Mike Leigh film in running for Palme D'Or

(Getty Images)

British director Mike Leigh's new film, Another Year, is in the running for the Cannes Film Festival's top prize the Palme d'Or, it was announced today.

The ensemble comedy drama, starring Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville and Imelda Staunton, is the sole British film in competition at this year's festival.

The film tells the story of a happily married middle aged couple who endure other people's problems and was financed by the UK Film Council and Film4.

Leigh, 67, known for his use of improvisation, previously won the Palme d'Or in 1996 for Secrets And Lies and was last nominated in 2002 for All Or Nothing.

Stephen Frears, director of hit movie The Queen, will show his new film Tamara Drewe, starring Gemma Arterton in the title role, out of competition.

The film, also featuring Dominic Cooper and Tamsin Greig, is an adaptation of the Posy Simmonds graphic novel and received backing from BBC Films and the UK Film Council.

Woody Allen's new offering You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, which is set in London and stars Naomi Watts, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Freida Pinto and Anna Friel, and Oliver Stone's Wall Street - Money Never Sleeps, which will close the festival, will also be shown out of competition.

As previously announced, Ridley Scott's new movie Robin Hood, starring Russell Crowe in the title role, will be opening the festival, which runs from May 12 to 23.

British actress Kate Beckinsale, actor Benicio Del Toro and Indian director and actor Shekhar Kapur will join the previously announced jury president Tim Burton on the competition panel.

US titles in competition include Fair Game, a spy thriller starring Watts and Sean Penn as an exposed CIA agent and her diplomat husband, directed by Doug Liman.

Chatroom, a contemporary tale by Japanese director Hideo Nakata about disenchanted youths who meet online, which features Britons Aaron Johnson, Imogen Poots, Matthew Beard, Hannah Murray and Daniel Kaluuya, is listed in the Un Certain Regard prize category.

The film, like Leigh's Another Year, received backing from Film4, the film financing division of Channel 4 and Lottery funding from the UK Film Council