The 64th edition of the Cannes Film Festival gets underway on Wednesday with up-and-coming directors and Hollywood A-listers rubbing shoulders at the world's biggest cinema gathering.

A rich galaxy of film stars is converging on Cannes, with the likes of Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz -- appearing in the 3-D adventure caper Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides -- expected on the red carpet.

In a salute to change in the Middle East, the festival is honouring Egypt as its first "guest country," while a snap documentary of the uprising in Tunisia will be that country's first film in Cannes in 11 years.

Cannes nearly triples in population during the 11-day festival to 200,000, due not only to all the screenings, but also to an international film market where more than 10,000 participants from 101 nations will haggle over the rights to 4,240 films, many of them still in production.

About 700 hundred police officers have been detailed to the festival, where the killing of Osama bin Laden has ramped up security concerns.