The Cannes Film festival has officially began with some of the biggest films opening in competition and out of competition.

Woody Allen's feature "Café Society' is opening the festival with a star studded cast that includes Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg. The film has already scored solid reviews and looks to become one of the better reviewed Allen films of the last few years.

With a solid opening, most hope the festival will showcase the best of international cinema especially after last year, where enthusiasm seemed low for most of the competition films. This year 21 films will be competing for the top prize as well as for distributors.

Out of the competition films, a number of films have already acquired U.S. rights and are set to be released this year or next year. Here is a breakdown by distributor.

A24

It's been a great year for this two-year-old distributor especially after having won two Oscars and continued box office success with "The Witch." This year A24 will have its first competition film at the Cannes Film Festival with Andrea Arnold's film "American Honey." This is one of the most intriguing films as it stars Shia Labeouf and Arnold never fails to surprise with her films. There is no release date set but most expect this competition film to take home some award at Cannes and become a late Oscar release for A24.

Amazon

It's no surprise that Amazon continues to lead in the film market especially after having acquired a number of films at the Sundance Film Festival. This year the streaming service has three in competition films including Jim Jarmusch's "Paterson," Nicolas Winding Refn's "The Neon Demon" and Park Chan-Wook's "The Handmaiden."

Jarmusch competed a few years ago with "Only Lovers Left Alive" and while it was one of the most underrated films of the competition, it still scored solid reviews and obtained a cult following. Refn's "The Neon Demon" is a film that will likely cause a lot of conversation as most are awaiting what Refn has put together -- another "Drive" or another "Only God Forgives." "Drive" was praised and Refn won Best Director at Cannes while "Only God Forgives" was universally panned.

Meanwhile Chan-Wook will also be on the radar as the director is known for his visual style and for creating original films that shock. Very little is known about this film so it will likely surprise.

Focus Features

Focus Features generally sits out of Cannes but this year the American distributor has Jeff Nichol's latest picture "Loving." The film isn't seen as a huge contender for the Palme D'Or, but with a track record like Nichol's anything is possible.

Focus hopes "Loving" gets great reviews out the festival so it can start its Oscar campaign. The film is due out in November in time for awards season.

Sony Pictures Classics

It is no surprise that Sony has films in competition as the distributor always picks up a number of films before the festival begins. Additionally, it is one of the leading distributors in foreign language content. Among its recent Cannes acquisitions were "Son of Saul," "Wild Tales" and "Leviathan."

This year Sony came in with "Julieta" by Pedro Almodovar. The company has a long standing relationship with Almodovar and after having scored solid reviews out of Spain, "Julieta" could be a serious contender for the Palm D'Or.

Ahead of its debut, Sony also picked up Paul Verhoeven's "Elle." The distributor last worked with Verhoeven on his 2006 thriller "Black Book," which was a huge box office success and also obtained critical acclaim.

Sundance Selects

Sundance Selects is always present at the Festival and last year the company took home the Palme D'Or with "Dheepan." This year Sundance Selects has three films in the competition slate including Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne's "The Unknown Girl," Cristian Mungiu's "Graduation" and Olivier Assaya's "Personal Shopper."

Sundance has previously worked with all three of these directors and has lead their films to success. Additionally, all three of these directors are Cannes favorites and the Dardennes and Mungiu have won the Palme D'Or before.

No Distributor

Heading into the festival there are a number of films that have yet to be acquired for distribution. Among these films are Sean Penn's "The Last Face" and Asghar Farhadi's "The Salesman." Both films will likely be popular titles, especially with the directors attached. So it will be no surprise that the films go home with deals before the festival is over.

Maren ADE's "Toni Erdmann" also lacks distribution as does Ken Loach's "Moi, Daniel Blake." "Aqarius" by Kleber Medonca Filho is generating a lot of buzz but the film has yet to find a U.S. home and Xavier Dolan's "It's Only the End of the World," which sold internationally, has yet to find a home in the U.S.

Bruno Dumont's star studded film "Black Bay" will undoubtedly be a popular title on the market while Brillante Mendoza's "Ma'Rosa' will be one of the obscurities in the market.

Nicole Garcia's "From the Land of the Moon" will likely be acquired especially with Marion Cotillard in the lead role while Alain Guiraudie's "Staying Vertical" could go to Strand Releasing, especially after his previous film had such a successful run with the company.

Finally Cristi Puiu's "Sieranevada" could be a tough sell particularly with a running time of 173 minutes. Nevertheless, if it receives great reviews, the film could land a big deal.

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