Latest from Egoyan, Eastwood, Soderbergh vie for Cannes top prize

New movies from Atom Egoyan, Clint Eastwood, Steven Soderbergh and Wim Wenders will compete for the top prize at the upcoming Cannes International Film Festival, organizers announced in Paris Wednesday.

Canadian director Egoyan is also among the 19 directors who will vie for the Palme d'Or at the famed French festival in May.

The Toronto filmmaker's new title, Adoration, revolves around a teen who believes he is the offspring of a doomed historical couple. The film also deals with how today's youth define themselves through technology.

Eastwood will bring his 1920s-era thriller The Changeling to the 61st edition of the festival, while Soderbergh willpresent Che, his Che Guevara biopic starring Benicio Del Toro.

Other celebrated international filmmakers competing this year will include Germany's Wenders, with The Palermo Shooting, and Linha De Passe from Brazil's Walter Salles.

Rounding out the competition lineup are:

• 24 City, directed by Jia Zhangke (China).
• A Christmas Story, directed by Arnaud Desplechin (France).
• Delta, directed by Kornel Mondruczo (Hungary/Germany).
• Gomorra, directed by Matteo Garrone (Italy).
• Il Divo, directed by Paolo Sorrentino (Italy).
• La Mujer Sin Cabeza, directed by Lucretia Martel (Argentina/Spain).
• La Frontiere De L'Aube, directed by Philippe Garrel (France).
• Le Silence De Lorna, directed by Jean-Pierreand Luc Dardenne (France/Belgium).
• Leonera, directed by Pablo Trapero (Argentina/South Korea).
• My Magic, directed by Eric Khoo (Singapore).
• Three Monkeys, directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey/France/Italy).
• Serbis, directed by Brillante Mendoza (Philippines).
• Synecdoche, New York, directed by Charlie Kaufman (USA/France).
• Waltz With Bashir, directed by Ari Folman (Israel).

Films to be screened out of competition include Steven Spielberg's eagerly anticipated Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Woody Allen's latest, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and the animated comedy Kung-Fu Panda.

Screening in other programs are films from Emir Kusturica (Maradona), Terence Davies (Of Time and City), Wong Kar Wai (Ashes of Time Redux) and Marina Zenovich (Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired).

Oscar-winning U.S. actor and director Sean Penn will helm this year's jury.

His judging panel will also include U.S. actress Natalie Portman, German actress Alexandra Maria Lara and four filmmakers: Mexico's Alfonso Cuaron, France's Rachid Bouchareb, Italy's Sergio Castellitto and Thailand's Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

The Cannes film festival runs May 14 to 25.