Cannes: Harrison Ford, Johnny Depp and Wes Anderson return to film festival

Harrison Ford, Leonardo DiCaprio and Phoebe Waller-Bridge will be among the stars film fans will be hoping to spot on the red carpet.

Films by Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson and Ken Loach are premiering at the festival, alongside dozens of others.

There may even be an appearance by Johnny Depp as he returns to the silver screen for the first time since his lengthy legal battles with ex-wife Amber Heard.

So which are the five films that everyone is talking about?

1. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Skip youtube video by Lucasfilm

This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

Harrison Ford's final turn as the intrepid whip-toting archaeologist Indiana Jones is among the most highly anticipated of the film festival.

In the world premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the 80-year-old action hero will be reunited with his trusty leather jacket and fedora for a fifth and final time.

His co-stars include Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who was born four years after the first in the franchise - Raiders of the Lost Ark - was released in 1981.

Fans will be keen to see the results of the "de-aging" special effects on Ford in the opening scenes, and the work of director James Mangold will also come under scrutiny.

Dial of Destiny is the first Indiana Jones film not to be directed by Steven Spielberg - though he does have an executive producer credit.

"It's a really, really good Indiana Jones film. I'm really proud of what Jim has done with it," he told Variety.

2. Jeanne du Barry

Skip youtube video 2 by Le Pacte

This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

At the height of his high profile courtroom battles with his ex-wife Amber Heard, the future of Johnny Depp's movie career appeared to be in jeopardy.

But three years after he was dropped from the Fantastic Beasts franchise, his big screen return as Louis XV in Jeanne du Barry will open the Cannes festival.

Depp speaks French in the movie which tells the story of the daughter of an impoverished seamstress who became the French King's last official mistress.

The title character is played by Maïwenn, the mononymous French actress who has also written and directed the French-language movie.

Maïwenn, herself, is not shy of controversy. She has been critical of the #metoo movement and on a chat show last week she admitted spitting in the face of a journalist.

3. Asteroid City

Skip youtube video 3 by Universal Pictures Ireland

This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

While social media has been awash with Wes Anderson parodies recently, the cult director has been putting the finishing touches to Asteroid City.

Scarlett Johansson leads the cast of Hollywood royalty, including Tom Hanks, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwatzman, Jeff Goldblum, Margot Robbie and Steve Carell.

She plays a 1950s movie icon - think Bette Davis - in the story of a fictional American desert town where a junior stargazer convention is disrupted by world-changing events.

Is it a science fiction film? A romantic comedy? Hard and fast details of the plot are difficult to find but the trailer suggests it is very... Wes Anderson.

That makes its premiere at Cannes one of the hottest tickets in town.

4. The Old Oak

The Old Oak

Ken Loach has an enviable history at Cannes, having twice won the coveted Palm d'Or - for The Wind That Shakes the Barley in 2006 and I, Daniel Blake in 2016.

Could he scoop a third best film honour at the age of 86?

His latest project is The Old Oak, about the last remaining pub in former mining community in County Durham where there is an influx of Syrian refugees.

Loach has said he wanted to make a film which had optimism as well as highlighting the difficulties of the situation.

Pub landlord TJ Ballantyne is played by retired local firefighter, Dave Turner, while genuine refugees were also recruited to take part.

"I genuinely don't have a clue what I'm doing," Turner told BBC Look North last year. "It is terrifying, there is no other word to describe it. But because it is Ken Loach and because the people around him make you believe you can do it - that is the reason why I am here."

5. Killers of the Flower Moon

Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon

A new Martin Scorsese movie always sparks a frisson of excitement among film buffs.

Reunite him with two of his favourite collaborators, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, and the hype machine goes into overdrive.

With reports that DiCaprio has already called Killers of the Flower Moon a "masterpiece" and even early Oscars chat on social media, excitement ahead of its premiere at Cannes is mounting.

Based on a book by David Grann, it depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation - a native American tribe - in 1920s Oklahoma.

Known as the Reign of Terror, it sparked a major FBI investigation involving J Edgar Hoover.

Despite its bum-numbing run time of three hours and 26 mins, Scorsese has said it is designed to be seen in theatres. "This is a big screen movie, and that is what we made, as you'll see," he said.

-bbc