was at the Grand Hotel in Paris that Cannes Film Festival President Gilles Jacob and Delegate General Thierry Fremaux chose to unveil the Official Selection for the upcoming 2009 Cannes Film Festival (running May 13-24) on Thursday.

Before listing the directors who made it on to the famous list, Gilles Jacob told journalists in an opening address: “Cinema is on the move,” adding that cinema “has to go to Bucharest to catch a glimpse of the new wave [….], to Seoul to regenerate the thriller genre and to Beijing to reawaken Rossellini’s spirit.”

Delegate General Thierry Fremaux stressed the need to support independent filmmakers and asked if the future of western cinema wasn’t just about “starting over again?”

It does indeed look a bit like that – 2009’s official selection features a majority of directors well known to the Cannes crowd with big names like Spaniard Pedro Almodovar and US filmmaker Quentin Tarantino dominating the race for the coveted Palme d'Or.

Big names on the list

Almodovar is back with “Los Abrazos Rotos” (Broken Embraces). Italian Marco Bellochio’s “Vincere" (To Conquer) - a film about Benito Mussolini’s illegitimate son - is in the running as well as Austrian Michael Haneke, who won at Cannes with “The Pianist” and is back this year with “Das Weisse Band” (The White Ribbon).

France has four entries this year with Jacques Audiard’s “Un Prophete” (A Prophet), Xavier Giannoli’s “A l’Origine” (At the Beginning) and Gaspar Noe’s “Enter the Void” – an English film shot in Japan. Noe’s previous revenge drama “Irreversible” caused an enormous controversy at its Cannes premiere a few years ago. Nouvelle Vague veteran Alain Resnais, 86, will present "Les Herbes Folles" (Wild Grasses).

After winning a Palme d’Or in 2006 for his “The Wind that Shakes the Barley” on the Irish War of  Independence, Ken Loach has something different to offer this time - “Looking for Eric," starring French footballer Eric Cantona.

Camipon, Tarantino and many others

New Zealand’s Jane Campion returns with “Bright Star,” a film about the Romantic poet John Keats. Campion became the first woman to win a Palme d’Or for “The Piano” in 1993. Two other female directors running for the Cannes Gold are Spain’s Isabel Coixet with “Map of the Sounds of Tokyo” and the young British director Andrea Arnold with “Fish Tank.”

Quentin Tarantino, winner of the1994 Palme d’Or, will unveil his much-awaited World War II saga “Inglorious Bastards” starring Diane Kruger and Brad Pitt. Tarantino is the only American in the running this year; the writers’ strike that paralysed Hollywood over the last year might have something to do with it.

Danish director and screenwriter Lars Von Trier, who won the Palme in 2000 for “Dancer in the Dark,” made it to the official list for the horror film “Anti-Christ.”

Festival goers will also get a taste of Asia. Hong Kong’s Johnnie To will present his crime flick “Vengeance”, starring ageing French rocker Johnny Hallyday. Chinese director Lou Ye is back with a torrid romantic homosexual drama “Spring Fever” while Brillante Mendoza from the Philippines is running with "Kinatay." South Korean director Park Chan-Wook’s vampire tale “Thirst” is competing against Taiwanese Ang Lee’s “Woodstock” and “Face” from Malaysia’s Tsai Ming-Liang, with an all-French cast.

A number of newcomers also figure on the list of 52 films, particularly in the ‘Un certain regard’ category. The Cannes Film Festival will take place between May 13 and 24.