Actress Audrey Tautou arrives at Cannes (Photo: Shenzhen Daily)

    BEIJING, May 19 -- The Cannes Film Festival got off to a glittering start Wednesday with a galaxy of stars led by the cast of "The Da Vinci Code" bringing Hollywood-style razzle-dazzle to the French resort.

    Thousands of people pressed up against the barriers around the famous red-carpeted steps to glimpse the stars as they arrived for the official opening of the world's leading international movie showcase.

    "Da Vinci" director Ron Howard and leading actors Tom Hanks of the United States and Audrey Tautou of France shook off a slew of early bad reviews of their film, and smiled as they posed on the red carpet with their co-stars.

    Also parading up the carpet were the members of the Cannes film festival jury, headed this year by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai, in his trademark sunglasses, along with Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, Italian actress Monica Bellucci, England¡¯s Helena Bonham-Carter and U.S. actor Samuel L. Jackson.

    French actor Vincent Cassel hosted the opening, welcoming audiences in English, Arabic, French and Chinese as well as Bambara, a major language in Mali.

    As controversy continued about the film version of the best-selling book "The Da Vinci Code," the movie opened the Cannes film festival a few hours after opening in Beijing.

    From Thursday on, the festival got down to its real business: screening and weighing a selection of top-notch films from around the world and deal-making for the sprawling market of international film distribution.

    This year 20 films are competing for the Palme d'Or, Cannes' top prize awarded at the end of the festival May 28.

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)