Chinese director Jia Zhangke (right) poses with his award for best screenplay at the 66th Cannes International Film Festival with wife and actress Zhao Tao. [Photo/Agencies]

Award-winning Chinese director Jia Zhangke, who took home the prize for best screenplay with his film A Touch of Sin at the 66th Cannes International Film Festival, is competing for the Palm d'Or again this year with the film Mountains May Depart.

World cinema heavyweights including China's Jia, Italy's Paolo Sorrentino and America's Gus Van Sant are all set to compete for the leading prizes at next month's Cannes Film Festival.

A number of A-listers are also scheduled to attend the 68th Cannes International Film Festival, including Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett.

A total of 17 films will be competing at the festival, which include Jia's Mountains May Depart, Sorrentino's Youth and Van Sant's The Sea of Trees.

Also in the lineup are films by Italy's Nanni Moretti, France's Jacques Audiard, Taiwan-based director Hou Hsiao-Hsien and American director Todd Haynes, whose entry Carol is a love story between two women set in the 1950s, starring Blanchett and Rooney Mara.

This year's Cannes Film Festival will be opened with a film from French director Emmanuelle Bercot.

Screening of La Tete Haute will be the first time in some 25-years that Cannes has opened with a film directed by a woman.

The 68th Cannes Film Festival will be held from May 13th to the 24th.