The tale of two indigenous teenagers who abandon their isolated desert community is one of two Australian films set to screen at the world's most famous film festival next month.
Director Warwick Thornton's Samson and Delilah will screen in the Un Certain Regard category at the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival.
The film stars newcomers Rowan McNamara and Marissa Gibson.
Jane Campion's Bright Star, a period drama about the romance of 19th century English poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, and Campion's ninth film to be screened at Cannes, has also made the cut.
The film stars English actor Ben Whishaw and Australian actor Abbie Cornish.
A wartime rampage by Quentin Tarantino and a trip to Woodstock with Ang Lee will square off with Ken Loach in a heavyweight battle for the top prize at the festival.
Big names such as Loach and Spain's Pedro Almodovar dominate the race for the coveted Palme d'Or at the Riviera festival, opposite hot new Asian talent, from the banned Chinese filmmaker Lou Ye to thriller master Johnnie To.