There are 21 films in the festival competing for the prestigious 'Palm d'Or' prize. The festival will run for 12 days.
The premier of George Lucas's sixth and final part of Star Wars will be screened on Sunday, with journalists and fans scrambling to get in.
The 2004 Palm d'Or was taken home by Michael Moore for 'Farenheit 9/11', although, this year the judges look set to give up the prize to a calmer collection of entries with films coming from established directors and previous Palm d'Or winners. The topics covered are still on the edge of what is going on in the world today.
Iraqi director Hiner Saleem, who was in Turkey for a talk at the premier of his film 'Vodka Lemon' last weekend at Besiktas Cultural Center (BKM), will be showing his latest film 'Kilometre Zero', a story about the tensions that exist between Kurds and Arabs today. The film is set during the Iran-Iraq war.
Woody Allen is expected to attend to present his film 'Match point' which takes a look at the English upper class starring Scarlet Johansson.
