Two of Canada’s most esteemed directors will battle it out for the coveted Palme d’Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival as Atom Egoyan’s Where the Truth Lies runs against David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence. Both were chosen to screen in competition at next month’s fest, along with 18 other features selected from among more than 1,500 submissions.

While Michael Moore’s Farenheit 9/11 won Cannes’ top award in 2004, docs are absent from competition this year. However, a third Canadian film, Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream, a doc from Toronto filmmaker Stuart Samuels, will screen out of competition.

‘It is both thrilling and scary,’ said Egoyan shortly after artistic director Thierry Frémaux announced the festival’s official lineup on April 19. ‘Going up those stairs and walking into the theater [at Cannes] is the most extraordinary way to introduce a film.’ Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter won the Grand Prix at the 1997 Cannes festival.

Reputed to be Egoyan’s most commercial film to date, Where the Truth Lies tells the story of a 1950s scandal that remains secret for two decades until a writer decides to bring it into the open. It stars Colin Firth, Kevin Bacon, Alison Lohman and Maury Chaykin.

‘It will be a surprise to people,’ says Egoyan. ‘It’s very much a different type of movie for me. I watched a lot of noir movies going into it and became reacquainted with a type of film that I totally love and that was a huge part of my upbringing.’

Egoyan and Cronenberg both screened films at Cannes in 2002, although Cronenberg’s Spider was in competition and Egoyan’s Ararat was not.

Egoyan says he is thrilled to be heading to Cannes with Cronenberg again, and adds that having two Toronto films in competition reflects well on the city’s film industry.

‘I think it’s an incredible triumph for the Toronto film industry that we have crews and teams that can make films at this kind of professional level,’ he says.

Cronenberg’s A History of Violence stars Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello and William Hurt and is based on the John Wagner novel. It tells the story of a small-town man who is unwillingly plunged into the media spotlight after committing an act of heroism.

Cronenberg says the festival will be a different experience for him this time around, explaining that A History of Violence is more mainstream than films he has previously brought to Cannes.

‘This film is pretty different. It’s a more accessible film than Crash or Spider, so it’s an interesting experiment for me to be at Cannes with a film like this.’

The two directors will be up against filmmakers from 13 countries, including four Americans, making our neighbor to the south the best-represented country. American films in competition are Broken Flowers from Jim Jarmusch, Sin City from Robert Rodriguez, Last Days from Gus Van Sant and, from Tommy Lee Jones, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, the only film by a first-time director to gain a competition spot this year.

Also screening out of competition will be the May 15 world premiere of George Lucas’ Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

The 58th Cannes festival takes place May 11-22.

-www.festival-cannes.fr