BEIJING, April23 -- Chinese director-cum-actor Jiang Wen's "Sun Also Rises" was surprisingly taken off from the final lineup of the 60th Festival de Cannes, which was announced Thursday night.

Jiang and his wife Zhou Yun play the lead roles in the film.

The movie which took one year to make and cost 10 million U.S. dollars is Jiang's third directorial production. He had hoped that the film would be competing for the Golden Palm Award.

He earlier announced that the film's editing would be completed a month ahead of the festival.

Another Chinese movie, directed by Wang Xiaoshuai', "Left Right" also failed to make it into the Cannes' lineup.

Sources said that "Left Right" had not yet passed examination by China's film authorities, and it wouldn't be able to compete at Cannes.

Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai's "My Blueberry Nights" has been confirmed to open the festival May 16.

As Wong's first English production, "Blueberry" tells the story of a young girl, who arrives in the United States looking for true love. The film stars big names including Norah Jones, Jude Law and Natalie Portman.

Wong says he felt honored that his film would open the festival. He is looking forward to the festival's 60th birthday celebrations. He says that because this is his first English film, it means a lot to him and he thinks it's also the pride of the Hong Kong film industry.

In the meantime, Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung has been invited to be a festival jury member, and mainland director Jia Zhangke has been invited to be president of the short film awards.

(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)