CANNES, France -- Kicking kung-fu pandas and a chilling Brazilian drama evoking the apocalypse: the Cannes film festival kicks off Wednesday with its usual mix of philosophy and fun, not to mention glitz.

Opening night red-carpet glory this year is for Brazil's two-time Oscar-nominated director Fernando Meirelles, whose "Blindness", about a world where people have lost their sight, starts the world's biggest filmfest.

The film, starring Julianne Moore, is one of 22 competing for Cannes' prestigious Palme d'Or this year to be awarded by a jury headed by Sean Penn and handed out by Robert de Niro.

Based on a book by Nobel winner Jose Saramago of Portugal, the latest movie by the maker of "City of God" and "The Constant Gardener", is a gripping story about humanity facing an epidemic of blindness that raises a heap of questions about human nature and the fragility of society.

"It's as if civilization was built on a thin layer of ice that could crack at any moment," Meirelles said at a news conference here. "It's a metaphor on all the ills of the 20th century."

Striking a note of contrast, hours before the twilight gala opening Hollywood star Jack Black boated in to be greeted by dozens of giant pandas in a promotional stunt for Dreamworks' "Kung Fu Panda", being released here later this week.

The voices of Jack Black and Angelina Jolie tell the story of a slacker bear who takes to martial arts to fight evil oppressors.

This year will see Hollywood heavyweights Clint Eastwood and Harrison Ford square up against the pandas and arthouse directors during Cannes' annual 12-day film festival fever.

Ford, advancing in years but still cracking a bullwhip, was due to fly in to the planet's top cinema showcase for the release of Steven Spielberg's fourth episode of the "Indiana Jones" saga, the festival's centerpiece.

Spielberg has given little away about "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" but fans who have waited 19 years for this latest installment can expect swash-buckling galore from the intrepid archaeologist.

Eastwood is hoping for the Palme d'Or best film prize with his child-abduction drama "Changeling" starring Angelina Jolie.

But he might also trigger a riot when he personally presents a public screening on the Riviera town's palm-fringed beach of a restored version of his 1971 cop classic "Dirty Harry."

Other A-list stars due to attend the May 14-25 fest include Angelina Jolie, Will Smith, Dustin Hoffman, Madonna, Woody Allen, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bruce Willis, Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem.

Cannes swells three-fold to 200,000 for the yearly orgy of glitzy movie promotion, parties and screenings that brings together industry types, movie-buffs and celebrity-watchers.

The fest is as much about hard-nosed business as art, with around a billion dollars worth of movie business clinched every year, said the head of the Cannes Film Market Jerome Paillard.

The 61st edition has a strong Latin American contingent. After Meirelles, another Brazilian, Walter Salles, presents a football-themed "Line Of Passage," and two movies from Argentina will also compete for the top prize.

Also on a Latino theme, Steven Soderbergh brings a four-hour epic on the world's best-loved revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, portrayed by Benicio Del Toro.

Among the heavy-duty line-up competing for the Palme d'Or are previous winners, Canada's Atom Egoyan with "Adoration," Germany's Wim Wenders showing "The Palermo Shooting" and Belgium's Dardenne brothers with "The Silence of Lorna."

Cinephiles swayed by the seriously arty side of Cannes will be served by new offerings from China's Jia Zhangke, Filipino Brillante Mendoza, Turkey's Nuri Bilge Ceylan and a first-ever feature from Charlie Kaufman, the US screenwriter behind "Being John Malkovich."

Sporting giants Diego Maradona and Mike Tyson were also set to join the jetset on the Riviera.

Serbian director Emir Kusturica is showing a documentary about the Argentinian footballer who once knocked England out the World Cup with a little help from his hand, while US heavyweight boxer Tyson is the subject of another documentary.

Among young directors in competition this year are Israel's Ari Folman, offering an animated documentary on the Sabra and Shatila massacres in Beirut, while the two film-makers from Argentina, Pablo Trapero and Lucrecia Martel, are running for the trophy for the first time ever.