Jamie Gulpilil inTen Canoes

They include the indigenous language film Ten Canoes, the black comedy Suburban Mayhem and the teenage drama 2:37.

Jindabyne will screen in the Directors Fortnight, Look Both Ways has been selected for Critics Week and Snow will form part of the Cinefondation (Cinefondation) shorts program.

Two shorts will also screen - Denie Pentecost's Sexy Thing and Jane Campion's The Water Diary.

NSW scriptwriter Christina Andreef's script Shiver has been selected for the Atelier du Festival, where organisers arrange meetings for filmmakers to assist with funding.

"There's an endorsement out in the worldwide market that Australian films are something that an audience wants to see - that's the sort of statement being made with the number of films invited to Cannes," Mr Rosen said.

"But also what one has to be conscious of is that we're not making as many films as we should be, with a population of 20 million people and being a first world country and having a lot of creative talent here."

Rosen said many Australian actors - Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts and Eric Bana - were forced to work overseas because of a lack of jobs locally.

"A lot of that talent is working in Hollywood and we'd like them to be back here working here," he said.

"Something like this (Cannes) really builds up the morale and makes people realise that there are good films, that if you're a filmmaker with a good idea there's an opportunity to realise it, whereas I think a few years ago people felt they weren't getting a go."

Australian Oscar winner Cate Blanchett will also attend the festival this year, but not directly for Australia.

Blanchett plays one of the leads, opposite Brad Pitt and Gael Garcia Bernal, in Babel.

West Australian Academy of Performing Arts graduate Hugh Jackman will also venture to the French Riviera.

He will be joined by castmates Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Ian McKellan and Patrick Stuart promoting X-Men: The Last Stand.

Cannes is known for its glitz and glamour and this year won't be an exception with film and music stars including Beyonce Knowles, Robert Downey Jnr, Keanu Reeves, Jamie Foxx, Bruce Willis and Kirsten Dunst all having movies there.

The much-awaited Ron Howard-directed Da Vinci Code, starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, will open the festival.

The red-carpet festival will also screen Marie Antoinette, a film featuring Australian actor Rose Byrne.

Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai will chair the jury panel at the event, joined by Chinese actor Zhang Ziyi, Samuel L Jackson, Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Roth and Monica Bellucci, directors Lucrecia Martel of Argentina, Patrice Leconte and Elia Suleiman.

The panel will have the tough task of choosing among 19 films vying for Cannes' Palme d'Or trophy, which will be awarded on May 28.

But it is not all stilettos and red carpets.

Hundreds of international film buyers descend on Cannes in search of new films.

Several hundred Australians, including media, distributors, actors and government representatives will be in Cannes this year.

"Distributors make a lot of money, that's the real business side of it, and obviously the exhibitors make a lot of money as well," said Fitchett.

"The people actually making the projects, there's hits and there's misses and it's a tough industry, but it is an industry because it's a business as well as an art form."