CANNES FILM FESTIVAL DIRECTOR DISCUSSES SECURITY AND A-LIST GUESTS

Sean Penn's "The Last Face" about aid workers in Africa will compete at the Cannes Film Festival - along with movies about interracial marriage in 1950s America, illness and poverty in working class Britain and cannibal fashion models in L.A. - in a high-glamour yet socially conscious lineup announced by festival organizers Thursday.

The 49 selected films come from 28 countries, including Iran, Brazil, Egypt, Israel and South Korea, with 20 of them running for the Palme d'Or, the top prize at the French Riviera festival, held under heightened security after recent deadly Islamic extremist attacks on France and Belgium.

"The festival has been under security measures for many, many years, so it will be, of course, something we pay attention to - not only we the festival, but the French government," said the festival's director Thierry Fremaux. "I'm sure that everyone is working in the same feeling to make the festival safe, for sure, secure, but also to be a wonderful, friendly moment."

This year, top stars expected to grace the famed red carpet at the May 11-22 festival include Marion Cotillard, Shia LaBeouf, Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Julia Roberts, Jodie Foster and George Clooney. This edition will also see the return of numerous Cannes favorites such as directors Pedro Almodovar, Ken Loach, Jim Jarmusch and the Dardenne brothers.

"When you mention big Cannes, Cannes big names. It's not Cannes big names only, it is world cinema big names and Cannes is the greatest film festival in the world and it's an honor for us to welcome all those great artists," said Fremaux.

"I think it is a good sign, the sign that it is always good for these people to be in Cannes. I must confess that, to me, and from Pierre Lescure, the president of Cannes, and the team, it's still very important that Cannes can be the place to be, still, and I think we will show that it is," he added.

Penn's latest directorial offering, which stars Theron and Javier Bardem, is likely to get top attention, alongside the festival's wackiest entry, the Danish horror film "The Neon Demon" (Nicolas Winding Refn) about beauty-obsessed, flesh-eating models.

Other films at the festival include "Loving" by American director Jeff Nichols, about a black-white couple in the U.S. in the 1950s, and British director Loach's "I, Daniel Blake," about a working-class man in northern England struggling with poverty and injury.

Spanish director Almodovar's "Julieta" is also competing, and young Canadian director Xavier Dolan has a new entry with "It's Only the End of the World" about a dying author — the second time the rising star has had a film in the running for the Palme d'Or. It stars Cotillard and Lea Seydoux.

American auteur Jarmusch returns to the Rivera with "Paterson" — a yarn about a bus driver and a poet set in New Jersey.

"Basic Instinct" director Paul Verhoeven features among the lineup with his first French-language film "Elle," a psychological thriller starring actress Isabelle Huppert.

This year's festival has a markedly American flavor, and opens with Woody Allen's 1930s Hollywood film "Cafe Society," starring Stewart and Eisenberg. It's showing out of competition.

Of the 20 films running for the top prize, three were made by women: Germany's Maren Ade with "Toni Erdmann"; the U.K.'s Andrea Arnold with "American Honey," starring LaBeouf; and France's Nicole Garcia with "From the Land of the Moon," starring Cotillard alongside Louis Garrel. The festival organizers have been criticized in previous years for failing to include a wider selection of films directed by women.

For the first time there will be no closing film. Instead the festival will rescreen the winning film.

The jury is presided over this year by "Mad Max" director George Miller.

Paris, 14 April 2016

1. Medium shot (left-right) Pierre Lescure (Cannes Film Festival President) and Thierry Fremaux (Cannes Film Festival Director)

2. Wide shot Pierre Lescure and Thierry Fremaux

3. Cutaway photographers

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Thierry Fremaux, Cannes Film Festival Director:

"I think this festival will be, well, first I don't know what it will be, because we are going to make it together and it's like the selection. The selection is - we love the movies we picked up - we don't know how they will be received and we know that we have surprise, positive surprise and sometimes (not), unfortunately, but, in a way, it is also the legend of Cannes. Sometimes some films will be very discussed and maybe we will have some fight with the festivals-goers about some films."

5. Pan from Cannes Film Festival sign to Thierry Fremaux being interviewed

6. Wide shot Thierry Fremaux talking to press

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Thierry Fremaux, Cannes Film Festival Director:

"When you mention big Cannes, Cannes big names - it's not Cannes big names only, it's world cinema big names and Cannes is the greatest film festival in the world and it's an honor for us to welcome all those great artists. And, for me, I'm very proud to have Woody Allen to open the festival, to have Steven Spielberg - and Steven Spielberg he doesn't come (to the festival) so often - and so it's great to have him for sure, and Pedro Almodovar, Ken Loach, all these people - they are great auteurs."

FILE: Cannes, 15 May 2015

8. Various shots Woody Allen, Emma Stone and Parker Posey

FILE: Cannes, 15 May 2013

9. Medium shot Steven Spielberg and Nicole Kidman

FILE: Cannes, 22 May 2014

10. Medium shot Ken Loach

FILE: London, 13 December 2012

11. Medium shot Rossy de Palma and Pedro Almodovar

Los Angeles, 13 April 2016

12. Medium shot Sean Penn

Paris, 14 April 2016

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Thierry Fremaux, Cannes Film Festival Director:

"I think that this festival will show how strong cinema is in the world of a lot of different images. I mean cinema was the first art of motion pictures and then now we are living in the world of the TV series. But the films, it's hard to make a good movie and I'm sure that this festival will show, this selection, will show the vitality and the good health of the creativity of the filmmaker in the world. And not only in our world - France, United States or the occidental world - but really from all over the world, because almost 30 countries are inside the official selection."

14. Medium shot Thierry Fremaux talking to media

15. Medium shot cameraman

16. SOUNDBITE (English) Thierry Fremaux, Cannes Film Festival Director:

"The festival has been under security measures for many, many years, so it will be, of course, something we pay attention to - not only we the festival, but the French government, the city of Cannes and I'm sure that everyone is working in the same feeling to make the festival safe, for sure, secure, but also to be a wonderful, friendly moment."

17. Wide shot Thierry Fremaux

18. Pan from backdrop to Thierry Fremaux

19. SOUNDBITE (English) Thierry Fremaux, Cannes Film Festival Director:

"George (George Clooney) is not a usual suspect in Cannes, it's not so often that we have him in Cannes, so we are lucky as well to have him and Julia Roberts for the first time. I think it's a good sign, the sign that it is always good for these people to be in Cannes. I must confess that, to me, and from Pierre Lescure, the president of Cannes, and the team, it's still very important that Cannes can be the place to be, still, and I think we will show that it is."

FILE: Los Angeles, 1 February 2016

20. Medium shot George Clooney being interviewed

Los Angeles, 13 April 2016

21. Director Garry Marshall and Julia Roberts speaking to reporter

FILE: Beverly Hills, 13 July 2015

22. Medium shot Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel

Los Angeles, 11 April 2016

23. Medium shot Charlize Theron posing for photos with fans

FILE: Los Angeles, 28 January 2016

24. Wide shot with zoom in to medium, director George Miller poses for photographers at G'day USA gala