The 2016 Cannes Film Festival will be without Japanese and Chinese films.

The organizers of the Cannes International Film Festival in France have just announced the list of 20 films selected to compete for the " Palme d'Or."

The presidents of the jury at the 68th Cannes Film Festival, American filmmaker brothers Joel Coen (right) and Ethan Coen (second from left), pose for a photo with jury members at the opening ceremony. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

One of the surprising aspects of this film event was that films from Japan and China were not included in the competition categories. Meanwhile, the Philippines and South Korea had the honor of representing Asia, being selected in the official category to compete alongside familiar names.

For the Philippines, this marks the third time young director Brillante Mendoza has been invited to the Cannes Film Festival, after winning the award for best editor with his film “Kinatay” in 2009. This year's entry at Cannes is “Ma'Rosa.”

As for South Korean director Park Chan Wook, he won the Grand Jury Prize in 2004 with his film "Old Boy." This time, Park presents his recently completed work, "Agassi."

The organizers of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival paid particular attention to Romanian cinema, with two filmmakers, Cristi Puiu (Sieranevada) and Cristian Mungiu (Bacalaureat). While Puiu was not yet widely known to the public, Mungiu, on the other hand, had won the Palme d'Or in 2007 with his film with the unusual title "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days."

The 69th Cannes Film Festival, taking place from May 11-22, will also attract attention with works such as "I, Daniel Bake" by British director Ken Loach; and "La fille inconnue - The Nameless Daughter" by the dynamic duo of brothers Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne.

The question is whether, after winning two Palme d'Or awards, these two Belgian filmmakers will once again be included in the winners' list at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

On the French film side, three films were selected in the official category: "Personal Shopper" by Olivier Assyas, "Mal de Pierre" by Nicole Garcia, and "Ma loute" by Bruno Dumont.

According to VIETNAM+