Cannes Film Festival general delegate Thierry Fremaux, left, seen during a press conference in Paris. The French Riviera festival will take place May 11-22. Robert De Niro heads the jury this year. - AP File Photo

PARIS: The official selection at Cannes will consist of 20 films, organisers announced Wednesday, after they added “The Artist” by French director Michel Hazanavicius just a week before the event begins.

The black and white silent film, starring US actor John Goodman, France's Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, recounts the rise of a young actress at the start of cinema “talkies” while a silent star fades.

The film had initially been selected to be shown out of competition.

Organisers also announced ahead of the festival's opening on May 11 that Russian film “Elena” by Andrey Zuyagintsev would be shown on May 21 at the end of the parallel Un Certain Regard section of the festival.

Serbian director Emir Kusturica will be joined on the section's jury by French actress Elodie Bouchez, British critic and Guardian journalist Peter Bradshaw and the head of the body in charge of the Tribeca film festivals, Geoffrey Gilmore.

The head of Latin America's largest film festival at Morelia, Daniela Michel, will also be on the jury headed by Kusturica.