Loach and Cantona look for prizes at Cannes

Ken Loach, Eric Cantona and Andrea Arnold will fly the flag for Britain at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Veteran director Loach has been chosen for the main competition, the Palme d'Or, with his new film Looking For Eric. It stars and is co-produced by French former footballer Eric Cantona and tells the story of a divorced Manchester postman obsessed by the player. The film is the ninth Loach has premiered at Cannes where he last won the top prize three years ago with The Wind That Shakes The Barley.

Arnold, who won the Cannes Jury Prize in 2006 with her debut Red Road, returns with her second film, Fish Tank. The drama about teenage girls features Michael Fassbender, star of last year's Cannes winner Hunger, and newcomer Katie Jarvis. Other directors with films competing at the festival, which runs from 13-24 May, include Quentin Tarantino, Lars von Trier, Ang Lee and Pedro Almodovar.

Tarantino presents his World War Two caper Inglorious Basterds, Almodovar is premiering an emotional drama Broken Embraces while Ang Lee is in contention for Talking Woodstock, a comedic take on the concert. Lars von Trier's Antichrist stars Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe as a grieving couple.

The 62nd festival opens on 13 May with Up, the first animated film to launch the event, and runs to 24 May.