The films are Nanni Moretti's The Sun of the Future (Il sol dell'avvenire), Alice Rohrwacher's The Chimera (La Chimera), and Marco Bellocchio's Kidnapped (Rapito), General Delegate Thierry Fremaux, said.
The Sun of the Future is a comedy set in the world of the circus between the 50s and the 70s, while The Chimera takes place in the 80s, in the clandestine world of grave robbers, and tells of a young English archaeologist involved in the clandestine trafficking of archaeological finds.
Kidnapped is a true story about Jewish boy Edgardo Mortara, who in 1858 was snatched from his family to be raised as a Catholic under the custody of Pope Pius IX, causing an international incident.
It's been a fine year for Rohrwacher in particular, who's film The Pupils was in the running in the Best Live Action Short category of last month's 95th Academy Awards, that was won by An Irish Goodbye by Tom Berkeley and Ross White.
The 76th edition of the much-loved Cannes Film Festival will take place in the French Riviera town from May 16-27.
ANSA
