Cannes Film Festival 2013: Steven Spielberg, Nicole Kidman and Vidya Balan Arrive as Palme D’Or Jury Gathers [PHOTOS]

The 66th Cannes Film Festival starts on Wednesday, with the screening of Baz Luhrmann's newest production - a 3D film version of F Scot Fitzgerald's iconic American novel, The Great Gatsby. The 50-year-old Australian is a director with a penchant for the dramatic and lavish and counts spectacles like Moulin Rouge! and Australia, starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, amongst his completed projects.

This modern re-telling of The Great Gatsby is eagerly anticipated both because it is Luhrmann's work and because of a stellar cast. The film features Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio and legendary Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan, as well as Pride and Prejudeice's Carey Mulligan and Spiderman's Tobey Maguire.

The Cannes Film Festival will be hosted by French actress Audrey Tautou, while the jury that decides on the recipient of the prestigious Palme d'Or award will be presided over by American director Steven Spielberg. The jury includes Nicole Kidman, Christoph Waltz and Bollywood actress Vidya Balan, among others.

"Every time I go to Cannes, it feels like I'm entering the helicopter scene in La Dolce Vita. It's an insane experience," DiCaprio said, speaking of the event, "The entire town is turned into a red carpet. Every hotel is a premiere. But at the same time, it is the mecca for the world to celebrate film-making and bold film-making."

The 66th Cannes Film Festival will also previous winners returning to the competitive fray; the list includes Roman Polanski and his Venus in Fur, the Coen brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis and Steven Soderbergh's Behind the Candelabra.

For a full list of the films In Competition, click here.

Meanwhile, Sofia Coppola leads a stellar line-up of names for the Un Certain Regard competition, the jury of which is headed by Danish director Thomas Vinterberg and includes French actress Ludivine Sagnier and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.

The 66th Cannes Film Festival also celebrates the 100th year of Indian cinema, with a special screening of Bombay Talkies, a multi-directorial collaboration featuring the works of four acclaimed Indian directors and an all-star cast. The tribute to Indian cinema also includes the screening of Satyajit Ray's 1964 classic, Charulata.

The last film scheduled for the festival is Jérôme Salle's Zulu, a story of two policemen investigating a crime in apartheid-era South Africa. The film stars Forrest Whitaker and Orlando Bloom.

Check out photographs of the arrival of the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or jury members...