Wes Anderson Photo: CFP

The latest film by US director Wes Anderson, The French Dispatch, will premiere at the Cannes film festival in the official competition, organizers said Friday.

The film's star-studded cast includes Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Timothee Chalamet, Adrien Brody, Benicio del Toro and Saoirse Ronan, as well as French actors Lea Seydoux and Mathieu Amalric.

The film - initially planned to screen at Cannes in 2020 before the festival was canceled because of COVID-19 - "will have its world preview premiere in the Cannes competition," the festival tweeted.

It follows events at the French foreign news bureau of a Kansas newspaper set in a fictitious 20th-century French city.

Two other films have already been confirmed for the official selection which groups movies competing for the Palme d'Or, one of global cinema's top awards.

One is Annette, a musical film scheduled to open the festival, by Frenchman Leos Carax starring Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver and with 1970s pop duo Sparks contributing the score and, in collaboration with Carax, the screenplay.

The other is Benedetta by Dutchman Paul Verhoeven - famous for Basic Instinct - about the life of a novice nun in the 17th century who has a love affair with another woman.

The full lineup of the official competition will be released on June 3.

The festival is scheduled for July 6 to 17.

US director Spike Lee will head up the main jury.

AFP