The world's entertainment press and film fans are gearing up for another crazy extravaganza as the 56th annual Cannes Film Festival gets under way on Wednesday.

China is bringing three movies to the festival, including one from Hong Kong.

Lou Ye's Purple Butterfly is the only Chinese-language film entered in the main competition.

It is also the second time for Zhang Ziyi, the movie's leading actress, to appear at Cannes, following her earlier role in the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

The other two movies are Yu Lik Wai's All Tomorrow's Parties and Wang Xiaoshuai's Drifters.

The three directors have arrived in France, but they have to stay isolated in Paris for a while before going to the festival to make sure they don't have SARS.

(China Radio International May 14, 2003)