A movie about the Irish civil war is being tipped to carry the day at the Cannes Film Festival. The Wind That Shakes The Barley, directed by Ken Loach, is in the running for the top award.

The Da Vinci Code - set to be one of the biggest movies of the year - will open the festival.

Since his groundbreaking BBC television 1960s plays - like Cathy Come Home - Loach has forged a reputation for intense and often controversial cinema, dealing with historical, social and political topics.