Cannes 2012: Directors' Fortnight and Critics' Week announce festival lineup

The Cannes film festival's two major independent sidebars have announced their lineup for the forthcoming festival, providing UK and US film-makers with a considerable boost to their presence on the Croisette. Ben Wheatley, who has impressed critics and fans alike with his first two films, Down Terrace and Kill List , has seen his third, Sightseers, selected for a special screening in the Directors' Fortnight event, while British theatre director Rufus Norris's debut feature, Broken, has been given the opening slot for the Critics' Week section. Sightseers is described as a "pitch-black comedy" about a caravan trip around the north of England, while Broken is an adaptation of Daniel Clay's novel, and stars Cillian Murphy and Tim Roth. US film-makers have added to their total of six films in the main competition, plus another in the Un Certain Regard section, with two more. Michel Gondry's idiosyncractic sounding The We and I – supposedly filmed with New York school students, and is set aboard a bus – has been picked to open the Directors' Fortnight, while Rodney Ascher's documentary about The Shining, Room 237, plays in the Directors' Fortnight main programme. Other highlights among the 21-strong Directors' Fortnight selection includes Ernest and Célestine from Belgian animators Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar (A Town Called Panic) with France's Benjamin Renner; La Noche de Enfrente, the final film from the late Chilean auteur Raoul Ruiz; and a Chinese adaptation of Laclos's Dangerous Liaisons, starring Zhang Ziyi. The Critics' Week lineup consists almost entirely of little-known first-time directors, with the exception of veteran actor Sandrine Bonnaire, whose second feature, J'Enrage de Son Absence starring William Hurt, has been given a special screening slot. The Cannes film festival opens on 16 May. Directors' Fortnight full lineup The We and the I dir: Michel Gondry (opening film) 3 dir: Pablo Stoll Ward Adieu Berthe (Granny's Funeral) dir: Bruno Podalydès Alyah dir: Elie Wajeman Dae gi eui wang (The King of Pigs) dir: Yeun Sang-ho Dangerous Liaisons dir: Hur Jin-ho Ernest and Célestine dirs: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, Benjamin Renner Fogo dir: Yulene Olaizola Gangs of Wasseypur dir: Anurag Kashyap Infancia Clandestina dir: Benjamin Avila La Sirga dir: William Vega No dir: Pablo Larraín Opération Libertad dir: Nicolas Wadimoff Rengaine (Hold Back) dir: Rachid Djaïdani El Taaib (Le Repenti) dir: Merzak Allouache Room 237 dir: Rodney Ascher Sueño y Silencio dir: Jaime Rosales Yek Khanévadéh-e Mohtaram (A Respectable Family) dir: Massoud Bakhshi La Noche de Enfrente dir: Raoul Ruiz (special screening) Sightseers dir: Ben Wheatley (special screening) Camille Redouble dir: Noémie Lvovsky (closing film) Critics' Week full lineup Broken dir: Rufus Norris (opening film) Aquí y Allá dir: Antonio Méndez Esparza Au Galop dir: Louis-Do de Lencquesaing Hors les Murs (Beyond the Walls) dir: David Lambert Peddlers dir: Vasan Bala Los Salvajes dir: Alejandro Fadel Sofia's Last Ambulance dir: Ilian Metev Les Voisins de Dieu dir: Meni Yaesh Augustine dir: Alice Winocour (special screening) J'enrage de Son Absence (Maddened by His Absence) dir: Sandrine Bonnaire (special screening)