Cannes Lineup includes films by Spike Lee, Jean-Luc Godard, Nandita Das

Cannes: The lineup of the 71st Cannes Film Festival was on Thursday unveiled and Nandita Das' directorial "Manto" has been shortlisted in Un Certain Regard category.

Artistic director Thierry Fremaux and festival president Pierre Lescure announced the lineup of the films in a press conference which also went live on Facebook and Twitter.

Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman", Jean-Luc Godard's "Le Livre d'Image" and Oscar-winning director Pawel Pawlikowski's "Zimna Wojna" are among the 18 films competing for the prestigious Palme d'Or award.

Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi's psychological thriller "Everybody Knows", starring real-life couple Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, will be the opening film at the festival.

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who was earlier under house arrest and is still not allowed to leave the country, also features in the competition segment with his "Three Faces".

Two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett was earlier announced as the president of the festival jury. She follows Pedro Almodovar, who headed the jury for the 70th edition of the event.

Das' "Manto", starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui as celebrated short story writer Saadat Hasan Manto, is among the 15 films shortlisted in the Cannes sub section Un Certain Regard.

It will compete with films such as "Angel Face" (Vanessa Filho), "Border" (Ali Abbasi), "El Angel" (Luis Ortega), "Euphoria" (Valeria Golino), "Friend" (Wanuri Kahiu) and others.

Un Certain Regard (A certain glance) was first introduced in section in 1998 and focuses on films with unusual themes or storytelling techniques. It runs parallel to the main competition.
Benicio Del Toro will preside over the jury of Un Certain Regard.

Films announced in the special screenings section includes Gilles Porte's documentary "The State Against Mandela and The Others", "10 Years in Thailand, which has contributions from Aditya Assarat, Wisit Sasanatieng, Chulayarnon Sriphol and Apichatpong Weerasethakul; and Wim Wenders's documentary, "Pope Francis - A Man of his Word".

Ron Howard-directed "Solo: A Star Wars Story", which traces the origins of iconic "Star Wars" character Han Solo, will be screened at the festival as an out of the competition entry. It will be joined by "Le Grand Bain" from Gilles Lellouche.

As was the case with "The Square", which entered late in the competition but went on to bag the Palme d'Or, Fremaux said several more titles may be announced in coming days.

The festival will kick off from May 8 and will conclude on May 19.