Robert Pattinson makes his debut at Cannes 2012

France may be in the midst of a bitter election campaign, but the clouds cleared for a while this morning when the Cannes Film Festival announced its 2012 line-up. As Bette Davis might have said, "why worry about politics when we have the stars".

And stars there will be aplenty on the red carpet at this year's festival, the 65th, which runs from May 16-27. Nicole Kidman, Brad Pitt, Zac Efron, Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Gosling are expected to be among those strolling up the famous steps. And British hopes will be pinned on our very own exported heartthrob Robert Pattinson, who will be making his Cannes debut ­ and a bid for arthouse respectability - with his starring role in veteran Canadian director David Cronenberg's adaptation of Don DeLillo's novel, Cosmopolis, a futuristic financial thriller.

Other British stars are in predictably short supply, although festival warhorse Ken Loach is in competition as usual with his latest film, The Angel's Share, about a no-hoper prompted by his new role as father to find an unusual way out of a life of petty crime. Brighton-based Aussie John Hillcoat will be making his directorial bow with prohibition drama Lawless, featuring rising Brit star Tom Hardy. And another new British star, Sam Riley, will be playing Sal Paradise in the long-awaited screen version of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.

Actor Tim Roth, meanwhile, will be presiding over the jury judging the films in Un Certain Regard, the main sidebar. And recent National Film & TV School graduate Timothy Reckart will have his 10-minute short Head Over Heels screening in the prestigious Cinéfondation line-up, making sure that Europe's producers will be much more likely to take his calls in future.

Finally, in a nod to this year's Oscar winner The Artist, which was only admitted to last year's line-up as a rather grudging afterthought, Bérénice Béjo, star of that film, will fulfil the role of Mistress of Ceremonies at the event's Opening Ceremony and final Prizegiving, a hugely prestigious Cannes equivalent of being chosen to light the Olympic flame.