The 57th Cannes Film Festival kicked off last night in France with the showing of dark new film La Mala Educacion by Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. This year`s main competition jury, headed by director Quentin Tarantino, will judge 18 contenders for the Palm d`Or award, including Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911, Shrek 2 and Tom Hanks' The Ladykillers, as well as offerings from France, Japan and Argentina. A galaxy of stars including Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron, Maggie Cheung, Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz, Uma Thurman, Tom Hanks, Angelina Jolie, Sharon Stone and Sean Penn is expected to take part in the 12 day event.

Tarantino, who won the Palm d`Or in 1994 with Pulp Fiction, said at the opening: "To me Cannes is heaven, all right, it's just heaven if you love cinema, and you know you all dream about going to heaven." Tarantino said his dream was to have his first movie play at Cannes, which happened with his crime tale "Reservoir Dogs." His next dream was to win the top Cannes prize, which he achieved with "Pulp Fiction." Next, his dream was to serve on the Cannes jury. "Then I was made the president of the jury," Tarantino said. "So if there's another level above heaven, all right, that's where I'm at."

The festival kicked off despite the possible sabotage threats by the actor`s and technicians associations carrying a bitter dispute over unemployment benefits. They forced the cancellation of summer arts festivals across France last year and organized a series of strikes at theaters and opera houses. About 1,000 shopkeepers and restaurant owners decided to raise their voices in demand of smooth and successful festival and took to the streets with banners, proclaiming "Vive Cannes" and "Vive le festival." It was only a few hours before the opening, that the festival authorities had reached the agreement with the protesters.