What's hot and what's not at the Cannes Film Festival

By the time the Cannes Film Festival opens on May 17, the controversy over this year's festival poster will have died down. The image features an obviously retouched 60-year-old-photo of ultra-slender actress Claudia Cardinale. It has fueled the current debate in France on underweight models - a topic that has divided the nation for some time.

With Marion Cotillard and Charlotte Gainsbourg starring in Arnaud Desplechin's "Ismael's Ghosts," two impressive French actresses star in the film that will open the festival on Wednesday evening. The work tells the story of a man (Mathieu Amalric) who cannot get over the loss of a former love. It's showing out of competition in Cannes.

Following the kick-off, the festival will get down to business on Thursday with 18 films competing for the Palme d'Or this year. Particular attention is likely to be paid to the new work of Michel Hazanavicius (best known for his 2011 film, "The Artist"). In "Redoubtable," the French filmmaker recounts the relationship between star director Jean-Luc Godard and actress Anne Wiazemsky.

Following the critically acclaimed participation of "Toni Erdmann" in last year's competition, a German director has once again succeeded in entering the exclusive club of competitors. Fatih Akin will present his Hamburg-based film "In the Fade" in Cannes, starring Hollywood actress Diane Kruger.

Michael Haneke could well turn out to be the first director in the festival's history to win the Palme d'Or for the third time. Isabelle Huppert and Jean-Louis Trintignant star in the new film by the Austrian filmmaker, "Happy End," which focuses on the refugee crisis in Europe.

As the festival is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, the organizers have created a very special first prize. In 2017, the sought-after trophy will not only consist of 118 grams of pure gold. It will also be embellished with 167 diamonds - worth approximately 20,000 euros ($21,900).

What comes as a big surprise this year is that no works produced by big US film studios are participating in the competition. The US films that are vying for a Golden Palm have been produced by smaller independent studios, including the latest from director Sofia Coppola. Coppola's "The Beguiled" is the remake of a 1971 western that starred Clint Eastwood.

Two in-competition productions by streaming provider Netflix have sparked discussion, among them "Okja" by South Korean director Bong Joon-ho. The festival organizers called on Netflix to release these films in movie theaters - but they refused. As a result, the rules will be changed next year: In-competition films will have to show in cinemas.

This year, Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar is heading the jury that will pick the lucky winner of the Palme d'Or. Among the eight jury members are German director Maren Ade, her Italian colleague Paolo Sorrentino, as well as American actress Jessica Chastain.

Not only films from Western Europe, the US and Asia will compete for the trophy at the famous festival in southern France. Cannes attracts the best directors from all parts of the world, among them Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev. In "Nelyubov," he tells the story of a separation. Ingmar Bergman's "Scenes from a Marriage" served as his inspiration, says Zvyagintsev.

French films are traditionally well represented at the Cannes Film Festival. One of the directors participating in the competition is once again François Ozon, who is presenting his new movie "L'Amant Double," an erotic thriller with allusions to Hitchcock.

The programs of the sections outside the competition, such as "Un Certain Regard" or "Quinzaine des Réalisateurs," are no less solid. For Germany, the film "Western" by director Valeska Grisebach, is part of the section "Un Certain Regard." It was produced by Maren Ade's production company, Komplizen.

Among the famous guests at this year's Cannes Film Festival is legendary director Roman Polanski. He will present his latest movie "Based on a True Story" out of competition. The psycho-thriller about literature - a play on truth and fiction - will be shown at the end of the festival.

Director Claude Lanzmann has already attained cult status - not for feature films, but for documentaries. Exploring the history of North Korea, the latest work of the 91-year-old filmmaker, "Napalm," is one of the numerous political films shown at this year's festival.

The series "Classics" features outstanding directors and films that once celebrated their premieres in Cannes. Marking its 70th anniversary this year, the festival has more than a few decades to look back on. Among these Cannes classics, some of them are shown in restored versions, such as "Blow up" by Michelangelo Antonioni.

This year, Cannes is doing what other film festivals have already been doing for a long time. It is presenting entire television series, starting out with the first two sequels of the new version of "Twin Peaks." When the new episodes of David Lynch's cult series celebrate their premiere on the big screen in Cannes, they will be broadcast at the same time by Showtime all over the world.

Another first is on deck at this year's festival: Oscar-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu from Mexico will show his six-minute virtual reality film. It's still not clear how the presentation of "Carne y Arena" will be carried out. What's already known though is the topic of the experimental film - the situation of refugees in central and northern America.