Cannes Film Festival 2015: Ones to watch

The 68th Cannes Film Festival is about to begin, starting with Emmanuelle Bercot's French drama La Tete Haute (Standing Tall).

Bercot is the first female director to launch the event since Diane Kurys in 1987.

The prize jury is headed by the Coen brothers and includes Sienna Miller and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Nineteen movies will compete for the best film - the Palme d'Or - with stars like Michael Fassbender due to attend.

Here is a pick of some of the films which are being shown both in and out of competition.

Amy. Director: Asif Kapadia

Asif Kapadia's documentary about the late singer Amy Winehouse, simply titled Amy, has already found itself at the centre of some controversy.

Made with the assistance of the Winehouse family using old tapes and footage of the singer, who died in 2011 aged 27, Winehouse's father Mitch has now distanced himself from the film, suggesting its is misleading.

The film is showing at Cannes at a special midnight screening and, based on the teaser trailer which surfaced earlier this year, it will be a stark reminder of a stunning musical talent and vibrant personality taken far too soon.

Kapadia is known for his Bafta-winning documentary Senna, about the late F1 driving champion Ayrton Senna.

Carol. Director: Todd Haynes

Based on the novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, Carol is set in 1950s New York, and tells the story of a young female department-store clerk who falls for an older, married woman.

It stars The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's Rooney Mara and Oscar winner Cate Blanchett in the main roles.

The romantic novel was considered hugely controversial on its release in the 50s because of its lesbian storyline but is now regarded as a groundbreaking work.

Haynes has previously directed Blanchett when she played a version of Bob Dylan in the 2007 film I'm Not There.

Inside Out. Director: Pete Docter

Pixar's latest film is not in competition but gets its world premiere at this year's event.

The animation will be set in the mind of a young girl, where five emotions - Joy, Anger, Disgust, Fear and Sadness - try to lead her through her life.

Voices include Amy Poehler, Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling.

Docter has previously directed Monsters, Inc and the huge critical and financial success Up, which opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival - the first animated feature to do so.

It will be preceded by a short, Lava - a musical love story directed by James Ford Murphy, inspired by tropical islands and ocean volcanoes.

Irrational Man. Director: Woody Allen

Cannes loves an auteur and it loves Woody Allen.

His new film Irrational Man stars Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone as a philosophy professor in an existential crisis and a student who gives him a new lease of life.

Stone clearly enjoys working with the veteran director, having also starred in his 2014 film Magic in the Moonlight. Allen's career has been a critical hit and miss in recent years with Blue Jasmine, starring Cate Blanchett in Oscar-winning form as a clear high.

To Rome with Love and Fading Gigolo did not enjoy the same success.

The Lobster. Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos has already tasted success with his dark drama Dogtooth which won the prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2009 festival.

His new film The Lobster is in competition for the main prize this year.

It is set in a dystopian near future where lonely people are obliged to find a matching mate within a 45-day period in a hotel. If they fail, they are transformed into animals and sent off into the woods. What is not to love about that?

Filmed on location in Ireland, its all-star cast includes Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Ben Whishaw, Olivia Colman and John C Reilly amongst others.

Macbeth. Director: Justin Kurzel

This is Michael Fassbender's take on Shakespeare's doomed Scottish King, co-starring Marion Cotillard, David Thewlis and Paddy Considine.

The film is directed by Australian director Justin Kurzel, best known for his 2011 film Snowtown - based on a series of real life murderers.

Rumours are that the cast will be speaking with Scots accents save for Cotillard, who will retain her French tongue - the reason being that it would be not unreasonable to suggest that she had spent some time in French court.

Filming took place through locations in Scotland and England last year.

It is being screened in competition for the Palme d'Or.

Mad Max: Fury Road. Director: George Miller

Mad Max: Fury Road is George Miller's own reboot of his original Mad Max trilogy, the film which helped make a global star out of Mel Gibson.

This film sees British actor Tom Hardy in the title role and sets him against a bloodthirsty gang of marauders in a post-apocalyptic landscape.

It co-stars Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult.

Expect fast cars, explosions and some truly astounding stunt work.

The Sea of Trees. Director: Gus Van Sant

Gus Van Sant's elegiac The Sea of Trees sees Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey as an American who travels to the "Suicide Forest" at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan to kill himself. There, he encounters the equally suicidal Ken Watanabe.

Expect some powerhouse acting from both stars and Naomi Watts, who co-stars in the film.

Van Sant has some pedigree at Cannes, having won the Palme d'Or for his drama Elephant in 2003. His 2005 film Last Days, a fictionalised account of a Kurt Cobain-style rock star, was show at the 2005 festival.

A Tale of Love and Darkness. Director: Natalie Portman

Actress Natalie Portman is making her Cannes debut as a director with A Tale of Love and Darkness.

The drama is based on the memoir of Israeli writer and journalist Amos Oz. The book was translated into 28 languages and more than a million copies have been sold.

Since 1967, Oz has been an advocate of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Portman, who also plays Oz's mother, shot the movie in Jerusalem last year.

The Tale of Tales. Director: Matteo Garrone

Italian director Matteo Garrone was feted for his gangster film Gomorrah in 2008. It was nominated for the Palme d'Or and won the Grand Prix - effectively the silver medal - at the festival.

In 2012, he again found himself in competition with the film Reality, which created some controversy as its lead actor Aniello Arena was a convicted former gangster, who has been serving life in prison for murder since 1991.

Garrone's visually sumptious new film The Tale of Tales, is an altogether starrier affair - a fairytale collection featuring Salma Hayek, John C Reilly, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones and Shirley Henderson.

Yakuza Apocalypse. Director: Takashi Miike

Many critics were left wanting by Miike's 2013 film Straw Shield, which was screened in competition in 2013. His latest film Yakuza Apocalypse is a tale of vengeance pitting a Japanese gangster against his vampire boss.

Miike became best known to western audiences with the hyper-violent films Audition and Ichi the Killer.

Martial arts film fans will recognise long-haired Yayan Ruhian from Gareth Evans' 2011 Indonesian film The Raid.

Youth. Director: Paolo Sorrentino

Sorrentino's heart-breakingly beautiful film The Great Beauty, set in the modern decadence of Rome, was acclaimed when it premiered at Cannes in 2013. It went on to win the Oscar for best foreign language film.

His new film, Youth, his second in the English-language, sees Michael Caine as a retired orchestra conductor who is invited to perform for the Queen and Prince Philip.

The film co-stars Paul Dano, Rachel Weisz and Harvey Keitel.