Catherine Deneuve & Emmanuelle Bercot Open 2015 Cannes Film Festival With 'La Tete Haute'

Cannes 2015 opener ‘La Tete Haute’ stars Catherine Deneuve (l) and is written and directed by Emmanuelle Bercot(r)

French actress-director Emmanuelle Bercot’s film ‘La Tete Haute’ starring Catherine Deneuve will open the 2015 Cannes Film Festival on May 13.

The last time a female director opened the festival was 1987, when Diane Kury’s ‘A Man in Love’ launched the Cannes event. Bercot also stars in Maiwenn’s ‘Mon Roi’, a French film that’s a strong favorite to premiere in the official selection. Variety writes:

Observers close to the festival noted that, after a run of splashy, star-powered opening entries (“Midnight in Paris,” “Moonrise Kingdom,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Grace of Monaco”), festival topper Thierry Fremaux had been looking specifically for a French entry to kick off the festivities, especially in a year when the main competition jury is being presided over by two American directors, Joel and Ethan Coen. The last time a solely French-produced film opened Cannes was in 2005, with Dominik Moll’s “Lemming.”

The French film — whose title translates as “holding one’s head high” — narrates the story of a juvenile delinquent, a committed social worker trying to save him, and a children’s court judge

The Cannes Film Festivval runs May 13-24.