Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris announced as Cannes opening film

The 64th annual Festival de Cannes has announced today that Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris will be screened on the festival's opening night on May 11. Previously, they had announced fellow New Yorker Robert De Niro will preside over the jury as part of a cross-continental celebration of the Tribeca Film Festival's 10th anniversary.

Allen's romantic-comedy also stars a French-American cast which includes Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates, Lea Seydoux, Adrien Brody and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"Midnight in Paris is a wonderful love letter to Paris," said festival director Thierry Fremaux. "It's a film in which Woody Allen takes a deeper look at the issues raised in his last films: our relationship with history, art, pleasure and life. His 41st feature reveals once again his inspiration."

Woody Allen was known for much of his early career for being a New York-centred filmmaker. In recent years, his films have gravitated towards Europe, with films such as the Barcelona-based Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and the four London-based films Match Point, Scoop, Cassandra's Dream and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.

The film is co-produced by Médiapro (Spain) and Gravier Productions (New York), and distributed by Mars Films in France. Midnight in Paris will be released in France the same day it is screened at the Cannes festival opening gala. The festival will make the Opening Ceremony of the festival available to all theatres, to allow audiences to experience the entire programme of the Opening Night of the Festival.

The 64th annual Festival de Cannes runs from May 11-22.