Turkish film to compete at Cannes Film Festival

PARIS — Renowned and critically acclaimed Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan will compete in the 67th Cannes Film Festival with his film "Winter Sleep."

Cannes is one of the most prestigious international film festivals, and opens Wednesday with Olivier Dahan's "Grace de Monaco." The film depicts the life of famous American actress and Monaco princess Grace Kelly, who died in a tragic car accident in 1982.

Ceylan is not new to Cannes. His short film "Koza" (Cocoon) was screened at Cannes in May 1995, becoming the first Turkish short film to be selected for competition at the festival. His next entry in Cannes came with "Uzak" (Distance), which won the Grand Prix in 2003. This was followed by "Iklimler" (Climates), which scooped the FIPRESCI Prize in 2006, and "Uc Maymun" (Three Monkeys), for which Ceylan was awarded the Best Director award in 2008.

In 2009, Ceylan was a member of the main competition jury. In 2011, he won the Grand Prix a second time with his film "Bir Zamanlar Anadolu" (Once upon a time in Anatolia).

Other films competing for the Palm D'or are as follows:

"Clouds of Sils Maria" by Olivier Assayas; "Saint Laurent" by Bertrand Bonello; "Maps to the Stars" by David Cronenberg; "Deux Jours, Une Nuit" by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne; "Mommy" by Xavier Dolan; "Captives" by Atom Agoyan; "Adieu au Langage" by Jean-Luc Godard; "The Search" by Michel Hazanavicius; "The Homesman" by Tommy Lee Jones; "Futatsumo de Nomado" by Naomi Kawase; "Mr. Turner" by Mike Leigh; "Jimmy's Hall" by Ken Loach; "Foxcatcher" by Bennett Miller; "Le Meraviglie" by Alice Rohrwache; "Timbuktu" by Abderrahmane Sissako; "Relatos Salvajes" by Damian Szifron, and "Leviathan" by Andrei Zvyagintsev.

New Zealand-based director, producer and screenwriter Jane Campion, winner of the Palme d'or for "The Piano," will be the President of the Jury of the 67th Festival de Cannes, which runs until May 25.

Campion will be surrounded by eight luminaries of world cinema from China, Korea, Denmark, Iran, the United States, France and Mexico, including Sofia Coppola and Leila Hatami.