Indian presence missing in 2009 Cannes list

London, April 23 (IANS) The official lineup of films competing for the top honour Palme d`Or at the prestigious 62nd Cannes Film Festival was announced Thursday, and once again films from India, the world's largest film producing nation, have found no place.

A total of 20 films from different countries are lined-up to compete at the 12-day event, at the French Riviera starting May 13.

Among the films announced for competition are Almodovar's "Broken Embraces", Campion's period film on poet John Keats titled "Bright Star", Ang Lee's "Taking Woodstock", Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet's thriller "Map of the Sounds of Tokyo" that centres on a fish-market employee who doubles as a contract killer. Chinese filmmaker Ye Lou too is competing with his secretly filmed "Spring Fever".

Last year too there was no Indian film in the competition section.

In 2008, Dev Anand's 1965 classic "Guide" and Tamil actor Ajith starrer "Billa", a remake Rajinikant's blockbuster were showcased as a part of Cannes Classic and marketing sections respectively. Manoj Srivastava's short film "Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke" was selected in the Short Film Corner section. The nine-minute film, written and directed by Srivastava, showed the lifestyle of street children in Delhi.

This year, American filmmaker Pete Docter's animation film "Up" will be the opening film and Jan Kounen's "Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky" has been selected as the closing movie.

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