Hollywood takes over Cannes

The world premiere of the Indiana Jones sequel will take place at this year's Cannes Film Festival, it was confirmed today, but no British films have made the competition.

Clint Eastwood's latest movie as director, Changeling, starring Angelina Jolie, and Steven Soderbergh's four-hour biopic of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara are among the 19 films competing for the Palme d'Or.

Outside the competition, Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, with Harrison Ford back in the role for the first time in 19 years, will provide the most excitement at the 61st Cannes Film Festival.

British hopes rest on Love You More, a film executive-produced by the late director and writer Anthony Minghella and made by artist Sam Taylor-Wood, which has been selected for the short film competition.

Soi Cowboy, filmed in Liverpool and directed by Brighton-born filmmaker Thomas Clay, has been selected for the Un Certain Regard section of the two-week event in the south of France.

Woody Allen is also showing his latest film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, starring Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz, out of competition.

The Palme d'Or went to Romanian abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days last year and to Ken Loach title The Wind That Shakes The Barley in 2006.

Actor Sean Penn leads this year's jury, which also features actress Natalie Portman and former Harry Potter director Alfonso Cuaron.

A UK Film Council spokesman said of the absence of British films for the second consecutive year: "The full Cannes selection has not yet been announced and the film industry is hopeful that the Director's Fortnight and Critics Week will also have selected British films.

"People shouldn't get too hung up on the fact that there are no British films in the main competition section - ultimately it comes down to what films are ready in time plus different trends and tastes each year for what is essentially an auteur film festival.

"This year has already been a great success with the best year ever for British films at the Sundance film festival."

The festival runs from May 14 to 25.

Films in the Cannes 2008 competition

* Uc Maymun (Three Monkeys) - Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey)

* Le Silence de Lorna (The Silence of Lorna) - Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Belgium)

* Un conte de Noel (A Christmas Tale) - Arnaud Desplechin (France)

* Changeling - Clint Eastwood (United States)

* Adoration - Atom Egoyan (Canada/Egypt)

* Waltz with Bashir - Ari Folman (Israel)

* La frontiere de l'aube (The Frontier of Dawn) - Philippe Garrel (France)

* Gomorra (Gomorrah) - Matteo Garrone (Italy)

* 24 City - Jia Zhangke (China)

* Synecdoche, New York - Charlie Kaufmann (United States)

* My Magic - Eric Khoo (Singapore)

* La Mujer sin cabeza (The Headless Woman) - Lucrecia Martel (Argentina)

* Serbis - Brillante Mendoza (Philippines)

* Delta - Kornel Mundruczo (Hungary)

* Linha de Passe (Line of Passage) - Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas (Brazil)

* Che - Steven Soderbergh (United States)

* Il Divo - Paolo Sorrentino (Italy)

* Leonera - Pablo Trapero (Argentina)

* The Palermo Shooting - Wim Wenders (Germany)