Ken Loach is one of two British film-makers in competition

The Cannes Film Festival opens in France on Wednesday with its traditional mix of glamour, hard-nosed business, blockbuster cinema and art house gems.

Screen sirens on the beach, Hollywood’s leading men on the Croisette and thousands of wannabe Martin Scorseses hawking their films across town - it can only be Cannes.

For 10 days, anyone who is anyone in the film business, as well as thousands of no-ones-quite-yet, descend on the French resort for the annual film showcase.

Blockbuster-in-waiting The Da Vinci Code opens the festival on Wednesday but after the film’s stars Tom Hanks and Audrey Tatou have departed the red carpet, the rest of the festival’s visitors get down to the brass tacks of film promotion and sales.

Cannes Film Festival

"Cannes is important because it is the most important film festival and most important film market at the same time," says John Woodward, the chief executive of the UK’s film promotion body, the Film Council.

"For 10 days everyone involved in film production in the world is in the same place."

Charles McDonald, of PR giants McDonald and Rutter, will be in Cannes for the 21st time, helping to promote some of the biggest names in the competition, including Pedro Almodovar’s Volver and Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales.

"Much as I love Berlin and Venice, Cannes in the key festival because it combines a massive market as well as the festival," he says.

"Cannes maintains a balance between high-profile American films and the art house."