Moore film opens Cannes festival

Blindness, a thriller starring Julianne Moore, is to open the Cannes Film Festival in France next month.

Based on a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago, the movie focuses on a town which is hit by a sudden epidemic of sight-loss.

The comedy drama What Just Happened, starring Robert de Niro, Bruce Willis, and Sean Penn, will close the festival.

De Niro will also present the Palme d'Or prize, awarded by the event's special jury, on 25 May.

Actor Sean Penn leads this year's jury, which also contains actress Natalie Portman and former Harry Potter director Alfonso Cuaron.

Between them, they will decide which film takes home the prestigious prize.

Last year's Palme d'Or went to the Romanian abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.

Outside the competition, the new Indiana Jones movie - The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - will receive its premiere at the festival, while Woody Allen will screen his latest romance, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

The festival, which is the 61st in Cannes, begins on 14 May.

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