Canadian films will be hard to find at Cannes this year, with only one Canuck short making the cut for the 59th annual film festival.

Conte de quartier, a copro between the National Film Board and Films de l'Arlequin of France, is among the 10 shorts set to play in competition at the fest, which runs May 17-28. Produced on this side by Marcel Jean (Through My Thick Glasses) and directed by France's Florence Miailhe, it's the 15-minute story of seven people brought together by a doll, animated with paint and sand on glass.

Conte is in the running for the NFB's Norman McLaren award, which will again this year go to the winner of the Palme d'or for short film.

Last year's Cannes hosted pictures by both David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan, but this year organizers favored Latin, U.S. and French movies. The eclectic mix of features opens with the Ron Howard-directed The Da Vinci Code, which will play out of competition, and also includes Sofia Coppla's biopic Marie-Antoinette, Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo Del Toro and Volver by Pedro Almodovar.

Other out-of-competition films include the Vancouver-shot X-Men: The Last Stand, the 9/11 drama United 93 and the animated Over the Hedge.

www.festival-cannes.fr