The Palme d'Or line-up

Competing director Edward Yang (right) catches up on the gossip at this year's festival

The 23 movies in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 53rd Cannes Film Festival are:

Songs from the Second Floor
Roy Andersson, Sweden

Eureka
Aoyama Shinji, Japan

O Brother, Where Art Thou
Joel Coen, United States

Kippur
Amos Gitai, Israel

The Yards
James Gray, United States

Something Funny
Ruy Guerra, Brazil

Digging for victory: Joel Coen is one of four US directors in competition

Chunhyang
Im Kwon Taek, Korea

The Golden Bowl
James Ivory, United States

Guizi Lai Le
Jiang Wen, China

Fast Food Fast Women
Amos Kollek, Israel

Nurse Betty
Neil Labute, United States

Bread and Roses
Ken Loach, Britain

La Noce
Pavel Lounguine, Russia

The Black Picture
Samira Makhmalbaf, Iran

Taboo
Nagisa Oshima, Japan

The Faithless
Liv Ullmann, Sweden

Dancer in the Dark
Lars Von Trier, Denmark

Untitled
Wong Kar-Wai, Hong Kong

A One And a Two
Edward Yang, Taiwan

Sentimental Destinies (Les destinees sentimentales)
Olivier Assayas, France

Esther Kahn
Arnaud Desplechin, France

Unknown Code
Michael Haneke, Austria

Harry, A Friend Who Wishes You Well
Dominik Moll, France