Cannes 2011: New Woody Allen film to kick off festival

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Woody Allen’s 41st feature, ‘Midnight in Paris,’ starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy (wife of the French president), will open the Cannes Film Festival on May 11, organizers announced Wednesday.

But if you’re not in Cannes that night, you still might be able to catch the romantic comedy -- it’s to be released in some 400 theaters across France on the same day.

’ ‘Midnight in Paris’ is a wonderful love letter to Paris’, festival director Thierry Frémaux said in a statement. ‘It’s a film in which Woody Allen takes a deeper look at the issues raised in his last films: our relationship with history, art, pleasure and life. His 41st feature reveals once again his inspiration.’

Allen’s ‘You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger’ played at Cannes in 2010.

The rest of the lineup is to be announced in April, and the festival runs through May 22.

--Julie Makinen