Actress Diane Kruger, Jolie, Brad Pitt At Cannes Festival

German actress Diane Kruger, US director Quentin Tarantino, French actress Melanie Laurent, US actress Angelina Jolie, US actor Brad Pitt and US actor Lawrence Bender pose before for the screening of the movie "Inglourious Basterds" in competition at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2009. AFP PHOTO / VALERY HACHE

IFC acquires von Trier's, Loach's Cannes entries

Two past winners of the top Cannes Film Festival prize have picked up a U.S. distributor for their latest movies.

IFC Films says it has acquired North American rights to Lars von Trier's "Antichrist," which features Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg in a domestic tragedy loaded with graphic sex, torture and mutilation.

IFC also said Wednesday it has bought U.S. rights for Ken Loach's "Looking for Eric," a warm comedy about a troubled mailman who sets his life straight again with help from his imaginary friend — former soccer great Eric Cantona.

Both films are competing for the Palme d'Or, the Cannes prize that von Trier won for "Dancer in the Dark" and Loach won for "The Wind That Shakes the Barley." The winner will be announced Sunday.

Stars gather for opening of Cannes Film Festival

The evening gowns glittered, the red carpet was unfurled — and the 3-D glasses were at hand as the 62nd Cannes Film Festival opened Wednesday with the soaring animated adventure "Up."

"Up'"s delighted filmmakers from Pixar Animation joined the crowd of stars and cineastes on the red carpet in this French Riviera resort and said being invited to Cannes was a dream come true.

"We're just a bunch of animation geeks from northern California on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival," said a beaming John Lasseter, Pixar's creative maestro.

Edward Asner, who voices "Up'"s main character, did not come to Cannes. But his counterpart in the French-language version, crooner Charles Aznavour, was there.

Lacking star power from the "Up" voice cast, the biggest name on the red carpet was Academy Award-winning actress Tilda Swinton.

Inside, Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry serenaded the crowd with a version of Aznavour's "She," before Aznavour declared the festival officially open.

Organizers were hoping "Up" would provide a buoyant start before the festival plunges into 12 days of movies that take in passion, murder, Korean vampires and a band of Nazi-hunters led by Brad Pitt.

Members of the jury, led by French actress Isabelle Huppert will be wrangling over which auteurs — from a slate that includes Pedro Almodovar, Ang Lee, Quentin Tarantino and Ken Loach — should receive Cannes' coveted prizes. But on Wednesday, Huppert was in a gentle mood.

"I don't think we are here to judge," she said. "I think we are here to love films — and to see what we love more than others."

Huppert is one of only a handful of women ever to head the jury at the world's most prestigious film festival. She said the numbers didn't bother her: her predecessors — who include Sophia Loren and Liv Ullmann — were "women who count for a lot."

Fellow juror Hanif Kureishi, the British screenwriter of "My Beautiful Laundrette" and "The Mother," was more concerned with another omission.

"I'm not aware we've ever had a black or Asian president of the jury," he said. "It will be interesting to see when that will occur."

Scores of celeb-watchers waited patiently outside Cannes' waterside film complex Wednesday, hoping for a glimpse of the stars — any stars. Few knew who was due to arrive, but most didn't seem to mind.